Can Microfinance Change the World?

Yes. And the change has begun.

Through micro-loans, impoverished women are able to establish self-sustaining home-based businesses. As her business grows, so does her ability to provide food, medicine and an education for her children. Microfinance allows a determined mother to pull herself — and her family — from the devastating of chronic hunger and poverty.

Freedom from Hunger's Approach to Microfinance

Microfinance, especially when combined with other high-impact services, can transform the lives of the very poor. Freedom from Hunger created integrated microfinance in 1989 when it brought lifeskills training to the meetings where women gathered each week to receive loans and deposit savings. The impact was undeniable.

Not only did women increase their incomes, they also learned how to grow their businesses, safeguard their families’ health and increase their confidence to make changes in their communities. Two themes run through Freedom from Hunger’s 62-year history — we innovate new ways to fight hunger and we distribute our innovations widely for use by other organizations.

Freedom from Hunger has never wavered in its determination to improve microfinance to better meet the needs of people so poor that they are often hungry.

 In 2008 we achieved the following:

  • Freedom from Hunger — with our partners, our donors, and the women we serve — achieved a major milestone. We are now bringing the powerful and proven combination of microfinance and education to more than 2.4 million women who are ending hunger for their families.
  • Credit with Education is now delivered by local microfinance institutions in 17 countries to well over 2.4 million women, who bring the combined benefits of increased incomes and practical knowledge home to their families. This is more than double the number of women participating just two years ago.
  • Saving for Change gives poor women a safe place to save money within a group. They gather to deposit money in a collective box and encourage each other to keep on saving for medical needs, education, emergencies, and growing their businesses. More than 3,300 savings groups have been newly formed, serving more than 75,000 women.
  • Our Microfinance and Health Protection initiative is bringing new and powerful services to microfinance clients, including healthcare loans, health savings accounts, and access to service providers for primary and diagnostic care.
  • We tailored our Financial Education to meet the needs of adolescent girls and young women in the slums of Kenya, helping them understand how to manage money and become self-reliant.
  • MicroBusiness for Health in Ghana is equipping neighborhood salesladies (they call themselves HealthKeepers) to offer health-protection products such as mosquito nets, oral rehydration solution and water-treatment tablets to rural villages passed over by regular retailers.

Learn more about our Microfinance and Health Protection Initiative.

Freedom from Hunger is proud of the way we manage our funds! We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. If you would like to learn more about our finances, click here or call us at (530) 758-6200 ext. 1042.