Friendship Bridge

Friendship Bridge (Puente de Amistad) creates opportunities to empower Guatemalan women. Our Mission: Creating opportunities that empower Guatemalan women to build a better life. Our Vision: Empowered women choosing their own path. Core Values: -Empowerment -Respect -Solidarity -Participation -Quality -Integrity -Transparency Our History: Friendship Bridge's history began with its work in Vietnam providing medical education and shipping medical supplies to impoverished populations in war-ravaged areas. While medical supplies were positively impacting the lives of recipients, Friendship Bridge was looking for a more sustainable solution to poverty reduction — the solution was microcredit. In 1994, we shifted our focus from medical supplies to microcredit and began offering small loans to impoverished women. Our clients, indigenous women who were deemed 'unbankable,' started or expanded small businesses and began creating their own sustainable solutions to poverty. In 1998, Friendship Bridge expanded its work to Guatemala, another war-ravaged country suffering extreme poverty and offering limited opportunities to women. Friendship Bridge shifted out of Vietnam as operations in Vietnam became unsustainable due to an unfavorable political climate. Focusing solely on Guatemala, and aided by investment from American donors, the seeds of the Microcredit Plus program we know today were planted. By 2003, almost 3,000 clients were borrowing from Friendship Bridge. By 2006 the number tripled to 9,000 clients, and today we reach more than 22,000 women through our Microcredit Plus program. Since 2012, our Social Performance Management team ensures that through all these endeavors, we stay true to our mission.