Denver Post
By Todd Watson
It was the first semester of Katie Singleton's senior year at the University of Colorado in Boulder in 2006, and she was already thinking about the summer of '07. While her friends were planning typical post-graduate vacations - cruises in the Caribbean or backpacking trips through Europe - Singleton was hoping to do something more meaningful.
Then she met a classmate's mother, Patricia Hinnen, at a party in October 2006. Hinnen, a former foreign aid analyst for the federal government, now directs the microfinance program of The International Alliance for Women (TIAW).
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TIAW’s 25 in 25 Campaign A Success – Over 30 Village Banks To Be Funded In Developing Countries Including Tsunami Relief
The response to TIAW’s 25 in 25 Campaign to raise funds for 25 Village Banks in honor of TIAW’s 25th anniversary has been fabulous.We have received commitments to fund at least 30 Village Banks around the world including in areas devastated by the recent tsunami disaster. To help reach these ambitious goals around the world, TIAW has created an online donation capacity so you can now make a contribution to a Village Bank of your choice in a designated country.Please click here to make an online donation to the TIAW Microenterprise Development Program.
Village Banks extend small loans (microcredit) to women to start or expand a business allowing them to care for themselves and their families. With a loan repayment rate of 98%, these women are the world’s best borrowers. TIAW ‘s 25 in 25 Campaign is part of a global celebration acknowledging the United Nations designation of 2005 as the “International Year of Microcredit”. TIAW wants to acknowledge its associations and individual members for their efforts to raise money in their local communities as part of this campaign. |
TIAW COMMITMENT EXCEEDS $20,000 FOR LONG-TERM MICROENTERPRISE FUND FOR TSUNAMI VICTIMS
We would like to thank and recognize everyone who has contributed to our special Microenterprise Fund for women in areas devastated by the December 2005 tsunami disaster.TIAW has received commitments exceeding $20,000 to address the long-term economic needs of women in these areas by helping to set up Village Banks where they can get microcredit to fund their businesses.
Thank you to the following TIAW Associations who have contributed to this fund: The Colorado Alliance of Professional Women, The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), PrimeTime Business and Professional Women’s Association of Singapore, members of Executive Women in Government, members of the Financial Women’s Association of New York and TIAW members at large.
TIAW’s Microenterprise Development Program, founded in 2000, provides access to credit for women in poverty around the world. We have partnerships with Microfinance Institutions in some of the areas hardest hit by the tsunami disaster including Thailand and India.
We still need your help. You can donate to TIAW’sMicroenterprise Fund for the tsunami region by sending a check to Maxine Westaway, Executive Director, TIAW World Headquarters, 48 Coledale Road, Markham, Ontario, Canada L3R7W9 (make checks payable to TIAW and note that they are for the Microenterprise Fund for the Tsunami Region). Or you can make a donation online click here |
The International Alliance for Women (TIAW) Observes its 25th Anniversary with an International Campaign to Raise Funds for 25 Village Banks in 2005.
The Campaign will promote access to micro business loans for impoverished women, in honor of the United Nations “International Year of Microcredit” which coincides with TIAW’s 25th anniversary.
TIAW’s 25th anniversary marks a quarter century of promoting women’s economic advancement around the world. According to Patricia Foley-Hinnen, Chair of the Microenterprise Development Program, TIAW can play a pivotal role in raising awareness about the plight of women in poverty. She sites mind boggling statistics: “The need for microcredit is tremendous: 2.8 billion people live on less than $2 a day and 1.2 billion live on less than $1 a day. Over 100 million children of primary school age are not in school. Nearly 30,000 children under five die every day from preventable malnutrition and disease.”
Since the Microenterprise Program was established in 2001, TIAW associations and members have consistently demonstrated their long-term commitment to women’s economic self-sufficiency through their checkbooks and their time. To date we have raised funds for 21 Village Banks and Microenterprise Programs in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, India, South Africa, Mexico, Thailand, Liberia, Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Pakistan, Chile, and Senegal.
Committee member Donna Heivilin, past president of TIAW and a co-founder of the Microenterprise Development Program, is a donor who helped launch TIAW Village Banks in South Africa, Mexico and the Philippines. She volunteers because: “Research by the United Nations indicates that microcredit programs not only elevate personal assets of the women who borrow, but go beyond the individual household to help strengthen local economies. By helping to create Village Banks in areas racked by poverty, I know that funds will flow directly into the hands of women in desperate need of economic resources. In turn, these women use their microenterprises to generate income, create jobs, send their children to school, and help their families obtain health care. By volunteering, I help create economic empowerment for women and contribute to the economy of a village that may never benefit from big development projects funded by global development agencies.”
If you want to make a difference in the lives of other women and can give a few hours a month, please contact Patricia Foley-Hinnen at pfhinnen@comcast.net or TIAW at mwestaway@tiaw.org. If you would like more information on the United Nations Year of Microcredit please visit www.yearofmicrocredit.org
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