Adelante’s mission is to improve the standard of living of extremely poor women living in Honduras.

Since 1999 Adelante has provided small loans to very poor women so they can start and grow their own small business. Over time, the women use their profits to buy better food for their families, to improve their homes, to buy medicine when necessary, to send children to school, and to plan and save for the future.

In addition to providing credit, Adelante also provides business, health and human rights education. The business education helps our borrowers, who have an average fourth-grade education, learn the skills necessary to make their business successful. The health education provides vital but difficult to find basic health information for the whole family.

Adelante provides opportunity rather than charity – a hand up rather than a hand out. Our loans must be repaid. Our borrowers work their way out of poverty because of their own efforts.

All of Adelante’s 4,900 clients meet every two weeks. Meetings open and close by clients standing and saying the Adelante slogan :

Adelante Helps Women
Ninety-nine percent of Adelante clients are women. We actively target women for four reasons.

1. Women are more likely than men to repay their loans. It is a sound business decision to loan to women.
2. Women suffer more from poverty. Too often in a household where there is insufficient food, the man will eat what he wants, the children will eat what they can, and the mother will make do with what is left over.
3. Women spend their profits on their children. As a result of increased family income, children attend school for the first time, kids eat more protein, and sick children can get medicine when necessary.
4. Adelante clients become educated and empowered, often proving by example to their children that a woman can work, learn, and lead.

Adelante Helps the Extremely Poor
Adelante targets extremely poor women in a very poor country. Honduras is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere , behind only Haiti. Children average 4.8 years of education, and 71% of the population is malnourished.

In effect, our $50 initial loan amount only attracts very poor women who do not already have $50. For many women, the $50 from the first loan is more money than she has ever held at one time. Adelante is proud of the fact that it doesn’t require clients to own a home or have an operational business when they apply for their first loan. The only requirement is that a woman be accepted by her peers to form a Solidarity Group to take the loan.
To learn more log on to http://www.adelantefoundation.org