Changing the World, One Loan at a Time
Let’s take India for example.
There are millions of rural Indian people today, mostly women, without access to financial help or to traditional banking systems. The Indian microfinance sector may be the largest in the world, with over 70 million borrowers, but the vast majority (80%) are concentrated in just 5 states, leaving many wanting.
Kiva, a non-profit organization with a mission to “connect people through lending to alleviate poverty,” helps combat this dearth of financial resources, posting loans that can
Support excluded and vulnerable groups like widowed women, physically-challenged individuals and families affected by leprosy.
Bring clean drinking water closer to home, improve living conditions [and] sanitation systems.
Promote solar and renewable sources of energy.
In truth, not a lot is needed to make progress possible. As Kiva’s website states,
only a small amount of money [is] standing between [these people] and a sustainable future
and Kiva loans are helping bridge this gap.
Kiva’s team of employees
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Individuals are allowed to lend as little as $25 to enact tangible change, creating opportunity in India and around the world. 100% of the money goes towards funding loans. Kiva does not take a cut.
Kiva publishes a picture and profile on every person or group currently up for a loan. This allows for that extra bit of human connection.
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Their repayment rate is an impressive 98.86%, and so far they have dealt in $570,110,700 worth of loans, with a total of 1,181,730 lenders.
Besides India, they work with a total of 75 different countries on 5 continents of the globe.
We were especially heartened by the “Kiva teams,” groups of like-minded people joined together by their giving and their reasons for doing so. The teams range from “Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers” to “Kiva Christians” to groups who do not comment on their religious or non-religious affiliation, like “milepoint,” who, as travelers have seen poverty firsthand.
Give today at www.kiva.org/india or www.kiva.org.
Changing the World, One Loan at a Time was originally published on Shazzarazza - Trends in art, design, pop culture and news
