I heard about this place - Kiva.org - which allows people like you and I to get involved in micro loans that help poor people all over the world. Many of you may have read about the success of these types of programs. Lending as little as $25 to someone in a 3rd world country can be the stepping stone out of poverty for them.
What is really cool about this program is as the beneficiaries repay your loan, you can re-loan those funds to others in need. You just keep recycling the dollar amount your comfortable with, thus continually helping others. I've got 2 loans of 7 already in repayment and I can't wait to select additional opportunities.
Here's more about Kiva (or go to www.kiva.org )
We let you loan to the working poor
Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can "sponsor a business" and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you've sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back.
We partner with organizations all over the world
Kiva partners with existing microfinance institutions. In doing so, we gain access to outstanding entrepreneurs from impoverished communities world-wide. Our partners are experts in choosing qualified borrowers. That said, they are usually short on funds. Through Kiva.org, our partners upload their borrower profiles directly to the site so you can lend to them.
We show you where your money goes
Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform for the poor. We are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle.
You Too Can Be a Banker to the Poor ~ Check Out This Great Organization!
by bisous 9 Replies latest social current
-
bisous
-
bisous
The following 2006 Nobel peace prize recipient, a leader in microlending, inspired me to research more about this type of opportunity, eventually leading me to www.kiva.org ...
ABOUT MUHAMMAD YUNUS
Title: Founder and managing director, Grameen Bank.
Headquarters: Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Age: 66.
Book: Banker to the Poor.
Family: The third of 14 children (five of whom died in infancy), he is married and has a grown daughter.
Honor: "The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006, divided into two equal parts, to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank for their efforts to create economic and social development. ... Every single individual on Earth has both the potential and the right to live a decent life."
He's an anti-poverty crusader who doesn't believe in handouts, a free-market disciple who says for-profit businesses should pursue social goals and the latest recipient of an honor that has gone to Mikhail Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was an economics professor in Bangladesh when he launched the Grameen Bank in 1983. Since then, the innovative bank has made small loans to almost 7 million of the poorest people in one of the world's poorest countries.
Grameen's "micro" loans, usually totaling less than $100, go to people with no collateral. Borrowers (almost all are women) use the money to start small village businesses, which often catapult them from squalor to self-respect.
Grameen, which is profitable, has a repayment rate of nearly 99%. Unlike wealthy borrowers, the poor know that if they default on one loan, they'll never get another, Yunus says. The micro credit concept has spread to more than 100 countries, including the USA. Now, Yunus, 66, seeks to rally support for eradicating poverty in this century. Last week, USA TODAY's David J. Lynch interviewed him in Washington.
Q: Do you really believe that poverty can be eliminated or is that just a motivating goal?
A: Poverty is not something created by the poor people. It is created by the system. ... One good example in the context of this country would be the welfare system. The welfare system is designed to keep people in poverty rather than take them out of poverty. ... We should be aiming at creating poverty museums where children will go to visit ... to find how poverty used to be.
Q: Is Grameen Bank easing suffering or really changing lives?
A: We have now an environment where 100% of the children of Grameen borrowers are in school — not only they're in school, they're graduating ... going to college. Many are becoming professionals, doctors, engineers. The sons and daughters of (illiterate) borrowers. ... So you're creating a dramatically different generation.
Q: Why do you say that access to credit is a fundamental human right?
A: Fundamental rights include the right to food, right to health, right to education, right to work and so on. ... OK, who guarantees that right to food to me, that right to shelter to me? ... Is it my government? ... (No), basically it's the citizen who has to do it. ... Right to credit means right to self-employment. Credit means I can take money and create income for myself, so ... if everything else fails, I can take care of myself.
Q: Why have micro credit programs had only limited success in the USA?
A: There are more than 700 micro credit programs in the U.S. A common experience of them is that they are not self-sustaining. They cannot cover their costs. Impact is good. Repayment is good. Explanation? (Staff) salary level is too high. Business volume is too small. ... In Bangladesh, (salaries are) so small we can do anything.
Q: How well is globalization working?
A: It's not working for people who are poor. ... Sometimes, it acts like a 20-lane highway running across the world. But the problem is the big trucks from the USA (are) taking over all the lanes. No lane is safe for Bangladeshi rickshaws. ... So if that image is correct, why don't we have traffic rules? This lane is reserved for rickshaw ... this lane is for heavy vehicles. Today, heavy vehicles are taking over everything. ... So we need traffic rules and traffic police. Today, in globalization, there is no traffic police. There is no traffic rules. This is an anarchic situation. And that is why poor people are scared.
Q: You say labor should be able to move across borders as freely as capital. Given the tensions in this country over illegal immigration, is that realistic?
A: It's practical. ... Doesn't mean on day one, everybody comes in. We'll gradually open it up. ... Some desperate ones will still swim the river anyway. But the desire to swim or take that risk will be less because you have a genuine chance. ... If every country is taking people like that, a lot of options open up. So the pressure on one country will not be tremendous.
Q: You've been critical of the World Bank's approach to fighting poverty. What do you think of World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz's emphasis on fighting corruption?
A: On corruption, we all support him ... but what happens to poverty? ... If I was the World Bank and I gave (an) infrastructure loan to Bangladesh or any country, I would make a deal with the government: Yes, we'll give you the loan to build this bridge, but our condition is this bridge should be owned by the local poor people. ... So that this becomes an independent company where the profit goes to the local poor people and the surplus will be invested into building another bridge.
Q: What has the Nobel meant for Grameen Bank?
A: It's a tremendous explosion of attention and visibility. Another thing the Nobel Prize has done (is focus) on the relationship between poverty and peace. Poverty is a threat to peace. That has been clearly stated by giving the Nobel Prize for something which works for the poor people. That relationship is something which was never clearly understood. ... They gave their verdict that it is related. ... Poverty is a threat to peace. -
nvrgnbk
This a wonderful program.
-
bisous
Nvrgbk, I obviously agree. You can track journals of the business owners. You can give as little a $25 and still make a difference. You can read about other "lenders" and get to know them and their motivations/inspirations. They have a very low overhead. They are unique and I am proud to be a part of their efforts.
-
5go
www.prosper.com is the USA's equalivent
-
Double Edge
I saw KIVA on some talk show (Oprah?)..... it sounds like a great program. Thanks for reminding me....I'm going to check it out.
-
tula
Send me $25. and your question. I will send you an answer.
-
bisous
5go, thanks for sharing that ... I'd never heard of it and I checked it out a bit. Isn't it something how different the amounts needed are and some of the reasons for the loans? really underscores the vast differences in the U.S. and many other parts of the world ...
-
rnovello
how safe is it giving out your ss.#, bank #, etc. to this co. anyone there has access then
-
bisous
Which co. are you referring to? Kiva uses Paypal to make the donation, which is a secure payment facility.