$200 can change a life – MEDA joins Afghanistan Challenge
A mere $200 microloan is all it took to change the life of Sharifa and her daughter, forever. The Afghan villager, struggling to survive in this war-torn area, used the loan to invest in a rug loom and weaving supplies. She was soon able to hire other women weavers, freeing up her young daughter to finally go to school.
As Sharifa pays back her loan – microfinance repayment rates are nearly 100 per cent – she can borrow more to expand her business. She never thought of herself as a role model, but she is now inspiring other women in the region, with a long tradition of rug weaving, to start their own businesses, too. Research conducted with women involved in this program has shown that the microfinance program is enabling socially excluded women to improve their overall outlook, awareness and optimism for the future – all vital contributions to the creation of just and stable societies.1
MEDA recently announced that it is partnering with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and three other NGOs to challenge Canadians who want to personally help to get involved in efforts to rebuild Afghanistan.
The Afghanistan Challenge is about matching hope with action through donating to the campaign of your choice. Your support will enable the Canadian organizations already on the ground in Afghanistan to help improve the lives of Afghans. MEDA is focused on helping enterprising Afghan women — many are widows — and their families by providing micro-finance loans and basic business training.
Economic empowerment will not only help them feed and clothe their family, but also send their children to school, earning respect within their family,in the community and within themselves.
“Hope is far too rare a commodity, yet I see hope in the eyes of these women. A good future for themselves and their children is now a possibility,” explains Kim Pityn, MEDA's vice president of international operations. “MEDA and the Afghanistan Challenge will enable women to help other women, to build communities and networks of trust.”
Every dollar donated to MEDA for the Afghanistan Challenge will be matched by CIDA until 2012.
We invite everyone to visit www.medatrust.ca, where you will have two options to donate by either making a standard donation or by setting up a portfolio which allows you to direct donations to a loan for an Afghan woman, and follow that loan as she repays it. As the loan is repaid, the money is credited to the donor’s portfolio so it can be re-invested with other entrepreneurial women. As one loan is repaid, another small business entrepreneur benefits!
Kim Pityn, MEDA's vice president of international operations, passionately engaged those in attendance at the launch of the Afghanistan Challenge on May 14 in Ottawa, ON.
About our partnership with Women for Women International MEDA has been working with Women for Women International in Afghanistan since 2004, when together they launched a microfinance institution to serve both urban and rural women marginalized by decades of war and poverty.
With MEDA's technical assistance in human resources, finance, operations, governance and strategic planning, the MFI has developed a strong local management team of Afghan nationals.
By the numbers:
• In five years, its loan portfolio has grown to more than $2 million.
• The program has grown to serve more than 10,000 clients with a repayment rate of over 99%.
• More than 47,000 loans have been granted to enterprising women.
• Interest rates are competitive, with a flat rate of 15% per annum over a nine-month loan term.
• WWIMF has about 100 staff members (90 women) in Afghanistan.
Rohina Samim of Women for Women International, MEDA's partner in microfinance in Afghanistan, explains how microfinance is helping entrepreneurial women improve life for themselves, their family and their community. Learn one Afghan family's story from Rohina below.
1Women for Women International, “Stronger Women, Stronger Nations: 2009 Afghanistan Report.” p. 37.
