The Millennium Project and The Business of Helping People

By Tom Schueneman | October 15th, 2008 1 Comment

My contribution for Blog Action Day and its focus on eliminating poverty looks at three organizations working to create positive change for the billions of people living this moment in poverty:

The UN Millenium ProjectThe UN Millennium Project:
Commissioned in 2002 by the United Nations Secretary-General, the Millennium Project sets forth a development plan to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and reverse the crushing poverty and disease for so many of earth’s inhabitants.

In 2005, an independent advisory team headed by Jeffrey Sachs presented their final recommendations to the Secretary-General  in a synthesis report called Investing in Development: A Practical Plan to Achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

Kiva - loans that change livesKiva
Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. It is the first “person-to-person micro-lending website empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.”

Kiva has been mentioned before on this blog, and the idea of micro-finance is nothing new to the readers of Triple Pundit. But I have a personal affection for Kiva since I became a member over a year ago. In that time I’ve seen Kiva expand its reach into the lives of people all over the world. People looking for a way up through their own hard work. The belief that the entrepreneurial spirit can change lives is the driving force behind Kiva. 

Acumen FundAcumen Fund
“Building transformative businesses to solve the problems of poverty”

Acumen Fund is a non-profit global venture fund that works on the premise that an entrepreneurial approach can solve the problems of global poverty. Acumen Fund believes that small amounts of philanthropic capital combined with large doses of business acumen are the means to building thriving enterprises serving vast numbers of those living in poverty – some 50+ million thus far.

Acumen Fund invests in a diversity of business models effective in reaching the “base of the pyramid” – the billions of people without access to clean water, reliable health care and social services, or formal housing options. Investments made through Acumen Fund focus on delivering affordable critical services like clean water, health care, housing, and energy.

Find out how to become a partner in Acumen Fund.

Blog Action Day and making a difference

So can bloggers and Blog Action Day make a difference in helping to alleviate poverty? It’s difficult for me to say that my post here is really impacting the life of someone half a world away – or half a mile away – living in desperate need. But there is power in numbers; as of this writing there are 12,238 sites participating in Blog Action Day, speaking to an audience of 13,142,665 people. Perhaps you’ll be one of those 13+ million people to offer support, send a dollar or two, lend a hand – the mighty force of positive change begins with a single action.

 

 

 

1 Comment

Categorized: Poverty Solutions, Global Development, Social Enterprise, Social Entrepreneurship|

  • Erik

    I recently noticed Schwab Charitable launched a microfinance guarantee program. Does anyone have experience or opinion on this?
    This program differs from direct microfinance gifts in that funds are used to guarantee loans – like a parent co-signing a student loan.
    I think it is interesting that this Schwab Charitable program is among a few organizations popping up – Kiva.org and Microplace.com – that are helping to bring microfinance funding opportunities to middle class Americans.
    And microfinance in general is such contrast to the mess created by the credit crisis. It is succeeding because loans are transparent, lenders know the borrowers, borrowers are not encouraged to take out more debt than they need and loans aren’t run through a Veg-o-matic that slices and dices the loans beyond recognition.
    Default rates are less than 3 percent for microfinance loans, this despite the fact that loan recipients are typically poverty-stricken entrepreneurs in some of the world’s least developed economies..