According to the World Bank, as of 2021 about 711 million people live in extreme poverty—an income of less than $1.90 per day.
The vast majority of the extreme poor live in rural areas and are made up of farmers and small business owners trying to eke out a living without the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty.
Fully two-thirds of the extreme poor are subsistence farmers - at least half of them female - with very small plots of land. Their farms barely meet the family’s minimum food needs, much less have product to sell.
After generations of poverty, many people in extreme poverty have developed mindsets of dependency that prevent them from breaking the cycle, even though the potential and capability needed are inside of them.
We focus on rural farmers and small business owners in extreme poverty with a proven set of approaches called THRIVE (Transforming Household Resilience in Vulnerable Environments).
Savings Groups and Group Loans: We help organize community members into savings groups where they develop basic financial literacy and disciplines. Once savings groups are mature, we offer them loans through VisionFund to improve or expand their farms and small businesses.
Local Value Chain Development: To help increase profitability, we offer critical business knowledge, access to vital market information, coaching and support.