Berkley Center

Background: As part of the Education and Social Justice Project, in June 2013 undergraduate Sarah Baran interviewed Ariel Grassini, S.J.,a president of Protagonizar, a microfinance lender in the lower class community of San Miguel, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Grassini discussed the growth of Protagonizar, how the organization functions, and Protagonizar's future.

Can you please tell me about the history and growth of Protagonizar since it was founded?

Protagonizar was founded in 1999 and was run by volunteers until 2003-2004, when the organization was first able to hire employees. The success of the organization is rooted in the very serious nature of our work. We are located in a community where the neighborhood is familiar, and we know our neighbors. There are many links between the organization and the people; we speak the same language and share the same problems, and this same level of penetration exists irrelevant of political or religious affiliations, which fosters a basic trust in the organization.

What is the importance of the location of Protagonizar in San Miguel, and how do you measure the impact of the access to credit on the community?

Our location here ties back to the Jesuits, and Protagonizar is the fruit of the parish. The roots go back to the Catholicism and social development that first was enacted through the schools. Fundamentally, Protagonizar is 100 percent from the Church and also the basic key to the people. The perception of the members, the growth of the businesses of the entrepreneurs, and the development of credit all contribute to improving the quality of life of the people. Nevertheless, there is no formal system of measurement, which is currently a challenge for Protagonizar.

Can you please explain the structure of management of Protagonizar?

Protagonizar is broken into two levels. First, there is a commission directive with an owner and six people on the board, including a president, a secretary, another Jesuit, a lawyer, and a financial officer. Next, there is an operative side, which includes two managers of the different offices, an administrative operative of the credits, and six credit assessors, with two in each of the larger offices and two in the smaller offices. They know how to question, analyze, and evaluate the projects.

What is Protagonizar’s relationship with other microcredit organizations?

There is no formal relationship with other microcredit organizations. There is an older one, which we have contacted to share classes and compare practices. In terms of differences with other microcredit organizations, there are small variances in terms of how we are organized, our mode of analysis, and also in terms of evaluations; yet overall there are not many differences besides the movement of their development. We share information in that there is a list kept among us with names of those who have failed to pay back their loans or moved without informing us.

Can you please discuss the future plans of development for Protagonizar?

There are three scopes for development now. The first is focused on loaning/borrowing more money and increasing the capital growth of the foundation to give us a greater capacity to expand and attend to our operational needs. This includes seeking more donations, given that now, about 80 to 85 percent of our working budget is supported through donations, of which almost 100 percent are from large international private firms, the majority in the United States, with a smaller percentage of the contributions also coming from Europe, Spain and Germany. However, I recently started a new initiative where about 15 percent of our budget now comes from private banks or investment firms. The second scope for development is on our institutional ordering, including legal documentations and internal bureaucracy. The third route of focus is on creating a new system of management for the credits that will allow us to keep better track, collect better data, and be more efficient because the current system lacks a centralized database of information.

What are some of the challenges Protagonizar faces?

Given that their primary source of funding comes from donations, there is always a consistent need to be soliciting for more in order to preserve the functioning of the organization, and this is an effort that takes a significant amount of time and energy. The conditions of our work environment and its operative problems in terms of light, electricity, water, transportation, and security are the second obstacle. Due to our location in the center of San Miguel, we share the same problems as our entrepreneurs, which at times is a sacrifice in terms of the efficiency of the organization. At the same time, it was a conscious decision to be located here in the same vicinity and community as the entrepreneurs. Our location functions as an advantage, given our employees’ knowledge of the projects, which helps them build a relationship of confidence with entrepreneurs. We know the family. We know when they are sick, when they are not sick.

How do you separate the importance of solidarity with the entrepreneurs and decisions necessary to maintain institutional sustainability for Protagonizar?

There are six people on the board, including accountants, investors, and those with a more technical education that help the poorest but also live in a different world. However, there is always tension within the work, and it cannot be continued if there is no balance. It is similar to maintaining a balance between the relationship the institution has outside the neighborhood—with funders and promoting publicity, thinking strategically to improve the process—compared to the inside visits to the entrepreneurs to see what has developed or when they share what they have bought. For example, I really enjoy when an entrepreneur will show me ‘Look, we bought this machine with this number of loans.’ This is my favorite part of my work, to see what is possible.

How does the work of Protagonizar intersect with education?

Protagonizar educates the people that live here in order to project their life beyond merely offering material goods. Our focus is on helping them realize the capacity they have in their businesses and their work through helping them discriminate between their costs and profits, outline and develop projects, organize their time, and assess whether they can or cannot buy something. We try to offer a more technical training. Indirectly, Protagonizar also has a relationship with education in that the money earned from the businesses—in many cases—is reinvested into the education of their children, whether though private or public schools.

What role does faith play in the work of Protagonizar?

In terms of the operational and institutional side of Protagonizar, there is no explicit declaration of faith. Nevertheless, there is a 100 percent link to the Society of Jesus. Protagonizar could not exist without the Jesuits, as the mode of their fruit is profoundly economically dependent on the Jesuits. Their work is in many ways not only economical but also human, moral, and social.

In your opinion is Protagonizar working for social justice?

Protagonizar works to create the possibility for those who have a project in their mind to make their project become a reality. However, it is not going to eliminate poverty. No. In terms of a large social impact, there is not one. We work to help improve the familiar and personal lives of those in the community to improve their quality of life, their education, and their health.