Rural communities receive financial and entrepreneurial education

A total of 2,667 inhabitants from Lambayeque and Incahuasi, grouped in 142 Uniones de Crédito y Ahorro (UNICAS) (Credit and Savings Unions) ended the Programa Inclusivo de Desarrollo Empresarial Rural (PRIDER) (Inclusive Program for Rural Entrepreneurial Development), promoted by the Corporación Financiera de Desarrollo (COFIDE) (Financial Development Corporation), supported by CAF, Development Bank of Latin America.  

Through the UNICAS, the inhabitants create associations of 10 to 30 families which, under the principles of trust and partnership, generate incomes for savings and loans to directly benefit themselves. Thus, they cover the first stage to satisfy the basic needs and prepare themselves for integration to the regulated financial system, as they already have a healthy culture of savings and loans. As a result of these partnerships, financing becomes available for entrepreneurial initiatives, initially of a small scale, to later strengthen their associations for the development of larger productive activities. 

The PRIDER - a program promoted by COFIDE with CAF's support since 2006, has the objective of providing financial literacy and entrepreneurial education for the excluded sectors in Peru through a process to develop capacities and skills, aiming at the integration of low income families located mainly in the rural areas of the country, and promoting their social and financial inclusion. 

The graduation ceremony included the participation of Francisco Cardoso Romero, Vice-Governor of the Lambayeque Region; Jorge Luis Ramos Felices, General Manager of COFIDE; Eleonora Silva Pardo, CAF's Director Representative in Peru; and Nicolás Tapia Heredia, President of the Regional Network UNICAS of Lambayeque, as well as entrepreneurs from different productive sectors of the country.