Friendship Bridge: Bridging Poverty and Empowerment in Women

First established as a non-profit organization providing medical supplies and literacy to Vietnam’s impoverished populations, Friendship Bridge has since then shifted its focus and its geographical influence. Its dedicated men and women now provide a wide range of empowerment-related services in microcredit finance, education, and health as well as social impact to Guatemalan women.

The organization’s main focus is microcredit finance, a program significantly aided by investments from American donors. More than 22,000 women have availed of microfinance loans for their small businesses, such as embroidery, weaving, livestock and poultry raising, and crop production. With access to low interest rate capital, the women entrepreneurs have opportunities for higher yield and income.

Of course, women are not just the sole beneficiaries of the microfinance program. Their families also benefit in the form of better food, clothes and shelter as well as more access to basic services.

Friendship Bridge makes its presence known mostly in rural areas with indigenous populations since these are the places where the poverty rate is at its highest.