John Hatch Named 2009 National Peace Corps Sargent Shriver Award Recipient
Recognized for Distinguished Humanitarian Service

June 15, 2009

The National Peace Corps Association has named FINCA’s founder and former Peace Corps volunteer John Hatch the 2009 recipient of the prestigious Sargent Shriver Award for Distinguished Humanitarian Service. The Shriver Award is presented to a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer who continues to make a sustained and distinguished contribution to humanitarian causes at home or abroad, or is an innovative social entrepreneur whose actions will bring about significant long-term change.

Hatch’s long-time friend and colleague, and former Peace Corps volunteer, FINCA President and CEO Rupert Scofield commented, “It was in the Peace Corps that John first developed his lifelong respect and admiration for the hardworking poor, and their mastery of the art of survival. This respect became the foundation for his brilliant Village Banking methodology, which has brought the benefits of financial services to low-income entrepreneurs in the communities where they live and work. He has been FINCA’s guiding star and moral compass for nearly 25 years, keeping us focused on one thing: the eradication of poverty worldwide.”

John Hatch began his service to the Peace Corps in 1962, as a community development volunteer in Colombia and later as a regional Peace Corps director in Peru. After completing his Ph.D, Hatch founded the non-profit microfinance organization FINCA International (The Foundation for International Community Assistance), whose mission is to provide financial services to the world’s lowest-income entrepreneurs so they can create jobs, build assets and improve their families’ standard of living. He developed a new microfinance methodology called Village Banking, which brings together ten to thirty people in a community—mostly women—who guarantee small business loans for each other, enabling them to create income-generating opportunities for themselves. Today, FINCA operates in 21 countries of Africa, Eurasia, the Greater Middle East and Latin America, and is currently providing financial services to more than 740,000 people.

Established in 1986, and with over 20 recipients to date, the Sargent Shriver Award honors the tremendous contributions of the first Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver, in the founding and development of the Peace Corps. Hatch will be presented with the Award at a reception in his honor on June 26th in Washington, D.C.

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