Assistant Project Manager, internship, Mexican Association of Credit Unions from the Social

Assistant Project Manager
Summer Internship 2007

Deadline: April 29

Organization: Mexican Association of Credit Unions from the Social
Sector (AMUCSS)
Project Name: Remittances and Rural Development in Mexico (funded by
the Interamerican Development Bank and the IFAD)
Contact: Alexandre Berthaud (Project Manager)
Webpage: www.amucss.net

Internship Description

Background

1.1     The amount of remittances received in Mexico in the year 2006
exceeded US $23 billion according to data from Banco de México. It
is estimated that 40% of the remittances are directed to the rural
areas of Mexico that critically lack financial infrastructure.

1.2     The paradox of this massive capital inflow is that both the
senders and the beneficiaries are unbanked. There is evidence of
very low banking rate of migrants in both sides of the border
resulting in a limited impact of remittances on local development
in the rural areas. Therefore the need exists to link the
remittances flow to the rural financial sector, paying special
attention to security and cost reduction for the remittances
beneficiaries.

1.3     The Mexican banking system is concentrated in urban locations
with more than 20,000 inhabitants. The rural areas of the country
-less than 2500 inhabitants- face the inexistence of financial
services delivery. In Mexico, 27 million people live in the rural
areas. Even though the financial coverage density in Mexico
averages 1 branch for 12000 people, this indicator hides enormous
disparities between the excluded rural areas and large cities. For
example in Oaxaca there is one Bank branch for every 37,000
inhabitants. However, 75% of the municipalities do not have a bank
branch. The disequilibrium in bank coverage is particularly
impressive in territories inhabited by poor rural families, which
often coincide with indigenous areas.

1.4     Even though money transfers through electronic bank payments are
the cheapest and most secure, for the rural families this is an
improbable solution due to the lack of financial services
institutions in their communities. The rural remittances
beneficiaries have to face important obstacles in order to receive
their money: first of all they must take long bus rides to the main
town where banks are, there they must wait in line for more than 4
hours and most often they are discriminated in banks because of
their ethnic origin. On top of that remittances beneficiaries are
often robbed in large towns. This translates into very high
transaction costs for the rural transnational families, which
increase when we consider that there is no institution that can use
the funds to promote local economic opportunities in these areas.

1.5     Since the year 2000, The Mexican Association of Credit Unions
from the Social Sector (AMUCSS) has helped its affiliated
organizations to develop a methodology named “Microbanco” in order
to deliver financial services such as savings, credit and insurance
in highly marginalized rural indigenous community. In December 2006,
there were 28 community banks integrated into seven Microbank
networks, working with 22,000 members in 430 rural communities in
the States of Oaxaca, Puebla, Guerrero, Morelos, Hidalgo y
Michoacán.

1.6     Because migration is an ubiquitous phenomenon in Mexico, 24 of
the 28 Microbank are made of transnational communities with high
levels of migration to the US. The Microbank experience has
demonstrated that bringing financial services together with
remittances payment services to the community has a direct positive
effect on economic development. If remittances beneficiaries have
access to savings services, their savings rate is quite high
(between 5 to 14% depending on the region). Savings create a stable
financial basis that allows the institution to give credit to
micro-entrepreneurs, craftsmen and farmers in the region, thus
developing the local economy. However this can only be achieved if
there is enough trust in the financial institution.

Duties and Responsibilities:
 -Assist in the development of a remittances payment network
targeted to the rural financial institutions of Mexico.

-Assist in the hiring process of consultants for the project

-Perform field research on remittances´ impact on rural development

-Assist in the daily operation of the project

Qualifications:
-MIA, Concentration in Economic and Political Development or Latin
American Studies
-Completely fluent in Spanish
-Knowledge of Microfinance Institutions

Supervision:
The intern will be under direct supervision from the project manager
and the Coordinator of Microbanks.

How to Apply:
Please send your resume and cover letter before Sunday, April 29,
to:
Alexandre Berthaud
aberthaud@hotmail.com
Please do not call