In 2020, the Raising Haiti Foundation began funding the provision of small loans ($25-$50) to 50 women clients per community. By July 2024, the program had grown to a total of 426 beneficiaries who received loans in the $76 to $1,132 range. By the end of 2024, the program will expand to enroll 500 clients, with an increasing loan range.
Most of the women use their loans to become entrepreneurs, or to expand their current businesses, selling goods in local markets. Some use them to purchase livestock or crop seeds, improving their farming outputs. Besides loans, the women receive training on topics such as business management, customer satisfaction, how to avoid supply shortages, and the role of local leaders in community development.
Is this the orphan crushing machine again
In case someone doesn’t already know about it, the charity “Give Directly” tries to find the world’s poorest people and gives them lump sums of money. Not as a loan. They recognize how hard it can be for people in that level of poverty to pay back money, and it also eliminates a lot of the issues that material based charities can inadvertently cause on local economies!
They’re my number one favorite charity now, but I didn’t know they existed till a few years ago so I’m trying to spread the word!
Is this not the same as https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-microfinance-banks-profit-off-developing-world/ ??
If we’re talking about such low sums - why even have interest? Why not lend the money for free? There’s C suite banking execs that blow that much money on their lunch supply of coke…
Debt fucks people up - I’ve personally known folk who’ve used debt “wisely” for business purposes only for it to crumble and they take their lives because they don’t see a way out.
The micro-loans in Africa use very low interest rates as a way of encouraging responsibility for the loan, as well as a means of generating small amounts of capital which is used to fund future loans. In the programs I’m familiar with, all the money stays in the community instead of being siphoned out of it.
That’s good to hear! - still feels weird to take profits from people worse off than you - but if it helps them and stays in the community it doesn’t seem like that big a deal
Does that mean that Microsoft pay the interest and underwrite defaults? Or are they peddling debt? I hope it’s the former.
At the amounts quoted it would be reasonable to just give them the money. It’s also very effective.
We used to have to shill a micro loan “charity” back when I worked for the ole organic Walmart now owned by Bezos. My boss always gave me crap about not getting enough donations. I told them I was morally opposed to profiteering off the world’s poorest people. No, raiderkev, this is different. No the fuck it’s not. It’s not a charity, it’s a business, and we’re asking people to fund banks that will charge these people interest and get them started on a debt spiral. Hard pass.
