This past November, Trickle Up’s President and Senior Director of Communications visited Oaxaca, Mexico, for an event that celebrates a new collaboration between Trickle Up, working with our local technical partner CAMATI, and the Ministry of Gender in Oaxaca, Mexico. We are excited to work with CAMATI’s extensive network of Indigenous women clients who receive their healthcare and midwifery services.  

This consortium will implement programs in Oaxaca and Chiapas that partner with women living in extreme poverty to build livelihoods and drive economic inclusion. Trickle Up will apply best practices learned from its Guatemala programs that partner successfully with local governments to deliver projects that promote social and economic inclusion among people living in extreme poverty.  

Trickle Up’s proven strategy is rooted in the Graduation Approach, a multidimensional intervention that is time-bound, sequenced, and tailored to the local context. This approach ensures the long-term sustainability of the new livelihoods that women develop.  

Trickle Up has partnered with MetLife Mexico since 2017, starting with the MENTOR project and continuing today with the FUERTE project in Oaxaca and Chiapas. We are grateful to MetLife’s commitment to inclusion and for the chance to build on our previous collaborations to strengthen women’s financial resilience, economic empowerment, and agency. 

On November 16, 2023, Trickle Up’s Mexico team presented progress on the FUERTE projects to our partners, old and new, and key stakeholders. Abril Salinas, who is leading implementation work in Chiapas, shared that we currently work with 3,823 participants across 148 savings groups. Trickle Up’s goal in this project is to serve 2,000 participants across 17 municipalities. In Chiapas, at the project’s start, 92% of the women in these savings groups did not have access to loans. Now, their average savings amount to over $100.  

The women in these savings groups have issued 700 loans to their fellow members. Almost all (94%) of participants in this project have observed or experienced greater agency and more sustainable income. Project implementation in Oaxaca is still in the early stages but Trickle Up will use its experience in Chiapas to roll out the program and work with more women. Both Chiapas and Oaxaca are two of the poorest states in the country, and this project is a rare opportunity to not only support women’s microenterprises but also their social and economic solidarity to ensure inclusion in the larger economy. 

Representatives from the Ministry of Gender in Oaxaca shared a plan to educate women about a new equity law and empower them to take full advantage of the law’s provisions. Our team remains in contact with the Ministry to ensure that the rollout of our program in Oaxaca is most relevant to the local context and the needs of savings group participants and is in line with changes to legislation. 

In San Mateo del Mar, our team also observed several savings groups that were convening for workshops on women’s rights, financial empowerment, and livelihood opportunities. These women are laying strong foundations for enduring savings groups that have the power to change their lives, transform families, and strengthen local economies. These opportunities are made possible through such partnerships as Trickle Up with the Ministry of Gender in Oaxaca and CAMATI.  

Representatives from the Ministry of Gender in Oaxaca shared a plan for the next six years to support women through an equity law and the introduction of new tools to take full advantage of the law’s provisions using an earlier analysis on reducing preventable inequality through rights education and empowerment for women. Our team continues to be in contact with the ministry to ensure that the rollout of our program in Oaxaca is most relevant to the local context and needs of women.

In San Mateo del Mar, our team visited savings groups and learned about their dynamics and rights education alongside their members’ progress toward financial resilience and economic empowerment.

We cannot wait to see what the women of Oaxaca decide in their savings groups and to witness the transformation of their local economies. We are excited to support women’s microenterprise and community resilience efforts in Oaxaca in partnership with the Ministry of Gender in Oaxaca and CAMATI. We are confident these strong partnerships will help us reach motivated and committed participants to the sequenced and time-bound approach Trickle Up has adapted from Graduation.