Paper
Reducing Poverty and Food Insecurity: Ethiopia
Can microfinance help the extreme poor?
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2 pages
This paper discusses the growth and impact of WISDOM, World Visions microfinance partner in Ethiopia. As per the paper, Ethiopia:
- Is one of the world's least developed countries with 76.4 percent of its population living on less than $2 per day;
- Experiences frequent droughts, which, compounded with diminishing income opportunities, is making the people poorer.
Discussing WISDOM, the paper says that it:
- Provides support to income earning opportunities and food security, and has been able to affect the lives of people from the lower economic strata in small villages of Ethiopia;
- Had an outreach of 19,912 people, including 42% women, and an outstanding loan portfolio of US $2.162 million, as of December 31, 2004.
Further, the paper:
- Emphasizes the importance of microfinance by explaining its role in providing food security to the clients, who were found to be healthier than the non-clients, in a survey conducted in the region of Sodo and Adama;
- Describes how women in small villages have been able to support their households by forming solidarity groups and accessing loans from WISDOM for micro-enterprise initiatives.
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