Are you familiar with Kiva? This amazing microlending nonprofit is dedicated to alleviating poverty by connecting people like you to small entrepreneurs around the world. Typically, the minimum amount you can lend to an entrepreneur is $25. But given that it’s International Women’s Day, Kiva is offering a free trial loan. Yep, you heard that right. You can help a motivated woman start her small business without even digging into your pockets.
When making a Kiva loan, you are supporting women like Priscilla, pictured above. She is already an entrepreneur at age 19 and is seeking funds to expand her pig farm. Her hope is to complete her education and make enough money to support her family.
Did you know that 66 percent of the world’s work falls on women’s shoulders, yet they earn only 10% of the world’s income? This needs to change. Join with Oxfam in spreading this message and raise awareness about the amazing women in your life and across the world by adding a photo, quote, or story about them to Oxfam’s Photobook.
Urge Congress to Approve the International Affairs Budget
Join CARE, a leading humanitarian organization, in the fight for much-needed humanitarian aid. To do so, write a letter urging lawmakers to support Obama’s proposed international affairs budget that strongly supports development and humanitarian programs providing vital services like food assistance and maternal health.
CARE is also celebrating International Women’s Day this year with an online screening of Pray the Devil Back to Hell, a story of the Liberian women who took on dictator Charles Taylor in the midst of a brutal civil war and won a once unimaginable peace for their shattered country. The film is airing on March 7 at 7:30 p.m. EST. After the film, stay online and participate in a panel discussion with the film’s executive producer, Abigail Disney, and other experts on global female empowerment. Learn more here.
(Photo: Getty Images)
Tweet Your #msgofpeace
A few words of encouragement can make a really big difference in someone’s life. On International Women’s Day, join with Women for Women International, an aid organization that empowers thousands of women survivors of war, by sending women around the world a messsage of peace. The organization is hoping 10,000 people will share their #msgofpeace with women in their programs. After you’ve written your message, send it to your friends on Twitter or Facebook.
Also, if you have extra time on March 8, take part in Women for Women International’s ‘Join Me On the Bridge’ campaign. Learn more about walking for equality and peace here.
(Photo: Reuters/Handout)
Take a Look Into Molly’s World
The World Food Progamme is the largest humanitarian agency fighing hunger worldwide. To take part in this year’s International Women’s Day, the organization gave a small video camera to a 12-year-old girl named Molly who lives in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. Molly took the camera everywhere with her to give people a window into the lives of children in one of the poorest places on Earth. This International Women’s Day, see what it’s like to live, study and dream in the slums of Kenya.
