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Movie Weekends: New ways we’re reaching communities in Mexico

9 enero, 2019

Blog

On any given Saturday in a small town in Mexico, the main plaza is a place for casual gatherings, a place to greet neighbors and share beers at the nearest corner store. Residents visit small vendors for groceries, while many more relax with family. Weekends can go by silently in these towns, where there are no large cinemas or playgrounds for children.

[sw_media_embed aspect_ratio=”16by9″ max_width=”700px”]https://youtu.be/Kq7JcEg2gvA[/sw_media_embed]

Pro Mujer visited three small towns such as these, where we hosted weekends filled with festivities and learning opportunities for local families. Balloons, tents, games and screens were unloaded from trucks at the center of each plaza. A series of red tents formed a type of town fair. But this time, much more than a fair awaited: a gigantic inflatable screen rose from the ground along with many more colorful inflatable structures that immediately caught the attention of local children. Unsurprisingly, they were the first to approach the setup to ask, “What is happening here? What is Pro Mujer?”

Pro Mujer’s long-standing alliance with FIRA, our financial partner in Mexico, supported us to host these novel events last month, where both organizations united to share a compelling array of services and benefits for low-income communities – completely free and open to all community members.

San Andres de Cholula in the State of Puebla, Tizayuca, Hidalgo and Tecamac, State of Mexico, benefitted from the entertaining afternoons filled with games, raffles, music and a taste of local food offered by local micro-entrepreneurs. Pro Mujer beneficiaries and their businesses were featured at the fairs, while our best-in-class partners complemented the offerings with financial, health and educational services; all focused on women’s empowerment as the means to long lasting impact on their families and, therefore, communities at large.

These events allowed Pro Mujer to reach hundreds of potential new beneficiaries, while providing more than 150 free health checks. Children enjoyed guided healthy food discussions and entertainment at the Kid-Zone, while parents attended financial and business-oriented trainings with the ongoing support of local allies such as: CREA, FUNDES, Trust for the Americas and Educación Financiera Citibanamex.

Many locals who attended were surprised to learn about the services they can access through Pro Mujer, and thanked our local staff for a fun-filled afternoon that wrapped-up with a blockbuster movie experience (popcorn included!) featuring the movie COCO on our gigantic outdoor screen.