Final evaluation report on CHF"s innovative approach to housing cooperatives in South America project : cooperative agreement no. FAO-055-A-00-3055-00 [i.e. FAO-0192-A-00-3055-00]

The project achieved its goal of increasing the availability and quality of housing for low-income families in Paraguay and Ecuador, the two countries in which CHF established regional offices. It also helped to prepare a housing policy for PLAN International"s South America Regional Office. CHF visited Bolivia and Uruguay, but did not have the opportunity to work in Peru or Chile. Collaboration with the Peace Corps helped to make the project successful. Thirty credit unions in Paraguay and Ecuador decided to participate in the housing credit programs; some 525 credit union personnel were trained in the credit programs, while numerous others received on-the-job training from 21 Peace Corp volunteers. The credit unions made 1,289 home improvement loans, a number which will increase dramatically when credit unions that have been approved to participate in the Ecuadorian Housing Bank"s Housing Refinance Program can discount their housing portfolios and use the refinancing to make new loans. In Paraguay, CHF strengthened the capacity of CREDICOOP, a private sector cooperative-oriented institution, to participate in the country"s housing delivery system (the plan to work with a housing cooperative was dropped due to the paucity of such institutions in Paraguay). CREDICOOP was so successful with the demonstration home improvement loan program that cooperatives are now included in Paraguay"s national housing policy. In Ecuador, credit unions were one of various private sector finance institutions able to participate in the national housing delivery system. In both countries, the project encouraged a change in attitudes toward cooperatives and their incorporation in housing delivery. The following lessons were learned. (1) The project demonstrated how credit unions can effectively participate in the national housing delivery system by working with technical service organizations like CREDICOOP (Paraguay) and participating in host government programs (Ecuador). (2) In Ecuador, credit unions, with help from CHF, showed their ability to make and recuperate housing loans in constant units of value, as is required by the government. (3) In Paraguay, CREDICOOP became the chief negotiator for including cooperatives in the government"s direct housing subsidy program. Ecuador"s housing program, on the other hand, was not designed to work through cooperatives. (4) Credit unions" commitment to the home improvement program in Paraguay is demonstrated by the 100% loan repayment rate.