By Ann Marie Jackson
Want to know the most effective way to reduce poverty and change the world? Invest in women! In my personal experience, over the last decade with two impactful NGOs empowering women in the middle of Mexico, I have witnessed again and again the incredible change that can happen in a woman’s life—and that of her family—with just a small amount of money and support behind her.
Mano Amiga: Empowering Women Through Microlending
In 2018, I co-founded a nonprofit organization called Mano Amiga in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Our mission is to empower women, financially and personally, through microlending. We provide financial training, mentoring, and interest-free loans to women, giving them the means to build successful small businesses.
Mano Amiga lends only to women because women face the most limited access to affordable credit, and in microlending programs around the world, women have proven to be excellent investments: they have high repayment rates and use their profits to reinvest in their businesses and improve their families’ living standards. Mano Amiga’s repayment rate is well over 90%.
When a woman receives a Mano Amiga loan, she enters a sisterhood of small businesswomen, and the powerful message she hears is “we believe in you.” The best part is that when each microentrepreneur pays back her loan, we can grant a new loan with those funds to another deserving woman. Recipients often continue to attend Mano Amiga meetings even after they’ve fully repaid their loans because they value the supportive sisterhood with other small business owners.
Mano Amiga microentrepreneurs have started or expanded a wide range of businesses, from selling handmade crafts, jewelry, embroidered linens, and traditional foods and sauces, to operating corner stores and florist shops. We have an electrician, beauticians, a psychologist, and more.
“For me, the loan they gave me, that I am paying punctually, allowed me to update and expand my muffler business and enabled my children to continue with their studies at a higher level—that’s why I’m so grateful for their valuable help,” says Señora. Diana María Mendoza Olvera, mechanic and proprietor of San Miguel de Allende’s only female-owned muffler shop.
Casita Linda: Building Hope One House at a Time
I also serve on the board of Casita Linda, a Mexican nonprofit that builds approximately ten homes per year for families living in extreme poverty. Each house includes a basic kitchen, indoor bathroom and septic system, a rainwater catchment system and water cistern, and three bedrooms: one for the boys, another for the girls, and one for the parents. We build with eco-friendly ARMO bricks, a local invention. By providing a dignified and safe environment—a casita linda or pretty little home—we empower families and change lives. We are about to complete our 150th house, an exciting milestone.
At Casita Linda as well as Mano Amiga, we witness the outsize impact of empowering women. In the communities where we build homes, we offer workshops on children’s health, nutrition, family communication skills, self-esteem, water conservation, family planning, domestic violence, drug and alcohol addiction, and other important topics. Many of the workshops focus on building women’s knowledge, skills, and confidence in these key aspects of their lives. In addition, keeping children in school is a requirement of the program. Families are turning their lives around, building from the foundation of a safe, secure home.
We also ensure, each time we build a house, that the woman’s name is on the deed. That way, no matter what happens—should her partner migrate to find work, for example, or in the event of a future separation—she will forever have a home for her children and herself.
By making better career and housing opportunities available to women, Mano Amiga and Casita Linda produce a cascade of positive effects in terms of improving health and education outcomes among the women’s children, which can break the cycle of poverty.
Giving Back Via ‘The Broken Hummingbird’
I will donate, now and always, a portion of the proceeds from the sales of my new novel, ‘The Broken Hummingbird’ (October 3, She Writes Press) to these two impactful organizations. Getting to know the women of Mano Amiga and Casita Linda over the last decade has been an honor. They have inspired me more than they know, so it is only fair to return the gift.
A 2023 International Book Awards Finalist for Women’s Fiction, ‘The Broken Hummingbird’ wrestles with marital dissolution and cultural dissonance, following a woman’s struggle to truly know her new country and her own heart. Jane—mother, lawyer, enthusiastic expat, and fatally unhappy wife—sets out to help two little girls but must also save herself and her own sons while navigating the parallel worlds of wealth and poverty in San Miguel de Allende.
I welcome your inquiries about Mano Amiga, Casita Linda, and ‘The Broken Hummingbird’. You can reach me through my website, annmariejacksonauthor.com, or follow me on Instagram and Facebook @AMJacksonAuthor. To learn more, also visit manoamigasma.org and casitalinda.org. Thank you for your interest in making the world a better place by empowering women.
Ann Marie Jackson is co-founder of microlending organization Mano Amiga and former Vice President of Casita Linda, which builds homes for families living in extreme poverty in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Early in her career, after earning degrees from Stanford and Harvard, Jackson joined the U.S. Department of State to promote human rights in China and other East Asian and Pacific Island nations. She has worked with Human Rights Watch, A Better Chance, and Internews to further social justice causes and advance respect for human rights. Her columns, short stories, and essays appear in Mexico News Daily, San Miguel Life, Women Writers Women’s Books, and more. A native of Seattle, Washington, Jackson resides in San Miguel de Allende. Her novel ‘The Broken Hummingbird‘ is out October 3, 2023. You can follow Ann Marie on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
