BOLIVIAN WOMAN OF COURAGE NOMINEE

UNCLAS LA PAZ 002829 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR G/IWI (BOTTNER) AND WHA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KWMN PREL KPAO PHUM PINR BL SUBJECT: BOLIVIAN WOMAN OF COURAGE NOMINEE REF: STATE 126072 ¶1. Embassy La Paz enthusiastically nominates Carmen Velasco for the 2008 Secretary's Award for International Women of Courage. Name: Marcela Maria del Carmen VELASCO de Torrez Title/Organization: Co-Founder and Executive Director/Pro Mujer DPOB: 20 March 1950, Bolivia Citizenship: Bolivian Address: Calle 6 de Obrajes, Esq. la Costenerita, #100 Piso 3; La Paz, Bolivia Phone: (591-2) 278-8654 Email: cvelasco@promujer.org Passport no.: 338856 ¶2. Carmen Velasco has shown extraordinary leadership and perseverance as the co-founder of Pro Mujer (Pro-Woman),an NGO pioneer in microfinance for poor women in Latin America. Her efforts have improved the lives of hundreds of thousands in Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Argentina by providing credit, technical assistance for small businesses, and education and health services for women and their children. Velasco began her work in impoverished areas of Bolivia's altiplano with small groups of women who were beneficiaries of donated food programs. These mostly-indigenous women were looking for solutions to their marginalization and socio-economic exclusion. Pro Mujer was formed with a vision to help women meet their full potential and give them the means to provide for themselves and their families, eliminating their dependence on assistance programs. Pro Mujer was created when communal microfinance banks were still unproven and many specialists doubted their sustainability. It was also different from other microfinance institutions because it served the economic needs of Bolivia's poorest women and their families. Over the past 17 years, Velasco's NGO has steadily expanded its activities throughout Bolivia and beyond to Peru, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Argentina. Currently, Pro Mujer International provides training and credit to over 159,000 women in Latin America. Velasco personally designs training programs in health, family planning, business development, and empowerment for Pro Mujer's clients and their children. With her founding partner, she developed Pro Mujer's "communal association" methodology, which allows the NGO to offer credit to first-time borrowers because of a peer-group guarantee. Women form groups with people they know, and if one member is not able to repay her loan, the rest are responsible for helping her make that payment. Over the last 17 years, Pro Mujer has disbursed more than $327 million in small loans and provided health care to hundreds of thousands of women and their families--with an average loan size of $189 and a 99 percent payback rate. One of the Embassy's top priorities in Bolivia is to promote sustainable economic growth, prosperity, and poverty reduction. Carmen Velasco does this by working directly with some of Bolivia's (and Latin America's) most marginalized women, helping them not only to increase their economic opportunities, but to lead their lives with dignity, self-respect and hope. ¶3. Ms. Velasco has been notified of this nomination and is very honored by it. If chosen as the WHA "Woman of Courage" she would be willing to accept the award publicly and able to travel to Washington in March.