Message-ID: <19960809150021815.AAA43@smtp.persocom.com.br> Date: Fri, 9 Aug 1996 15:00:24 +0000 From: Joaquim Moura <mailto:joaquim.moura@PERSOCOM.COM.BR> Subject: Microcredit, culture & development To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Dear Friends,on the new official microcredit system in Brazil (below), I will transcribe just two paragraphs. They express the idea that the official system is quite fine as a starting program, and ask me about what I mean when I complain that something - very important - is still missing..., from my point of view... __________
>In other words, it seems to me that this (JM: the microcredit trend) is
>already in motion and most of what is to be done is already in place.
>
>I am uncertain what it is that these persons (JM: the federal team who
>has designed the official microcredit system) need or what it is that
>you wish to offer them.
>
>can you explain?
__________Of course: To be short, it lacks the cultural - or socio-communicative - component. If we want to see microcredit become a social phenomenon, able to promote really significant changes into the population's quality of life, then we need a strong cultural component, a communicative interface to make a bridge between governmental plans and people's reality. I think that no social program will succeed if it doesn't start a new cultural trend, articulated with the community associations, service clubs, religious groups, youth groups etc., spreading new hope, ideas and objective support - power and possibilities - among the population.
I am not sure if the cultural component will be so important in the USA and in the other countries, to change their perspectives toward the future. I don't even know if they are needing to change their path to the future as much as Brazil does. So, I am talking mainly about this paradoxal giant, but maybe also you are facing similar situations...
There are many related issues around this unique point: "cultural component", among them:
a. the current "Brazilian culture" (coming from TV soap operas, American "canned" films, glamorous advertisements etc.) stimulates other values than working, or saving, or organizing, or trusting, or hoping, or learning etc... So, if we want to stimulate people - many, millions - to borrow and work, we need to empower them through a "new" culture, promoting "new" values accordingly. Remember Yunus and the Grameen Bank's "16 Decisions": the first one is about the commitment every borrower must adopt toward "discipline", "union", "courage" and "hard work". In Brazil, these purposes would represent a real "cultural revolution", but I am sure that we will need to carry it out, sooner or later, because one people cannot survive just on beer, carnival, football, beaches, laziness etc. How to implement such a radical shift in the current "cultural" trends is a challenge we cannot avoid anymore. Again Grameen Bank shows how deep we need to go in these cultural changes, when it demands to the future borrowers stopping their traditional habits, as dowry from the brides and children marriage, if they actually want to borrow from the bank.
b. the youth "cultural issue": if we really intend to promote significant social development, we know we are working with a project which will develop through time. Our projects must prove to be good in some years from now; not just now... If these popular banks are really effective, they need to have produced significant changes after some years or decades from their beginnings. This implies to involve the youth, of course, as will be they who will keep the transformations still going in the next 10 or 50 years. And what about Brazilian youth (specifically the poor Brazilian youth)? The culture they are living, in the poor communities, promotes selfish, violence, laziness, sexism, drug abuse, street graffiti, gangs etc. It does not promote reading, volunteer working, preventive health, and - our issue here - responsibilities, skill development, trustworthiness etc... Here we don't have any strong program to promote youth development like 4-H, in the USA. And we don't have either any program to promote young entrepreneurship, as "Learn and Earn", or Y.E.S. (youth experimenting success) etc. Recently I have received an invitation to attend the "Second TOTS TO TEENS Conference on Entrepreneurship Education (Educational Renewal through Education), to be held October 11-12, in the Saint Louis University. And just yesterday, my friend Truda Roper (4-H Virginia), who is traveling in Brazil (family reasons), gave me a marvelous binder (around 100 pages) called Minding My Own Business, with the following table of contents: 1. Who is an Entrepreneur? 2. How to prepare a Business Plan? 3. Understanding Business Operations 4. Pricing your Product or Service 5. Advertise your Business 6. Managing Business Affairs 7. Developing a Professional Image 8. Resources 9. References. (I just regret that the "official team" who is developing the Brazilian model "Banking for the Poor" model, is not aware about this kind of cultural issue and educational program.
c. The last cultural factor which can limit the new program is the "health factor". Is health a cultural issue? Of course, if the people don't know any information about nourishment, preventive medicine, corporal practices etc. Remember the 16 Decisions: there is one about tilling vegetable gardens to improve the family nutrition and there is even one (the last one) which recommends that the borrowers must practice physical exercises in their meetings. I am sure that these points are important (as they are for me and my work) to lead people to improve their health and energy; but I am afraid that this concern is far away from the Governmental team's worries. I