Lending Promise
Location: Nepal
Grant Amount: $26,293
Grantee Website: www.lendingpromise.org/
Areas of Impact: Economic Sustainability
Mission of Lending Promise
To create a world in which all mothers have the means to adequately feed their children, so young people will sleep with limitless dreams and full hearts and not unrealized wishes and empty stomachs, by giving microcredit — tinyloans – to mothers in some of the world’s poorest villages.
Summary
Lending Promise works with impoverished women in Nepal and India.
Dining for Women (DFW) is aiding Lending Promise’s work in the Jumla district, an area in Nepal’s western region. Lending Promise gives microcredit to impoverished women in Jumla and trains them in literacy and business skills. Qualified borrowers not only must come from poverty but also must be mothers or caregivers of small children (at least one child age 10 or under). From these borrowers, Lending Promise witnesses the direct impact of micro-enterprise: enabling children to attend school and expand their futures and enrich the Jumla community. With these loans, women can start businesses that allow them to become financially independent and invest in education for their children. DFW contributions will create loans that serve 200 impoverished women in Jumla.
Why We Love This
To date, Lending Promise has given loans to 80 women in Jumla. With these loans, women have formed chicken and goat farms; vending operations specializing in eggs, meat, and vegetables; and various village shops. The incomes of these women have increased anywhere between 30 and 100%. Jumla microcredit effects are manifested in increased school enrollment for children, improved nutrition, less domestic violence, greater housekeeping, and ownership of clothing, shoes, books, etc., as well as higher self-esteem among the borrowers. Also a key measurement of success for lenders: the loan repayment rate. The average repayment rate for microloans is 97%. However, 100% of Lending Promise loans that have reached the end of their term have been paid. In five years, Lending Promise expects DFW’s $15,000 to grow to more than $80,000 and fund 1,000 women, as new groups of borrowers form at the end of each one-year term.
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