What can $10 buy? A pair of scissors and other supplies for a Filipina woman to start styling hair and support her family. What can $25 buy? Supplies to start a noodle house allowing a Cambodian family to save enough for a first home. What can $50 buy? A cell phone that a Bangladeshi woman can rent out in a neighborhood with no phones, improving her life and the lives of her neighbors. Read more stories here.
Microcredit is yet another way to support sustainable development in the US and around the world. When recipients pay back the loans, the money is sent back out again to improve someone else's life. So check your pockets and see if you have any money to spare. Pool it with a friend and you can make an even bigger difference in someone's life. Consider these organizations:
* Opportunity International "Our mission is to provide opportunities for people in chronic poverty to transform their lives. Our strategy is to create jobs, stimulate small businesses, and strengthen communities among the poor."
* Accion International is "a nonprofit that fights poverty through microlending." They also have Accion USAwhich makes small loans in the US.
* Association for Enterprise Opportunity is "the national association of organizations committed to microenterprise development."
2005 is the United Nations International Year of Microcredit. Learn more at www.yearofmicrocredit.org. Your money goes further when it's used for microloans, since a small amount can make a very big difference. Fund a microloan today.
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8 comments:
Karama,
Thanks for the great links. We are thinking of starting a microcredit program in the community in Uganda where the school is located. I'll pass these links along to the board member who is currently researching microcredit programs!
Beronda
Excellent, Beronda! I'm so glad this was helpful. The students at and community around Nyaka School will certainly benefit from your efforts at establishing a microcredit program. Best wishes! And let me know how it turns out!
Karama
PS: For more info on Nyaka, see the Nov. 18 post.
Thanks so much for stopping by, Alex. I'm glad you enjoyed the post and like the blog. Microcredit can really improve lives. And with repayment rates of 98% and the like, it's hard to imagine getting more bang for you buck. Best of luck to your girlfriend in her work.
Please visit again soon, and spread the word.
Thanks!
Karama
Check out today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution for an article on microloans in Bangladesh. It's onpg F1, the Atlanta and the World section.
For more creative solutions to social problems, see the July 1st post.
To make free click-based donations to fund microloans, see the July 18th post.
Here's another way to make a microloan. And get this, with this organization you get your money back!
Microcredit is yet another way to support sustainable development in the US and around the world. When recipients pay back the loans, the money is sent back out again to improve someone else's life. So check your pockets and see if you have any money to spare.
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