MicroFinance and Economic Empowerment

Microfinance, finance micro, microfinance bank

CBM’s microfinance program helps families in poor countries

Supporting a family is difficult for anyone living in a developing country, where most people live on less than $1 per day. For a mother or father with a disability, the challenge is even greater.

CBM has a long history of providing small scale loans to people with disabilities. This work began as we came to understand that poverty was the biggest challenge many people with disabilities face. By providing a small business loan, preceded by skill and very basic business training, people with disabilities can become self-supporting.

In the U.S., such a small investment won’t typically get a business off to a well-capitalized start. But things are different in Kenya, Tanzania, the Philippines and Ecuador.

CBM’s MicroFinance loans have a low default rate. The loan payments are then are used to keep the programs going and expand the reach and sustainability of the effort within a region or a country.

How Programs Work

Here’s how it works. CBM’s Community Based Rehabilitation workers are actively engaged in the process of screening, selecting and assisting with training and support of MicroFinance recipients.

Through CBM’s network of vocational training and educational programs, loan recipients have access to information and skills to help their business succeed.

The new business owner is often mentored by other loan recipients, which allows a wonderful opportunity for knowledge sharing and collaboration.

CBM’s Impact

In 2008, CBM reached 157,000 people with disabilities around the world through its economic empowerment activities including skills training, access to financial services, self-employment activities, subsistence farming improvements and open employment options.

Becoming a productive member of a family or a community also helps a person who may have been marginalized by a disability. Earning money, whether it’s a mother selling coal from her home so she can care for her child with hydrocephalus or a blind man who has learned carpentry skills and made the furniture in his home, creates a lasting change.

How You Can Help

CBM’s microfinance program empowers women
For many people in developing countries, a disability can be a barrier to many of life's opportunities

Yes! I am committed to helping CBM continue to provide services to people with physical and mental disabilities in the poorest countries of the world.

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