You may want to view this short video by Women to Women International:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD6BxE_nLrQ

The founder highlights one woman who became an active part of her community once she was given economic empowerment. This is not to say that change occurs overnight; it develops gradually one level at a time. The process has to start with giving women educational/economic opportunities in order for them to gain status and acceptance within their own families. Multiply this effect among other women in the community and you start building momentum for a change in attitude.

Here’s a program I like that’s focused on girls. I don’t know the age range covered, but it’s for girls, not women.

http://www.plan-international.org/involved/campaigns/becauseiamagirl/

In their own words: “Because I am a Girl is Plan’s campaign to fight gender inequality, promote girls’ rights and lift millions of girls out of poverty. Across the world, girls face the double discrimination of their gender and age, leaving them suffering at the bottom of the social ladder.”

First of all, the video never indicated that a girl was being given a cow. She could take out a loan to buy a cow. Most experts/academicians in the microfinance field agree that microloans made to women are more likely to have a greater social impact because they spend their profits on their children, other family members, and in the local community.

The borrowers on Kiva are predominantly women. My own Kiva portfolio is comprised of 70% women. I’ve decided to highlight some of those loans that indeed illustrate the Girl Effect. Despite having agricultural loans in my portfolio, I purposely selected examples that did not involve a cow:

a). Karla is a woman in Mexico who has three children. She wasn’t earning enough money working as a household domestic to support her family, so she decided to start her own housekeeping business. Over time, she has been able to establish a significant client base. She requested a loan to purchase an industrial vacuum cleaner.

b). Blandine lives in the African nation of Benin and has two school-aged children. She operates a beauty salon out of her home. She trains three apprentices who assist her with her clients. She requested a loan to purchase an additional hair dryer for her business.

And my favorite one…

c.) Adora is from the Philippines and just recently gave birth (to a daughter). She owns a sewing business, specializing in gowns and schools uniforms. Her business employs three additional people and she also provides on-the-job training for students at a local school. She requested a loan to purchase additional equipment and fabric to expand her service offering to include mass production of t-shirts. Her goal is to continue expanding her business and providing more employment opportunities within her community.

I think the significance of the “girl effect” is that education and literacy have risen faster for boys than for girls. Even in the “third world,” boys are catching up to developed countries, but girls lag. Patricia and others make good points about girls who attend school marrying later, having fewer but healthier children, and–as the video states–being respected in their families and communities.

For another take on the value of education, especially but not exclusively for girls, read Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson (if you haven’t already). I read it for the first time recently and was particularly struck by the beautiful young women who were among the first in their villages to receive an education. Their photographs exude a quiet confidence in themselves and the future.

PS: I made my first Kiva loan early this year… to a woman who used the money to buy a cow. But it could just as well have been something else.

Sharad

It’s a sad fact that in many cultures women and girls are second class citizens. They simply don’t get the opportunities that boys and men receive–including education. And many studies show that when communities have women at decision-making tables that healthcare, education, etc (things that benefit *everyone*) tend to improve.

That’s why it’s important that girls have equal access to education.

Best wishes,
Patricia

PS Keeping 1/3 to 1/2 of earnings can be a substantial amount if the other 1/2 must be split between the rest of a large family. For example, if a family of 6 (not uncommon in a developing country) had an income of $20 per month, if the husband kept $10 to himself, it would leave very little for the other six people who had to share the remaining $10. Also, in many cases, it’s the wife who earns the income. Can you imagine spending 8 hours selling vegetables by the side of the road, only to have 1/2+ of your income taken by your spouse and sometimes spent on beer? Incredible, but it happens. (I have spent time volunteering in Africa)

Not trying to slam men or boys here, just trying to show what women/girls are up against, and why they need education to give them a livelihood better than selling vegetables.

http://www.madetostick.com/blog/2008/07/18/deconstructing-the-girl-effect

http://wokai.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/07/what-is-the-wokai-effect.html

The second blog wokai, is doing person-to-person lending in a way similar to kiva, with a focus on China (where kiva at present has difficulties to break in due to legal/regulatory constraints, in addition to India, Russia, Brazil, etc.)

Yes, Yes, and YES. I have nothing against giving boys and men opportunities, but I am familiar with the statistics you shared. I am the president of a nonprofit that provides medical and educational assistance to four very poor barrios in Jinotega, Nicaragua. The educational assistance focuses on girls, starting when they’re old enough to go to school. My goal is to get them through high school… and some even go on to college. That beats having a baby at 15 any day!

