Despite the best efforts of Madonna, Pink Floyd and Ewan McGregor clicking his fingers during Live 8 in 2005, poverty still inexplicably exists.
And, as always, where celebrities fail, bloggers are there to clean up the mess. Which explains why today is Blog Action Day, when over 10,000 blogs all take some time to mention poverty in the blind hope that readers will stop looking at videos of cats falling off things for a moment to be preached at by several inert bloggers who haven’t been outside for upwards of six or seven months.
So here goes nothing…
According to the Blog Action Day website:
First and last, the purpose of Blog Action Day is to create a discussion. We ask bloggers to take a single day out of their schedule and focus it on an important issue. By doing so on the same day, the blogging community effectively changes the conversation on the web and focuses audiences around the globe on that issue. Out of this discussion naturally flow actions, advice, ideas and plans.
That last sentence actually ended ‘and empowerment’, but it’s our understanding that no cause is dire enough for anybody to ever use the word ’empowerment’ for anything, not even ironically, so we deleted it.
Instead, here’s something about Kiva, a microfinancing scheme. Rather than donate money to a charity, Kiva asks you to loan money to a low-income entrepreneur who desperately needs it and, when the loan has been repaid, you get your money back. It’s a lot like Dragon’s Den, except you don’t have to be a mealy-mouthed Scottish ice cream man dipshit to take part.
Since Kiva describes itself better than we ever could, here’s how it describes itself:
1) Lenders like you browse profiles of entrepreneurs in need, and choose someone to lend to. When they lend, using PayPal or their credit cards, Kiva collects the funds and then passes them along to one of our microfinance partners worldwide.
2) Kiva’s microfinance partners distribute the loan funds to the selected entrepreneur. Often, our partners also provide training and other assistance to maximize the entrepreneur’s chances of success.
3) Over time, the entrepreneur repays their loan. Repayment and other updates are posted on Kiva and emailed to lenders who wish to receive them.
4) When lenders get their money back, they can re-lend to someone else in need, donate their funds to Kiva (to cover operational expenses), or withdraw their funds.
By and large, Kiva is incredibly successful – so much so that every loan it had has been funded so far. But, if you want to mark Blog Action Day by doing something about poverty that doesn’t make you look you look anything like Bono at all, you could probably do a lot worse.
Right, back to normal now. All this sincerity is creeping us out.
kouji haiku says
i love kiva. :) am currently unable to make a donation though, so i put up its banner on my blog (as well as that of freerice and goodsearch).
saw this post via the front page of blog action day. it’s great that you’re participating. :)
Trish says
Apologies for the continued sincerity, but in case you’re looking for more information on global poverty, including how our generation can achieve the Millennium Development Goals and put an end to extreme poverty, hunger and preventable disease, you should check out Millennium Promise. One of our initiatives, the Millennium Villages project, uses a holistic, integrated and community-led approach similar to the microfinance opportunity that Kiva gives to individuals. We provide tools and resources for interventions in agriculture, education, health and infrastructure to help rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa lift themselves out of extreme poverty. Currently, the project reaches 80 villages in 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. If you’re interested and want to learn more, check out our site at http://www.millenniumpromise.org. And thanks for the shout-out to Blog Action Day (it’s a good day)!
Julian Mentat says
Good point. Celebrity concerts can’t solve poverty.
But, given their audience profile, they COULD address the menace of text-message spelling.
How about it, Bono? Save the Y and the O!
Beth says
I know a few people who use Kiva and they’re quite smug about it. Someday I’ll make friends who can do good deeds without trumpeting it about afterward. Sorry, Bono, guess that’s not you.
Empowerment. Empowerment. Empowerment. Empowerment. Empowerment. Empowerment. Empowerment empowerment empowerment empowerment empowerment empowerment empowerment empowerment empowerment empowerment empowerment empowerment empowerment empowerment empowerment empowerment empowerment empowerment empowerment empowerment empowermentempowermentempowerment.
Erik says
I’m looking into different micro finance options. Does anyone have experience or opinion on Schwab Charitable’s new Micro finance program?
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..