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.
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!