economic development program

›› how it works ›› what we offer

How it works
In order to empower our families to pay for their children's education, we set up our Economic Development program through which families can start micro-enterprises and generate their own income. It's a rotating fund, meaning that when people pay back their loan, the same money is used to help others.

Families who want to start businesses are interviewed, and they complete application forms, a process which allows them to think through their project. In a second interview, their plan is discussed and necessary changes made. When both parties agree on the proposal, a contract is signed.

What we offer
The loans we grant range from US$6 to $100, depending on the type of business. In Peru, interest on loans can easily reach 60% or more a year. The loans we offer are at 10% interest, which benefits the families and serves as an incentive for them to pay back the loan on time. The interest payments we collect go into funding other SKIP projects. SKIP also offers support by visiting new entrepreneurs on a weekly basis to check on their progress as well as discuss problems and offer support.

Businesses vary from carpentry to street sales, from making shoes to breeding ducks, turkeys and chickens. The Economic Development team conducts workshops on creating budgets and business plans, interest rates, savings accounts, and other business and financial topics to help our families become more financially stable.

SKIP has also started a savings account program for our families with a phased-out incentive plan, encouraging our families to save the money with special small bonuses when they reach certain levels of savings. With the help of SKIP’s program, they can open savings accounts with just $3 and receive their first bonus when they have saved about $8.

We are currently expanding the program, looking for more opportunities to help our families improve their income. We have been working to find new markets for the handicrafts our mothers make. SKIP mothers have been teaching their own weekly knitting workshops and are taking workshops in jewelry-making and knitting techniques so that they can teach a larger group of SKIP mothers in the future.

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