AlSol

Alternativa Solidaria Chiapas, A.C.

During our last visit to Chiapas we had the opportunity to meet with a microfinance organization in the city of San Cristobal de las Casas called Alternativa Solitaria Chiapas (AlSol). AlSol, a multi lingual non-profit organization that began in 1999, focuses its efforts toward rural communities that encounter difficulties in accessing the formal financial sector. Through an innovative policy of lending solely to women, organized in solidarity groups, AlSol financial practices have proved to be very successful. Another part of their success relies on the access that their staff, through their knowledge of various indigenous languages, has to rural communities. At present, the organization continues to add and diversify the products they offer.

 

AlSol’s trajectory shows their commitment and dedication to the communities they serve. At their inception, through a solidarity group methodology, Alsol began providing products such as traditional cash denominated microcredits and saving accounts. From such initial offerings, in 2002 AlSol created a “Life Insurance” product which was later followed by social programs on Basic Literacy and Health Care. By 2004 all these innovative products and its lending strategy caught the eye of USAID who began to collaborate with AlSol by providing them with technical assistance.

 

Building upon their previous work, AlSol continues to move forward by expanding the range and scope of services they provide. Some of their objectives include merging the Basic Literacy program with the Health Care/Prevention program; implementing the project on “How to manage my business better” and creating strategic alliances with other similarly oriented institutions. It is quite an ambitious agenda, but we know that they have all the tools that they need to succeed!

 

To conclude, and so you have it in their own words, here is their mission statement:

 

“ALSOL is determined to be a development institution through:

 

• Contacting different institutions who are capable of giving talks in other topics such as Gender, Domestic Violence, Human Rights, in which specialized personnel is required to offer that information.

 

• Offering financial services that are focused on the clients’ needs to support them in the creation or expansion of their small businesses.

 

• Counting on a team that is both sensitive and specialized in the financial services and non-financial services that the institution offers.”

 

If you’d like to participate with Alternativa Solidaria Chiapas, become part of their development, or learn more, please go to the following link: http://www.alsolchiapas.org