We say, Sisters are doin’ it for themselves, standin’ on their own two feet~Annie Lennox
I want you to believe in Sheela. She is a leader of Opportunity International’s Baba Trust Group meeting in Chennai, India. Nineteen women have joined together to repay loans, learn accounting skills and socialize They are doin it for themselves.
One powerful way that women are doing it for themselves and helping to make sure their dreams come true is by starting businesses. Businesses that they own. You guys already know that microfinance organizations make it a priority to serve the particular needs of women, since a unbelievable 70 percent of all those living in extreme poverty are female. Women are often excluded from education, the workplace, owning property and equal participation in politics. They produce one half of the world’s food, but own just one percent of its farmland. Nearly 85 percent of Opportunity’s loan clients are women.
We know what happens when women have access to financial and human capital - family income rises. Children go to school. Health improves. Housing is improved. Communities are transformed. Generations are changed.
Trust Groups all over the world are transforming communities by providing both support and credit.
Trust Group? What’s a Trust Group? Its a typical first point of entry for local women, The Trust Group brings together 10 to 30 entrepreneurs who elect leaders, receive training and pledge to guarantee each other’s loans. Because the group guarantee replaces the need for collateral, credit becomes available to those previously locked out from formal financial services.
Opportunity International Trust Groups make it possible for women improve their lives and make a difference in their community. Weekly meetings are the hallmark of the Trust Group model. Women supporting women. As they receive training in business practices, leadership skills and health care issues, members develop close alliances along with new skills.With a high repayment rate, they are an effective grassroots approach to tackling poverty. While building up local economies, these close-knit groups also build up women and create amazing community leaders like Sheela. Women gain status. Communities are transformed.
The World Bank says that 500 MILLION people living in poverty could benefit from a small business loan and only one-third of the world’s population has access to any kind of bank account. A loan as small as $25 can change a life. Let me say that again. CAN. CHANGE. A. LIFE. I am not exaggerating. Let’s look at the numbers:
Total amount US spends on Christmas each year: $450 billion or 16 years worth of food, water, and education for the world. That is a lot of money. This year lets commit to purchasing one less “thing” and invest in one more woman.
So what can you do to help?
You can help fund the loan of an entrepreneur.
OptINnow™ is a new initiative from Opportunity International that enables you to “opt in” and become part of a global movement to transform the lives of entrepreneurs throughout the developing world –At OptINnow.org, you can look through client profiles and personally select an entrepreneur whose loan they wish to fund. Your gift goes directly to the people you designate, helping them to build businesses that support their families, create jobs for neighbors and end the cycle of poverty. As the loan is paid back, the money is loaned again and again, changing many lives for years to come. With donations as low as $25, even school children can become involved in this movement to end poverty faster.
I believe in Sheela. I believe in her commitment, her passion, her vision, her children. I also believe in all of the un-named women around the world living in extreme poverty. They want to feed their children. They want to live in safe, decent shelter. They want to send their kids to school everyday. They want access and they want status. Access to human and financial capital allows that to happen.
When women improve their circumstances, they also improve the lives of their children and their grandchildren. Writer Jan Richardson says that “What we choose changes us.” I choose to invest in a woman and give her more options for her future. Opportunity and capital is a winning combination.
Free updates via RSS or Email delivered straight to your RSS reader or inbox.
{ 3 trackbacks }
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Then I saw there faces, now I’m a believer.
Not a trace of doubt in my mind.
I’m in inspired, I’m a believer!
I couldn’t leave them if I tried.
I am a believer as well…a believer in the power of humans to love and care for one another. My dreams as a woman and mother are directly connected to Sheela.
Desiree –
Thank you for the powerful, straight talkin’ blog post that you did today on Sheela and the many Opportunity International women clients that we serve every day. So grateful for your voice and efforts in our collective mission to bring attention to these worthy women around the world – together, we can end poverty faster by providing them with access to finance and to education, leading to stronger, thriving communities.
Ruth, I am a fan of straight talk. More than that, I am a believer in women helping women. Sheela’s children are my children. Her problems are my problems and I can not let her fight this fight alone. Thanks for all the work that you do everyday…and thanks for investing in Sheela and the million of women like her around the world.
I believe in Sheela. I believe… I know… that while women represent the majority of the poor and oppressed around the world, they also represent the greatest resource for economic growth. The best investment you can make – to effect change – is to invest in women and educate girls. It’s the ultimate “multiplier effect” (loans repaid, leaders grown, children educated, generations affected). It’s do-able, and it helps women, men, and families. I choose to Opt In Now and “turn oppression into Opportunity for women worldwide” (paraphrasing from the subtitle of Nicholas Kristof’s Half the Sky). Check out the cool gift cards, too!
Betsy,
Educating and empowering women and girls is the best ROI strategy in the world–bar none!
Desiree, I went to Ghana last year to see Opportunity’s work there and I hope to go to India next year. Poor women need much more than loans. They need safe savings and insurance as well. Once women have a business and an income they need a way to protect their assets. Opportunity created a biometric identity care for clients that they access via their thumbprint. In Africa,where patriarchal inheritance laws often leave widows penniless, these bank cards have become popular shower gifts for women! Women, who know a child can die for lack of the $5 it costs for treatment, do not need much encouragement to become savers. Or change agents. Give a woman a little “Opportunity” and she’ll change her own world! Thanks for giving Sheela the exposure she deserves, and OptInNow.org the exposure it needs to keep giving more women access to microfinance.
Susan,
I absolutely agree that in addition to capital and opportunity poor women need systems in place that protect them. Inheritance rights, land tenure, access to political systems are all critical pieces for true change. How lucky you were to be able to see first hand the great work of OI. Those of us who have seen first hand the power of microfinance, its our duty to share the stories and advocate for women like Sheela.