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Program Overview:

Peru has probably the world’s most diverse, competitive and innovative microfinance organizations. Thus, over the course of ten days, students will be able to gain exposure to a wide range of organizational structures and variations in lending methodologies. They will interact with an array of Peruvian MFIs and regulatory institutions and meet with staff and their (generally very poor) clients in urban areas as well as in small, rural communities. Students thereby will observe all aspects of the lending process, especially the solidarity group lending approach unique to microfinance; view first-hand the range of entrepreneurial microenterprises financed by microcredit, interact with microfinance clients and hear their personal stories of how microfinance is affecting their businesses and lives. In the process, students should gain invaluable understandings of the challenges faced by the economically-active poor, and also learn about a range of issues facing the poor in developing nations, including health care and education. Students will see for themselves how microfinance, widely regarded as the most promising approach to the alleviation of poverty among the economically-active in the developing world, has changed the lives of the poor significantly through actively enabling entrepreneurship.

The trip should provide an invaluable opportunity for reflecting on the causes of poverty as well as possible solutions and foster better understanding of Peruvian life, culture, and language.

 

If you have questions about the program, feel free to contact:

Professor Todd Watkins

taw4@lehigh.edu

Students interested in applying, please print out a Peru Application and submit it to:

Study Abroad Office

32 Sayre Drive, Coxe Hall

Bethlehem, PA  18015