1,000 Microloans for Rural Women in East Africa

This has been an exciting summer for WMI as we continued to expand our loan program to help more poor, rural women in East Africa. Here's what we've been up to:

This summer, a group of college interns analyzed data from Borrowers at each of WMI's loan hubs throughout Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. They found that 96% of borrowers who enter the loan program are living on less than $2 a day - the UN definition of living in poverty. That has not changed in the 4 years since WMI launched the loan program. There is no general improvement in the baseline poverty level of the rural women who seek out WMI loans.

But there are immediate and sustained economic improvements for WMI borrowers:

Within 6 months their incomes increase by an average of 66%. Within 12 months, nearly 75% of borrowers are earning over $6.50/day, with 35% earning over $10/day. By 24 months 51% of borrowers are earning over $13/day with 25% earning over $21/day. The women's increased earnings translate into significant improvements in household living standards. Check out the complete factbooks online at http://wmionline.org/dataanalysis/profile/profile.html.

This summer also marked the third year of WMI's high school intern program. The group of students traveled to the WMI loan hub in Buyobo, Uganda and taught at the local elementary school, created a teacher's garden and joined the women in carrying our simple business tasks like harvesting vegetables and sorting beans. The interns returned in early July and Della Turque-Henneberger wrote an article about her experience for the Washington Post Blog: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/a-16-year-olds-worthwhile-summer/2012/09/03/9262e0d6-f5cf-11e1-8398-0327ab83ab91_blog.html?wprss=rss_education

WMI gained a new board member this summer, experienced microfinance executive Archie Mears. Archie is the former Managing Director of Opportunity International Uganda, a regulated microfinance institution serving small and medium enterprise clients with loan, savings and money transfer services. He is a life-long banker specializing in African operations. He spent 28 years with ANC Grindlays Bank and also held executive positions at Stanbic Zambia and Urwego Opportunity Bank of Rwanda.

Finally, former WMI intern Tobin Jones recently won the Echo Foundation's prestigious student international photojournalism competition for original photography responding to the question, "What does democracy or tyranny; justice or injustice look like?" See some of Tobin's photos of the women and family members of WMI attached.

Links:

• Washington Post article by one of our summer interns
• Borrower factbooks
• Follow us on Twitter!