FAC Internacional (“The Community Empowerment Fund International”) is a small microfinance initiative working in Central America’s largest slum, a sector of Guatemala City known as La Limonada. The first grassroots microfinance group in the area, FAC seeks to empower slum residents through access to financial services, education, and relational support.
As a student-driven organization based at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, FAC is administratively powered by students who volunteer their time to write grants, conduct evaluations, create educational workshops, and more, while local Guatemalan officers run operations year-round. Our low-cost model allows us to offer loans with exceptionally low interest rates by industry standards and to focus on our clients’ individual needs.
Because the success of our program relies upon the transmission of information across national, linguistic, and cultural barriers, finding ways to communicate has always been a top priority. Initially, the overwhelming disjointedness of individual video chats, long email conversations, and scattered task lists bogged down organizational efficiency. We have recently begun using TeamWorkPM to help delegate tasks internationally and domestically, which I can confidently say has not only increased productivity but has also allowed for a happier, smoother relationship between all involved parties.
Because this tool has been so powerful for us, we recently upgraded from 2 projects to 5 as we are expanding our services. So many features of TeamworkPM directly serve needs such as prioritizing workloads, separating tasks, holding each other accountable, celebrating successes, and planning for the long term. Although we were attracted by its user-friendly layout, we’re just now beginning to understand how in-depth and detailed the features of TeamworkPM can be. As a small organization working with a tight budget, there is no other tool which allows us to do our work so well. From all the FAC team, thanks so much!
Caleb Dagenhart
Savings Program Coordinator,
FAC Internacional
UNC ‘14