We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits · We Are For Good

668. Merge to Multiply: How a Purposeful Sunset Expanded Community Impact - Desiree Lyons, Namaste Direct + Kate Flatley, Women's Justice Initiative

·36 min·2 clips

A longtime Namaste borrower closed her bakery after a loan-shark debt spiral and a family crisis.

1. We Are For Good Podcast episode 668 focuses on Namaste Direct’s purposeful sunset and the transfer of its community work to the Women's Justice Initiative. 2. Becky hosts Desiree Lyons, CEO of Namaste Direct, and Kate Flatley, Executive Director of Women's Justice Initiative, as two Guatemala-based leaders with overlapping missions. 3. The episode asks what it looks like to center community needs even when that means changing or ending a model. 4. Desiree says she grew up in Southern California, studied on a Semester at Sea trip during September 11th, and later moved into international nonprofit work. 5. Kate says she grew up in Connecticut, worked in foundation philanthropy, moved to Guatemala in 2005, and later returned after law school focused on international human rights law. 6. Kate describes WJI as a rights-education and legal-services organization for indigenous women and girls facing violence in Guatemala. 7. She says Guatemala has extremely high rates of violence against women and girls, including a 48 percent lifetime violence figure she cites during the interview. 8. Kate says WJI works in more than 120 communities with a team of 50, over 80 percent indigenous. 9. She adds that more than 16,000 women and girls have participated in WJI programs and more than 60,000 direct beneficiaries have been reached. 10. Desiree explains that Namaste Direct was founded in 2008 to help economically vulnerable women in Guatemala grow profitable businesses, achieve security, and pursue dreams. 11. She says the model pairs women with business advisors, financial literacy training, and fair access to capital because a loan alone is not enough. 12. Desiree describes a 2020 turning point when the organization was not growing as expected and began a strategic planning process. 13. She says the team found higher default rates than many microfinance institutions and discovered that more than 50 percent of loan applicants in 2022 did not qualify because of debt. 14. Desiree shares a borrower story involving surgery costs, a brother’s moto accident, a loan shark, and the closure of a bakery. 15. She uses that story to show how women with no safety net can be trapped when family crises, informal lending, and debt intersect. 16. Desiree says the board considered growing, merging, or sunsetting, then realized the organization needed runway to cover participants and staff severance under Guatemalan law. 17. Kate says her first reaction to the Namaste proposal was shock and sadness, but also respect for the legacy being entrusted to WJI. 18. She explains that WJI’s five-year strategic plan already aims to triple impact by 2027, yet the team saw savings circles and economic empowerment as a culturally familiar fit. 19. The tone is reflective, practical, and collaborative, with both leaders speaking in detail about strategy, program design, and transition logistics. 20. People working in nonprofit leadership, women’s empowerment, or strategic mergers will get the most from this conversation, while listeners wanting a fast inspirational story may skip it.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits