MADISON, Wis. — The World Council of Credit Unions made a recent follow up trip to check on the success of a program it launched last summer in Peru.

WOCCU Executive Vice President/Chief Financial Officer Brian Branch, who is leading the project, explained that WOCCU is working with six of Peru's 170 credit unions on a pilot program to boost economic growth in the poorest cities and rural areas of Peru. The project is funded primarily by the U.S. Agency for International Development, WOCCU, and the National Federation of Peruvian Credit Unions (FENACREP).

The delegation–which included Laida Garcia, executive vice president of Florida Central Credit Union, Tampa; Adrian Lovney, chief executive of Abacus-Australian Mutuals, an organization serving Australian credit unions and mutual building societies; Dave Klavitter, vice president of information services for CUNA; Dennis Tanimoto, president/CEO of the Hawaii Credit Union League; Anne Cochran, president/CEO of the Louisiana Credit Union League; and various WOCCU board members and staff–spent a week performing rigorous site visits to cities, remote rural communities and credit unions throughout Peru.