About Va de Vuelta
Mission of Asociación Civil Va de Vuelta
Build capacities among micro and small informal businesses formed by unemployed people under the poverty line who wish to become sustainable.
Vision
Contribute toward a new world and economic order based on the fact that we are all one.
Va de Vuelta is a non profit organization that works mostly with indigent people who, even in a high growth and high employment economic scenario, cannot be employed. They are mostly people over 50 with no pension or work, and young men who are in and out of jail, who embody the consequences of living in families with three or more generations of exclusion. They are emotionally and psychologically unable to hold on to jobs, they did not attend school and do not know what formal employment is about.
The Problem: poverty and inequality
Poverty in Argentina (First semester 2007, official numbers[1])
10,3 million are poor (24,3%)
September 2007: A family of four under the poverty line in Argentina earns less than $950 pesos/month (296 dollars) (couple with two children)
3,3 million are indigent (7,9%)
A family of tour under the indigency line in Argentina earns less than $ 428,23/month
Work and poverty
·44,2% of employed people do so with no formal employment contracts or benefits, and approximately 30% earn wages below the poverty line[2].
The Gap
20% of the people who have an income in Argentina earn 50,4% of the total earnings and 40 % of the income earning population gets 13,1% of the total.
Target population
Informal micro and small businesses run by unemployed people who live under the poverty line. They produce and trade goods and services both in urban and rural areas. We focus specifically in larger groups (ten people or more), mostly cooperatives.
These groups face two types of challenges – formalization and professionalisation of their business on the one hand, and the need to find a means of subsistence that will enable them to live outside of poverty and humiliation, for themselves, their families and their immediate communities.
Our Solution
Provide informal micro and small businesses with business development services[3], access to credit, education and technical training in order to work with them in their path toward sustainability, growth, formalization and the achievement of other social and business goals.
The Bridge
Va de Vuelta seeks to bridge a gap between small excluded businesses and medium and large companies. Research indicates that the hand of a formal, large or medium sized company can provide much of the resources and know-how these groups need[4].
We also intend to bridge an ideological gap. We propose a new model for the business world, one in which the well being of all (people and the environment) are put before growth and profits[5]. And one in which people living in poverty and exclusion become part of the productive and economic system by way of new, creative, paradigm-breaking solutions that require immediate and effective action from the part of the business world, government and non- profit organizations.
Va de Vuelta works with cooperatives formed by cartoneros or urban scavengers helping them to process material (paper, cardboard, glass, and plastics) in warehouses. The coops together with other grass roots organizations promote curbside recycling programs that might benefit them directly. Curbside recycling is virtually non existent in Argentina today. Va de Vuelta coordinates an effective recycling campaign in Zárate, province of Buenos Aires and is looking for funds to start campaigns in the suburban districts of Avellaneda and San Martin.
The VDV methodology
Our Program aims to improve the competitiveness, workplace productivity and efficiency of these small businesses. We intend to work with them in order to achieve value chain integration and to the build capacities that will allow them to become sustainable and to achieve both their business and social objectives.
Stages of a Va de Vuelta Program
The Va de Vuelta model takes, at least, one year to complete. It does not include the cost of acquiring working capital, investments in machinery or tools, and costs of Quality certifications. (They vary a lot according to the level of formality and sophistication of the business)
Diagnosis
Strategic Planning - Definition of mission, vision and values
Action Plan
responsibilities and capabilities (HR)
cash flow
marketing
education and training
production, quality
investment and credit
communication
Tutoring: external professional who accompanies the group through the implementation of the Action Plan
Va de Vuelta is especially qualified to identify, select and train people to carry out this work who must show talent and qualifications to interact with low education groups (many do not read or write). We also have a valuable network of professionals who have worked with us who are experts in this field.
For more information:
Margarita M. Carlés
Email: margaritacarles@gmail.com
Tel: 54 11 5917 7924
www.vadevuelta.org.ar
The Founders
Margarita M. Carlés. Margarita worked in the areas of marketing and communications for companies and NGOs. Her first job was writing for La Prensa (argentine newspaper). Founder of www.bodasynovias.com , in 2001 she began to work for the government of the Province of Buenos Aires, creating a credit and technical support program for productive initiatives integrated by low income people, mostly cooperatives and small farmers She was State Director for small business and Director of the Buenos Aires Guarantee Fund (Fogaba). Margarita holds a BA from Rutgers University (New Jersey) and has graduate studies in Strategic Management from Universidad de San Andres, Buenos Aires. She lives in Buenos Aires with her two daughters. Currently she is President of Va de Vuelta and does independent consulting work for NGOs in project management and research related to poverty reduction programs.
Ernesto “Lalo” David Paret . Was raised in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, his family had migrated from the interior of Argentina looking for work. Lalo was a cartonero or urban scavenger together with friends and family. He has worked since he is 8 helping his neighborhood to organize. In 2001 with the “gran crisis” he helped many fellow workers organize in cooperatives. He founded Cooperativa del Tren Blanco along with many others in José León Suárez, partido de San Martin, Provincia de Buenos Aires. He also founded the Red de Cooperativas de Cartoneros “Reciclando Valores” and one of the various organizations that help worker recovered factories, “empresas recuperadas por sus trabajadores”.
Fabiana Invernizzi Fabiana holds a BA in Psychology and a MA in International Studies from FIU, Florida. She has 10 years experience in the field of corporate communications and community relations within companies and as a consultant for private organizations and NGOs. She works with a cooperative association of native women in the north of Argentina (Jujuy) which is dedicated to the production and sale of hand made llama woven products. Fabiana lives in Buenos Aires with her husband and two children.
Contact Information
Margarita Carlés
Asociación Civil Va de Vuelta
Argentina
Tel: 54 11 5917 7924
Cel: 54 9 11 6 104 7888
Web www.vadevuelta.org.ar
Email: margaritacarles@gmail.com
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[1] INDEC, is the government agency that measures poverty only taking into account income related to the official value of a basic goods. INDEC, has lost its long time reputation as an autonomous institution and now responds to the desires and orders of President Kirchner who refuses to adapt the “canasta básica” (basic goods) to real inflation estimated now at 15%. A realistic and honest estimation would add 500,000 under the poverty line.
[2] Encuesta permanente de Hogares del Indec, second trimester 2006
16 de Septiembre de 2007.
