BRAZIL > the Palmas community banks
Our mission: to do a study on the impact of the Palmas community banks.
Time: 4 months in Brazil (from August 2011 to November 2011)
The Palmas bank is an institution of solidarity microfinance created in 1998 by the residents of a favela, the Conjunto Palmeiras, in the North of Brazil. The adventure begins with Joaquim Melo, former seminarist who, against the Central Bank’s of Brazil recommendation, created the favela’s own currency ”las Palmas”. Consequently thanks to microcredit he boosted the local trade. In 2003 the Palmas Bank created the Palmas Institute, its mission being to export the model invented by Conjunto Palmeiras.
Forty-six community banks exist today in Brazil and 3,600 started in Venezuela, directly inspired by the Palmas model.
In 2009, the Palmas Institute won the Millennium Development Goals Prize awarded by the UN (United Nations).
In 2010, the Palmas Institute was chosen as coordinator of community banks from Brazil.
Action plan
- To define indicators, along with the Palmas Institute, which make it possible to study the impact and efficiency of the Palmas Banks.( or to assess the impact….)
- To develop a tool able to collect the data and follow-up of the Palmas Banks’ activities.
- To write an Assessment Report on the impact of the Palmas Banks in Brazil and Venezuela.
- To train « acting protractors » so that each Palmas Bank can carry out regular reports in order to make the data collection. durable
- To Support the Institute set up tools for sustainable development awareness, and support of partner businesses towards environmental approach.
Also read about this project during the mission in Venezuela
Our contact
Carlos de Freitas, Representative of the Palmas Institute Europe, co-author of the book “Viva Favela”.
To learn more about
Also discover our missions in Uruguay, Ecuador, Venezuela and Argentina.