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this was #9 (persuade). It was on microfinance, and how it's possible to make a huge difference to someone's life with as little as $25 through a microcredit organization such as kiva.

 

Here are my notes for the speech so you can read them:

 

World bank:

extreme poverty $1/day

moderate poverty $2/day

 

3.8 billion people live on less than $2 a day

 

these people are poor for a myriad of reasons which are not their fault

deficiencies in public administration

failures of their environment

overpopulation

disease

whatever the reason, they are unable to thrive

 

what have you done to help?

 

give money to charities..

and when you do, do you pay attention to what percentage of your donation goes to helping people

when you give to charities do you know who's life you've changed?

 

aid can do good

but specifically in africa, despite the billions of dollars poured in to the continent, of people in extreme poverty is increasing

increasing aid increases dependency on aid as free goods flood the market and put local merchants out of business

if you're given everything, how much incentive do you have to become self reliant?

 

 

just after the new year, i got an email saying that manuella had finished paying back her loan

manuella enterprising woman who raised money for her current store by giving massages and manicures

now she sells school supplies and she had just paid back a loan to buy a photocopier which will expand her business

 

I was impressed by how she bootstrapped

and so when I found her profile on kiva, I lent her part of what she was asking for

32 other people also contributed to her loan

which was then distributed by one of kiva's field partners in ecuador

 

kiva is a person to person microlending organization

$700,000 loaned

to 2026 entrepreurs

 

i went back to kiva and started looking at other available loans

i lent to

safina in tanzania who works 10 hour days to make $50/mo expand her business selling cloth

sun chrip, mother of 4 in cambodia build a roof and a sturdy wall so that her house wouldn't leak.

 

loans are few hundred to 1000, many people contribute to one loan

small sums would never be lent by a normal bank

and because the borrowers have no credit

because the administrative costs outweigh the interest on the loan

 

first microfinance bank

Grameen bank started by Muhammad Yunus as a research project to test this method for providing credit and banking services to the rural poor

grameen means 'of the village', so this is is a bank of, for and by the people

aim to lend to the poorest of the poor

 

it was wildly successful

In 2006, Yunus and the Grameen bank were jointly awarded the nobel peace prize

for their efforts to create economic and social development from below.

 

Lasting peace can not be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty.

...

That vision can not be realised by means of micro-credit alone. But Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that, in the continuing efforts to achieve it, micro-credit must play a major part."

 

 

why does microlending work so well

 

targeting women

more likely to spend money on improving their family and children

than to spend it on themselves

raises socio economic status gives them power

 

2nd innovation

group lending

group not responsible for the loan

but will not receive another loan if any of the members defaults

encourages others to fill in, and to help each other make payments

borrowers have better information about each other than the bank, credit

support group, community, business ideas

 

 

traditional aid doesn't have the power to affect people at this level

loans are small

and have tremendous potential to affect the lives of the recipients

 

 

who has become rich from receiving handouts?

prosperity is the result of opportunity and effort

microlending gives the opportunity and allows people to

to provide services and gain esteem in their community

to gain skills

build their own future, to become self reliant

 

the next time you want to give money, take a minute to consider WHO you are giving it to.

 

 

sources

 

wikipedia

kiva

microplace

www.csa.com/discoveryguides/microfinance/review2.php?SID=...

www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,363663,00.html

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Uploaded on April 12, 2008
Taken on April 7, 2008