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Natalie Portman in a new FINCA documentary

“FINCA Mexico: Stories of Hope ,” a moving new documentary, features Golden Globe Award winner Natalie Portman—FINCA’s Ambassador of Hope —visiting clients of the FINCA program in Mexico to learn of their struggles, triumphs, and determination to craft a better future for their families. The film was directed by Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize-winning documentary director Juan Carlos Rulfo.

Ms. Portman, who also serves as a co-chair of the Village Banking Campaign , created the film to offer FINCA supporters a more in-depth view of a program in action and open a window into the daily lives of FINCA clients. Don’t miss her Web diaries in which she talks about her trip to Mexico and shares her views about the power of microfinance to change lives.

The Village Banking Method

The Village Banking method is the form of microlending that FINCA International pioneered. It is economic democ-racy in action. A Village Banking group is a support group of 10-50 members — usually mothers — who meet weekly or biweekly.

Village Banking group members guarantee each others’ loans and run a democratic organization. The group guarantee is important, since borrowers don’t have the kind of collateral a commercial bank would be seeking to lend them money. Groups represent grassroots democracy in action; members elect their own leaders, design their own bylaws, keep the books, manage the funds, and are fully responsible for loan supervision, including enforcing penalties for non-compliance.

FINCA's job is to provide initial training to the Village Banks on group dynamics, help them write their bylaws and elect officers, and train them on basic principals of financial management. In addition, where possible, FINCA uses the regular meetings to inject messages about non-financial issues (maternal health, childcare, nutrition, etc.) that are delivered either by FINCA or partner organizations.

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