International Women's Day: a story from Peru

Photo from Grameen

The only way Alejandrina Flores could manage to feed her six children was to do without herself.  She had lost her job because illness meant she had too many days off work, and then her husband left her.

She attempted to set up a business for herself, making dolls, characters from Peruvian culture, but couldn't earn enough to put food on the table.  Then she heard about a micro-finance organisation, Pro Mujer, which not only gave small loans but coaching for starting or expanding a business.  She joined up, received the training and drafted a business plan.  She was given a loan to buy the materials she needed.

Now her earnings have almost tripled she can support her family.  One day she hopes to have her own store.

Women are outstanding poverty-fighters in the world of micro-finance.  When a woman receives a small loan to start a business, she is more likely to invest the business profits to better her children’s nutrition, health, and education.

Stop Poverty Now

Self help for poverty

Normally, banks won't look at providing funds or financial services to people who have little or no income, but in many cases these are the people who need them most.  One of the better ways to help people out of poverty is by microfinance.  By this I mean a small, sometimes tiny, loan to help someone, very often a woman, start up and maintain a business, helping them to help themselves.  It is a stepping stone out of poverty. But microfinancial organisations are much more than this: they envision "a world in which as many poor and near-poor households as possible have permanent access to an appropriate range of high quality financial services, including not just credit but also savings, insurance, and fund transfers". (from Finanacial Institutions with a Double Bottom Line - pdf file).

Photo from Grameen

One of the women who have been supported in this way is Zeinab, who borrowed $45 to set up a business to make wooden pots and kitchen utensils.  She now provides employment for three of her children and owns her own workshop.  Her business has grown and she has been able to take out larger loans to continue the growth.  Her last repayment was $700, more, she says, that a local civil servant would earn in two months.

But none of this would be possible if it weren't for microfinance organisations and the people who run them.  In this case the organisation is Al-Tadamun based in Egypt and a partner of the Grameen Jameel Pan-Arab Microfinance Ltd.  Under the leadership of Reham, it has been able to lift thousands of women and their families out of poverty.  Reham herself was set on a career in the finance sector.  She realises how blessed she is to be able to use her financial training and skills in a job where she can help people survive.

Grameen Foundation has a network of 55 microfinance partners and has touched the lives of 34 million people.

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UPDATED to add that my great blogging friend, RennyBA, actually met Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen, when he and the Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize. That must have been amazing Renny!  Read about it on Renny's blog, and while you're there, have a look around because it will be well worth your while.