Unemployment and underemployment is very high in Nica. Some ask, Why bother to educate these girls if they’ve a slim chance of getting a job commensurate with their ability? I say: Would you rather be poor and educated, or poor and uneducated?

It’s about opportunity, which poor women are proven to take on in a way that positively impacts a wider circle.

http://www.camigas.org

Source: http://www.newsweek.com/id/160073/page/1

And here’s a FANTASTIC organization that’s building a school for girls, just for these reasons. Check out their video and website. We CAN make a difference in their lives!

http://www.nurturingmindsinafrica.com/index.html

Thanks again for the video!

The success of the Gramine bank comes from the fact that the money is lent for an interest, and the bank makes a profit that is reinvested in more loans. It follows the rule of the three P’s for sustainable businesses: PEOPLE, PLANET, and PROFITS. You can only continue doing the good if you survive.

Now, if Kiva doesn’t generate a return, it won’t be more than another channel for charity, and will always depend on the ability and willingness of generous people to donate. On the other hand, if there is a return on the loan, although minimal, it might use “greed” to do even more good… sustainable capitalism (?).

This is food for thought, and for spirited debate. What do you think, Pro Marketers?

Finally, you might be interested in reading “We Need Sustainable Capitalism. Nature does not do bailouts” By Al Gore and David Blood in WSJ.com (Nov 5, 2008).

Enough for today

Brilliant!

as always thank you for sharing.

thomas

Milk Makes a Meaningful Gift
The gift of a Milk Menagerie represents a quality-breed heifer, two goats and a water buffalo – four milk-producing animals for hardworking families hoping to provide a better life for their children.
With training for recipient families, each animal in the Menagerie will produce gallon after gallon of wonderful, life-sustaining milk. And as the families “pass on the gift” of offspring to neighbors in need, over time a Milk Menagerie will end hunger and despair one child, one family and one village at a time.

Last year I was proud to sponsor a $1,000.00 Milk Menagerie in the 2007/2008 Heifer program

http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.2699393/

This year we’re planning again — this time, one dollar donated for each new subscriber to DTG during November and December. (Last year about 900, but we upped it to $1,000)

The basic tenet of the clip is: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day teach a man to fish and you feed him for his life”. That is as undoubtedly true now as it has always been. Added to this for me is the fact that “Give a girl a cow” – seems no different than “Give a boy a cow”! Or give a village a cow. It’s probably petty to point out that you need a minimum of two to start a herd.

This is not “The Girl Effect”, though IMHO that is exactly what the world does need. What this presentation is about is microfinance and that is what Kiva is about as far as I understand it.

Also there are simple problems with this simple solution to mankind’s problems. For instance: every girl/boy/person, in a village with a limited grazing area, can’t have a herd of cattle each. The quality of the grazing and the availability of water can be a larger problem than availability of livestock. In addition to this the other villagers might not all be that keen in the long term about this particular girl becoming the source of the village’s wealth. Besides these and many other practical issues, as far as I am aware most people live in urban complexes not in rural areas these days anyway.

The great problems in the world are not the result of billions of unbelievably stupid people not being able to apply elementary lessons. They are the result of the complex social interaction of human beings with their complex internal worlds.

Kiva = great.
Give A Girl A Cow = trite and mawkish rehash of the idea of charity solving social crisis.

IMHO this sort of thing is actually a part of the problem. Firstly both because it convices us that buying a cow or a share in a cow means we’ve “done our bit”, and that our small role as a member of a democratic superpower is completed. Secondly it makes us believe that the answers are simple, as sweet as the soundtrack, and comfortable for all concerned.

Change is always uncomfortable because it is change. Try folding your arms the other way around. It’s annoying until you get accustomed to it. Resistance to significant change is extremely hard to overcome, at personal, organisational and cultural levels. This is even when all concerned are desperate for change and appear to be in perfect harmony wanting the same change. There are also a lot of us in the world who, at least until we get it, think that all we really want or need is more power.

Being in denial of basic human drives in favour of a sentimental philosophy is to be blind. However comfortable this blindness may feel, like Zaphod Beeblebronx’s glasses, in the end we walk into walls and hurt ourselves, often quite badly. That for me is the lesson of the 60′s and 70′s aid programmes.

sincerely
robin