The Great Debate UK

Transformative power of microfinance for women

- Sheetal Mehta is CEO and founder of not for profit organization Shanti Microfinance. The opinions expressed are her own. You can follow her on Twitter. Reuters will host a “follow-the-sun” live blog on Monday, March 8, 2010, International Women’s Day. Please tune in.–

The women of the world still get the rawest deal. Throughout history, in places where life is tough for everyone, women still on average work for longer hours and take on the burden of the household chores.  In its Human Development Report, the United Nations Development Programme reported that 70 percent of the people living on less than $1 dollar (65 pence) per day are women.

Development specialists have known for a long time that increasing the income of women is essential to poverty alleviation. All over the world women have been shown to spend more of their income on their households than men, so that when they are helped, the lot of the whole family is improved.

One of the biggest problems preventing poor women from improving their position is a lack of access to credit.  If you are living on two dollars a day this doesn’t mean that you are paid this amount every morning.

One day you might get five, then receive nothing for three days.  Income and outgoings are unpredictable; emergencies crop up. The poor need credit more than anyone else – and yet half of Indian rural households are denied formal loans.

That is why micro-finance is so essential – small loans of $20 to $50 dollars a day- have transformed life for many of the poorest.  Ever since Muhammad Yunus loaned a Bangladeshi woman $27 to start a business in the mid-seventies, it is estimated that micro-finance has given 100 million people access to financial services.

Microfinancing would never have been a success without women.  Investors have found that women’s repayment rates are typically superior to men, which has been essential in making the schemes viable.

The meeting of young minds

A sedate group of more than 1,000 young people brought together in London to discuss socio-political issues makes a sharp contrast to those who challenge the status quo via demonstrations, rallies and picket lines.

At the first annual One Young World, organised by advertising agency Euro RSCG Worldwide, delegates 25 years of age and younger network in an environment sanctioned by such high-profile “counsellors” as former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, economist Muhammad Yunus and musician Bob Geldof.

There are no immediate signs of dissent among the hand-picked delegates meeting at the ExCel London convention centre from February 8 to 10.

Reuters spoke to Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, one of the founders of a humanitarian group called Global Dignity, about the event. Watch him here:

Co-founder of One Young World David Jones, global CEO of Havas Worldwide, which owns Euro RSCG Worldwide, also spoke with Reuters. You can see the clip here:

One Young World: let’s hear it from the under-25s

Amid the ongoing global conversation about the economy, and projections about when — and in which markets — the world might emerge from financial crisis, the collective voice of the 25-and-under age group is hard to hear.

It could have been silenced due to a sense of futility about challenging the so-called Establishment, or it might be online — constrained by such social media outlets as Facebook and Twitter.

Whatever the case, advertising and communications agency Euro RSCG Worldwide is taking measures to get the under-25s to speak up on such issues as the environment, health and education at an event called One Young World, which will be held from February 8-10 in London.

Kate Robertson, UK group chairman of Euro RSCG, and  CEO David Jones conceived the idea of holding an annual global summit for people aged 25 and younger.

“They live in an era where systemic risk is apparent,” Robertson said in an interview with Reuters ahead of the event.

Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, economist Muhammad Yunus and musician Bob Geldof will be among the high-profile celebrities to serve as “counsellors” to the delegates.