Foreign aid, both by government standards and independent giving from charity organizations, has been reluctant to show much of any actual benefit in the long term to the regions and people it seeks out to assist. Globalization has had a variety of costs and benefits donated over the years, but perhaps there is a newfound benefit lying in the usually corrupt means of foreign aid and poverty assistance.
The ability to give is something a large portion of Americans are blessed by. And the desire to give is usually there as well. However, giving as seen in the past has usually been seen to have some negative effects — dependency, conditionalities, and discontinuation of local resources being some of them. So, how does one give and actually stimulate growth? How does one give and actually help?
A new answer has been found, one which goes by the name of Microcredit. It works as follows:
Rather than donating sums of money to corrupt facilitators or shipping cartons of half-needed goods where they may be needed, Microcredit allows givers to make loans to specific people and/or groups for specific projects. The need to pay back drives the donation towards economic growth for the individual, and these “micro” loans go directly to the individuals that need it. With the loan being paid back, the giver can then turn to a different project and invest the same money.
A small local scale of this approach has been initiated by the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and has seen drastic effects on the very local community. Kiva.org promotes this same tactic, but on an international scale.
Kiva.org allows their givers to donate however much they won’t through an online basis with 100% of the donations going exactly towards the people. The projects they have stimulated are drastic, and the effects on citizens and the individuals receiving this help are innumerable.
Giving special categories to promoting the business welfare of women, education, and refugees, Kiva allows their givers to pick the projects they donate to, and see real-life results from their money and efforts.
Check out Kiva.org! You won’t regret it!
All photo credit: Kiva.org