REDEEM. RESTORE. RECONCILE.
Inequalities, injustice and brokenness are trapping women and young girls in lives marked by generational poverty and hopelessness.
This heartbreaking reality includes:
- lack of paid work and earning opportunities
- widening inequalities of paid work
- low-wage jobs
- minimal resources and support for women to start their own businesses
- exploitative business practices that target the vulnerable
Today, approximately 736 million people live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $1.90 per day.
Without economically stable lives, women are unable to provide for their families, explore their full potential, dream about their future or walk with dignity and confidence. We desire to change that.
We want to see human flourishing, where women around the world live dignified and redemptive lives through income generating activities.
Our dream is to see human flourishing, where women around the world live dignified and redemptive lives through income generating activities.
As of today, women remain disproportionately affected by poverty, discrimination and exploitation.
Here are a few examples:
-
60m
women worldwide are married before they turn 18
-
53%
of those are married before they turn 14
-
1 out of 10
births worldwide are born to adolescent girls (age 15 to 19) every year
-
20%
of all landholders are women in developing countries
-
37%
of these women landholders have bank accounts
-
1 in 3
women worldwide have experienced some form of gender-based violence
-
150 countries
around the world legally discriminated against women
In many societies, women and girls often eat last—and least. They have more limited access to essential services such as education and health care, and fewer opportunities to work or earn a good wage.
Investing in women’s economic empowerment sets a direct path towards gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth.
Source: international.gc.ca
We empower
women through:
- Micro-loans
- Vocational Training
- Financial Literacy Training
- Counselling and Spiritual Formation
- Savings Groups
When you empower women you:
- Empower the entire family
- Break the cycle of poverty
- Increase household income
- Give dignity and hope
- Transform a community
We align with the Sustainable Development Goal 1 (No Poverty) that states: “ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance”.
GAiN also aligns with Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth)
Micro-finance
Women are given a small lump sum of money (micro-loan) to kick start their business as well as financial literacy training to help them manage their money. They are placed in a Trust Group, a team of 15 other women who meet regularly (weekly, biweekly, monthly) to encourage and champion one another’s businesses and hold each other accountable to repaying their loan.
We empower women for economic growth by improving financial accessibility services that would otherwise be impossible.
“With each loan, I invest in my business. And when our loan cycle is over, I use the savings I get back to invest in my house, making it a dignified home for my family.” – Gilda, Paraguayan entrepreneur
Vocational training
In this training, women learn marketable skills such as baking, seamstress, hairdressing, and DIY upcycling and projects, among others.
As part of the training, women are taught to efficiently purchase materials, price their final product at fair market value (explaining expense ratios), and sell it in their communities to create an income. Ultimately, our goal is to
- support women to gain equal access to quality work which is safe, fairly and equally rewarded, and to have greater levels of control over their earnings from this work
- to improve labor rights, both legally and in practice, and to change attitudes to women’s productive vs. reproductive roles at household, community and structural levels
- focus on business and vocational skills training, either for positions within existing industries or to develop small businesses of their own
Chaplaincy Program
Each Trust Group is assigned a chaplain who functions as a source of spiritual encouragement and mentorship for the women. Chaplains share devotionals with their Trust Groups at their regular meetings, and are available for one-on-one support and prayer.
Savings Group
Through the local church, communities learn how to save and manage their money as well as how to borrow and lend money from one another. Trainers share gospel-centred messages with those they teach.
Entrepreneurship
We help encourage equip women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses through providing financial literacy training and other business-making concepts like management, marketing and other soft skills. This includes ongoing mentoring and coaching addressing the needs of women.
Wherever possible, we also help enhance women’s ability to access and participate in new markets.
Income generating activities deeply impact a woman’s life.
- Support entire family
- Employable management and life skills
- Increased self confidence
- Strong relationships
- Local economy strengthened
Increased income is often channelled into family welfare. In fact, evidence shows that women tend to spend more of their incomes in ways that directly benefit their children, improving nutrition, health and educational opportunities for the next generation.
Source: USAID, 2015, Gender and Extreme Poverty
As women gain foundational skills, she becomes more marketable, resulting in an increase in her earning potential.
When a woman sees that she provide for her family and their needs, there is an increased sense of self worth and value.
As a woman begins to experience improvements in other areas of her life, hope and freedom begins to emerge. She begins to experience a new vision for their life – a redemptive vision.
By empowering a woman to receive essential skills and start her own business, she becomes an active contributor to society.
A one percentage point increase in female education raises the average gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.3 percentage points and raises annual GDP growth rates by 0.2 percentage points. In short, educated girls are empowered girls. And empowered girls and women are key to making greater gains in sustainable development.
Source: international.gc.ca
In 2024, our local partner in Paraguay saw
- 7,804 women received microloans with $1.3 million portfolio size at 80% sustainability
- whereas in 2023, 7,022 women received microloans
- whereas in 2022, 6,105 women received microloans with $990,000+ portfolio size at 80% sustainability
- whereas in 2021, 6,000 women received microloans and with a portfolio of $800,000 at 95% sustainability
- 444 Trust Groups
- whereas in 2023, 407 Trust Groups
- whereas in 2022, 360 Trust Groups
- whereas in 2021, 332 Trust Groups
- 207 volunteer chaplains
- whereas in 2023, 211 volunteer chaplains
- whereas in 2022, 203 volunteer chaplains
- whereas in 2021, 120 volunteer chaplains
- 3,150 women trained in financial literacy
- 5,297 people trained in vocational training courses
- 184 church partnerships
- Church-facilitated savings groups launched in 3 regions of the country
To see the timeline of our involvement in Paraguay, click on the link below:
Here is a visual footprint of our economic empowerment projects.
Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission – Maharashtra
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Micro-finance Project
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Read stories of how women are experiencing freedom and hope in their lives.
Give the gift of dignity, value, freedom and a future for a woman.
Break the chains of oppression for a woman living in crisis and poverty. Help her realize her dreams and full potential by becoming financially independent and free from debt. Resource and empower an entrepreneur to start income generating activities whether through a micro-loan and/or projects such as agriculture, farming and gardens.