Microfinance helps millions break the cycle of poverty, especially women: the mission of Accion International

The mission of ACCION International is to give people the tools they need to work their way out of poverty. By providing microloans, business training and other financial services to poor men and women who start their own businesses, ACCION's partner lending organizations help people work their own way up the economic ladder, with dignity and pride. With just a little capital, people can grow their own businesses. They can earn enough to afford basics like running water, better food and schooling for their children.

In a world where three billion people live on less than $2 a day, it is not enough to help 1,000 or even 100,000 individuals. ACCION’s goal is to bring microfinance to tens of millions of people – enough to truly change the world. We know that there will never be enough donations to do this. That's why ACCION has created an anti-poverty strategy that is permanent and self-sustaining.

Why Microfinance? Most of the world's three billion poor people cannot find work. Where they live, few jobs are available and those that are often don't pay a living wage. To survive, they must create their own jobs by starting tiny businesses or "microenterprises." To support their families’ basic needs, these “microentrepreneurs” make tortillas, sew clothes, mend shoes or sell vegetables in the street – anything to put food on the table.

Microentrepreneurs work hard – sometimes 18 hours or more, every day of the week. Yet with little or no capital to grow their businesses, they remain trapped in a cycle of poverty. To open their businesses each day, they often borrow from loan sharks, who charge as much as ten percent daily, or they pay higher prices to buy goods on credit. The result: their hard-earned profit ends up in the hands of others, leaving them locked in a daily struggle for survival.

What they need to break free is working capital – a loan as small as $100 at a fair rate of  interest. Yet, in traditional banking, these microentrepreneurs are far from ideal clients: their loans are too small to justify the time and expense needed to administer them, and they lack the collateral and credit history required by traditional lenders. That's why ACCION began issuing microloans 40 years ago. A small loan can cut the cost of raw goods or buy a sewing machine. Sales grow, and so do profits. With a growing income, people can work their way out of poverty.

Microfinance works because it builds on the one asset found even in the poorest communities around the world: the power and determination of the human spirit.  Historically, anti-poverty programs have been unable to help more than a tiny fraction of the world's poor. There simply is not enough charitable money in the world, and there never will be. That is why ACCION is leading the effort to create a permanent answer to poverty.

Text and photograph of Anna Leone Mushi , Accion Microentrepreuer from Tanzania, courtesy Accion International, a partner and Cooperating Organization with dgCommunities Gender and Development, Youth for Development and Microfinance.

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