Microfinance helps whole communities out of poverty
Affordable financial services are central to addressing poverty. Microfinance services help the poorest earn a living, grow their businesses and create new jobs, pulling whole communities out of poverty.
Of the 500 million owners of small businesses worldwide, less than 2% have access to financial services like loans and credit. CARE’s programmes work hard to ensure that poor people across the world have access to the financial tools and training they need to help lift themselves out of poverty.
CARE has been working on microfinance for more than two decades and currently has 131 microfinance projects in 39 countries, helping poor people to increase their incomes and make their futures more secure.
CARE works with local community groups around the world, helping them organise and finance their own Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs). VSLAs are groups formed by communities that begin by pooling the savings of those involved and ultimately use these savings to make loans to individual members.
In 2008, CARE launched ten year programme called Access Africa which aims to provide basic financial services for 30 million of Africa’s poorest people – at least 70 per cent of whom will be women.
CARE has also helped create and run many microfinance institutions (MFIs) across Latin America, Asia and Africa. Our goal is to improve the MFIs ability to provide effective, long term financial services for the poor.
CARE receives support from a number of financial institutions for our work in microfinance. In one initiative Barclays, CARE and Plan International have joined together to improve the quality of life for over 500,000 people across Africa, Asia and South America through microfinance. For more information: www.barclays.com/bankingonchange
CARE also recently launched a new website called lendwithcare where you can make small loans to entrepreneurs around the world. Visit the site at: www.lendwithcare.org
