Empowering Women To End Poverty

“On virtually every global measure, women are more economically excluded than men.” – The World Bank 2014 Gender at Work.

I have been fascinated by micro-finance programs that lift societies out of poverty through lending to small businesses and entrepreneurs. There are several reasons they target women in particular. First, women are the most vulnerable and poorest segments of society. Second, they have proven themselves more reliable than men to repay promptly. Third, women are more likely to spend the money on their children and households while men have tended to spend it on alcohol and/or gambling.

The non-profit lendwithcare.org says, “women are the change agents of the families because women spend a greater percentage of their income on the welfare of their household than men do. As a consequence, increases in women’s income improve the health, nutritional and educational status of other member of the household, particularly children.”

The non-profit notes that as women have become better organized, microfinance has formed a basis for addressing a range of other issues such as domestic violence, male alcohol abuse and in regions where women’s mobility is limited, women have become more visible and are better able to negotiate in a public sphere.

This also increases their self-esteem, their confidence, and their status both within the household as well as in the wider community. This is good for the women and for their children who are the next generation of income producers and pulls a community out of poverty.

A leading player and resource in the microfinance world is Kiva, an online portal at kiva.org. Individuals and companies lend to entrepreneurs through the kiva.org web site, which I have been using to support women business owners since 2011. Kiva has field partners in such places as Mongolio, Thailand, Cambodia, Paraguay, the Philippines, Ukraine, Dominican Republic and many other countries around the world. The statistics are staggering. Over $3 million of loans just last week were sponsored from regular people like you and me, giving from $25 and up, through Kiva’s website. Borrowers have paid these loans back at a rate of 98.6% which is less than 1 ½ percent default rate.

So, what about you? Will you take a visit to KIVA.org and choose a woman business owner to help be successful. When she pays you back, you get to recycle your donation and lend it to another woman entrepreneur.

I look forward to hearing about your successes lending through Kiva.