Francisco Barquero

Francisco Barquero, WCCN's Loan Fund Representative in Nicaragua, is a native Nicaraguan whose background includes experience in some of the poorest communities in Nicaragua, working on grassroots development and adult education grounded in the popular methods of Brazilian educator Paolo Freire. From 1984-88, he worked with the Nicaraguan Ministry of Agriculture. In the early 1990s, he obtained a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in agricultural extension and rural development, and completed his Ph.D.in 2002 from the UW-Madison in economic development with a specialization in microfinance. Since 1994 he has worked closely with rural cooperatives in Nicaragua to help them develop a more sustainable business management methodology, thanks in part to a grant awarded in 1995 by the Inter-American Foundation.