As many people know, micro-finance is the "canary in the coal mine" for any rapid changes in the economic well-being for people who live at "the bottom of the pyramid". On May 5th, The Economist published an important article on micro-finance. As the article lays out, because the responses to Covid-19 have decimated the poor whom we serve, micro-finance institutions and micro-finance as an activity around the world are under siege.
Today, World Vision USA launches Recovery Lending for Resilience. This is our $55 million contribution to the $170 million effort to rapidly recapitalize the people we serve in 28 micro-finance institutions by getting them "Recovery Loans". Our micro-finance network, VisionFund International, has been doing Recovery Lending since 2013, and we hope and expect that other micro-finance institutions should be able to follow this model.
Let me encourage you to sign up for The Economist's free postings. It will allow you to download the entire article for free. This is the link to The Economist's article. It is worth the time and the read.
