In March 2006 the Global Ministries Leadership Team for our denomination sent a medical mission team to Honduras to run health clinics in several locations. They worked hard and served over 1800 individuals during their week there. Some people walked for miles for treatment and lives were saved. They were able to share God’s love for people by helping with the problem of poor health.

Sounds great doesn’t it? The need was obvious and urgent. The team was dedicated and highly skilled. The clinics were greatly appreciated by those it served. Such clinics are important because they meet an immediate need. Unfortunately, they do little to help the long term problem of poor health.

The reason such efforts aren’t effective in the long run is that they tackle the problem at the wrong end. It is important to help people in this way because it is an emergency situation and there will always be a need for such efforts. But health experts who have spent long periods of time working in developing countries know that preventive medicine is actually a far more effective solution. And in most cases preventing disease is a matter of economics. Sometimes it is as simple as being able to afford a pair of flip-flops that can prevent getting intestinal parasites, more nutritious food or early medical treatment when diseases are usually easier and cheaper to treat. Economics have a significant impact on long term good health.

So how do we go about addressing economic needs? Nothing is easy but one solution is micro-credit systems. Micro-credit involves small loans that enable people to start small businesses. Poor people don’t have collateral to get loans from traditional sources so they find themselves in a catch-22 situation. They can’t start a business to earn money to build collateral and they don’t have the collateral so they can’t get a loan to start a business.

Micro-credit systems solve this problem by finding creative ways to collateralize loans. For example, they might only loan money to groups of 5 or 6 people who vouch for each other and hold each other accountable to pay back the loans. A lot of business training is included in the servicing of the loans as well as a high degree of accountability. The loans are small (between $25 – $150) and the loan period is as short as 3 months. Interestingly, many micro-credit institutions make loans predominately to women. Micro-credit systems are one of the few economic development tools that have had good success in many parts of the world.

Of course micro-credit, like any other approach, is not a comprehensive solution. That means that making micro-credit available to everyone who needs it is not going to help everyone escape from poverty. But it does help people eventually gain access to traditional financial services. It is not the total solution but it is a great place to start.

Are you interested in becoming involved in micro-credit systems overseas? We think it could make a big difference and we are trying to get a handle on who might want to partner together to see it become a reality in some of the areas where we work. If this sounds like something you would like to be involved with please give us a call or send an email. We are looking for people who could help both financially and through technical expertise.

© 2006-2008 Zanesville United Brethren Church