GLOBAL BRIGADES USA

Microfinance Brigades at Brown University

• About
  : Volunteers on a Microfinance Brigade spend seven days in a rural Central America or Ghana providing financial literacy workshops and consultation to rural community banks. Throughout the brigade, volunteers divide into groups where they visit several families in their homes. During the community visits, volunteers develop an understanding of the families’ ways of life, aspirations, and financial literacy. Following the visits, volunteers discuss their recommendations to the Caja on how they can improve their operations based on the information that was collected during the house visits. Additionally, students hold educational workshops with community members about the Caja Rural focused on topics such as budgeting, savings incentives programs, and loans. At the end of week, students determine how they will allocate their CIF(community investment fund), whether it may be to an individual family or a lump sum donated to the Caja.