ASAP channels $1 a Day Campaign funds, in the form of grants, through existing microfinance and development institutions that can either demonstrate strong track records in reaching the poorest families or are willing to refocus part of their efforts toward serving the poorest.
Most clients targeted by microfinance services are the poor and the not-so-poor—i.e., households that are just below or just above the poverty line. In contrast, most of the world’s poorest families (about 100-200 million of them) are still not being served by microfinance programs.
For most microfinance institutions (MFIs) the poorest are the hardest to reach, require the most support and are therefore the most expensive and least profitable clients, which is why so few of the world’s poorest are being served or, if offered the opportunity, are choosing not to participate. Many are so poor, so hungry, so sick, so marginalized, or so lacking in self-confidence, that they are simply not yet ready to take on the responsibility of a self-employment loan.
$1 a Day Campaign grants support activities that will prepare the world’s poorest citizens for self-employment and participation in microfinance programs. These activities such as savings matches, motivational training, business skill mentoring, asset transfers, subsidized food and medicines, healthcare, and small scholarships that keep children in school have proven to increase the economic well-being of the very poor and help them ascend the first rung of the ladder of economic development, which is employment or self-employment.
To learn more about the lives of those escaping extreme poverty and working towards economic self-reliance, click here.
Where It Goes 