Costa Rica > EDESA

About the Field Partner

EDESA administers this loan. Learn more
Field Partner:	EDESA
Field Partner Risk Rating:	(Learn more)
Time on Kiva:	12 months
Kiva Entrepreneurs:	151
Total Loans:	$146,700
Interest & Fees are Charged:	Yes (Learn more)
Portfolio Yield: 13% Profitability (Return on Assets): 4% Average Loan Size (% of Per Capita Income): 3%
Delinquency Rate:	0.00%
Default Rate:	0.00%
Currency Exchange Loss Rate:	0.00%
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Kiva Fundraising Status

Fundraising Status	Active
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Other Information Sources

MIX Profile	View MIX Profile
Network Affiliation	None
Social Performance Reporting Level	N/A
Consumer Protection Principles	N/A
Field Partner Website	View Website
Email Contact	None

EDESA provides the poorest rural communities in Costa Rica with financial services for the development of productive activities that allow individuals to move out of poverty.

EDESA’s focus is on rural communities without access to financial services, lending to microentrepreneurs living in poverty and extreme poverty. EDESA believes that individual and communal empowerment is an effective way to combat poverty. As such, they work to equip rural entrepreneurs with the tools and opportunities within their own community to access financial services at the right time and with the right conditions. EDESA funds activities ranging from agriculture and cattle farming to tourism and retail to small restaurants and tailoring shops. Geographically, EDESA works in more than 100 rural communities in all regions of Costa Rica.

Established in 2005, EDESA provides credit services to a network of “Empresas de Crédito Comunal” or Community Credit Enterprises (CCEs), established by FINCA Costa. The CCEs are small, grassroots community-owned financial organizations formed by rural community members. This unique methodology works to ensure that each family helped actively participates in the CCE in their community. By being participants and owners of these organizations, the beneficiaries also educate themselves on financial and business issues, as well as improving their self confidence by participating and being able to make decisions in a community organization. Youth also participate in the CCEs, thanks to an educational program where they learn how to invest, about issues of finance and business, and prepare to become the future entrepreneurs in their communities. Please click here to read more about the CCEs in general and here for an example of a particularly successful CCE, including video footage of the community and some microentrepreneurs.

EDESA firmly believes in economic development through the family nucleus. In each community EDESA works together with men, women, and children. The rate of repayment in the whole country is above 99%.

To see a video of EDESA and their work in Costa Rica, please click here.