On International Women’s Day earlier this month, the United Nations called on the world to “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress” as the best way to increase economic growth and build more prosperous, equitable societies.
Gender equity and women’s financial inclusion and growth also are keys to reducing global poverty. In today’s world, seven hundred million people live in extreme poverty — surviving on just $2.15 per day. More than half are children. One in every ten women live in such severe conditions. The UN warns that “immediate action is crucial to prevent over 342 million women and girls living in poverty by 2030.”
Many local nonprofits are taking that immediate action, as part of an ambitious global effort to eliminate extreme poverty. COVID-19 and climate shocks have set back progress toward that goal, but the goal remains, and should be achievable in our lifetimes. Sound improbable? So did the successful 1990-2013 worldwide effort to cut extreme poverty in half. That enabled one billion people to escape extreme poverty.
Such profound poverty is a world-wide problem. It’s poignantly evident in San Diego’s tent encampments, but much of our local poverty is invisible. One in ten San Diegans – 335,000 people–live below the poverty line, according to a 2023 San Diego Foundation report. That includes about 86,000 children—enough to fill 3,000 classrooms. Every day, close to 277,000 San Diegans struggle to put their next meal on the table.
Solutions are available. According to the World Bank, “In the long term, jobs and employment are the surest way to reduce poverty and inequity.”
For 20 years, San Diego-based Women’s Empowerment International, known simply as WE, has envisioned a world without poverty, in which women are empowered, uplifted, and equal partners with their male counterparts. Toward that goal, WE has funded over $2.5 million in effective poverty-alleviation projects in ten countries, including the US.
WE partners with nonprofits whose projects are well designed and managed, with documented impact. WE-funded grants help women qualify for jobs and start businesses, primarily through training and modest loans. Repaid loans are reissued, so each loan can benefit hundreds of hardworking women who seek opportunity, not charity.
Women typically invest a higher proportion of earned income into their families, households and communities, compared to men. And, as she moves up the economic ladder, a mother’s investment in her family’s health, education and nutrition can help break a multi-generational cycle of poverty.
From Honduras to Uganda, Haiti to Puerto Rico, and in Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador, a $150 WE-funded loan can launch successful in-home grocery stores, textile weaving, roadside food stalls, livestock businesses, and small farms. Reliable income from employment and sustainable businesses gives families the financial security they need, as one client framed it, “to live under the umbrella of constant chaos.” Lacking that safety net, such chaos — and lack of opportunity — often drive people from their homelands.
Locally, WE has partnered with five nonprofits to help women and girls build financial security. For example, WE’s funding to the International Rescue Committee in San Diego, has helped women, primarily from immigrant and refugee communities, launch and expand over 1,300 local businesses.
Luis Felipe Lopez-Calva, the World Bank Global Director of Poverty and Equity, explains that “a world free of poverty on a livable planet is in our line of sight. But it can only happen if we take action now.” San Diego nonprofits have stepped up to this challenge. Please support them.
Debbie McGraw is the President of Women’s Empowerment International, a 501(c3) nonprofit that funds microfinance, small business development, education and training, and other barrier-breaking programs that give women the opportunity to work their way out of poverty. She lives in Cardiff.
