Crowdfunding: A Cure to the World's Social Problems?

This blog was written by Lendwithcare lender, Jan Tchamani, and originally posted on DuCredit's website. It has been re-posted here with permission.

 

The Chitimba Women's Group, supported by Jan through Lendwithcare

Crowdfunding activity has been on the rise for a few years. With the rise of Kickstarter and other platforms, no sector benefits more fruitfully from crowd funding initiatives than the 3rd sector.

Micro-finance initiatives allow anyone to invest small amounts of money which make a huge difference to entrepreneurs and workers in the third world. Allowing them to provide a sustainable future for their families.

We asked one UK based donor, Jan Tchamani, one of AgeUK’s current internet champions, why she chose to give through crowdfunding and tell us a little about her experience of charitable giving through LendWithCare.

Diary from the field - cycling from Vietnam to Cambodia

Head of Lendwithcare, Tracey Horner, has embarked on a challenge of a lifetime. For the past seven days Tracey, along with ten other CARE supporters, has cycled from Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam to Battambang in Cambodia (a gruelling 460km) to raise vital funds for CARE's poverty-fighting programmes. 

Before peddling off into the Mekong Tracey met with one of Lendwithcare's newest microfinance partners, MACDI, who are based in northern Vietnam. 

What follows is her diary from the first six days.

Promoting solar power in Pakistan

The city of Lahore is renowned as the literary, educational and cultural heart of Pakistan and has a long history of beautiful architecture dating in particular from the Mughal period with buildings such as the Badshahi Masjid and the Shahi Qila or Lahore Fort.

Shakeel and Rehan from Akhuwat on the roof  where the solar panels are located

Unprecedented floods in Malawi

A few days ago, terrible floods destroyed homes and livelihoods in Southern Malawi.

Flooded areas in Nsanje ©Innocent Mbvundula/CARE

The true extent of the damage is still not known but Lendwithcare's microfinance partner in Malawi, the MicroLoan Foundation, has told us that clients from at least two of their branches have been badly affected. It will take around six weeks for the water to subside enough for  MicroLoan Foundation staff to assess the impact of the floods on their client’s lives and businesses and in the meantime they are simply going out to reassure all their clients that they will help them through this crisis.