Milaap.org joins the Global Poverty Project in challenging Americans to live below the poverty line for one week in an effort to raise awareness and funds for microfinance projects in India.
Milaap.org is a social enterprise that connects socially conscious people around the world to India’s bottom billion through person-to-person microloans. In 2011, Milaap.org became the first platform to enable anyone in the world to lend to India’s working poor. Since, Milaap.org has raised over $600,000 in loans from 4,500+ lenders around the world, impacting over 14,000 lives. Milaap is located in Bangalore, India with branches in Singapore and California, U.S.A.
The mission of the Live Below The Line Campaign is to give participants a small insight into the hardships faced by those living in extreme poverty around the world. It originally started in Melbourne, Australia in 2010 and has since spread to the U.K., USA, and New Zealand. In 2012, the U.S. campaign had 15,000 participants, raised over $3 million, and gained support from celebrities Malin Akerman, Josh Groban, Kevin Connolly, Nick Lachey, Minka Kelly, as well as thousands of students, mothers, communities of faith, and world leaders globally. Each year, the campaign chooses to support and raise funds for organizations that are battling issues related to extreme poverty. This year, Milaap.org has been selected as one of sponsored organizations to raise funds for India’s working poor.
Milaap.org supports the next generation of micro-finance institutions who are providing India’s working poor with linkages to essential services and sustainable sources of income. Unlike traditional microcredit, Milaap’s loans target specific, essential services that have long-term impact for their borrowers such as vocational training and higher education, affordable energy, clean water, safe sanitation, improvement of school infrastructure and artisan enterprise development. Milaap’s loans are given at rates 50% cheaper than existing forms of credit available to the poor and they have maintained a 100% repayment rate.
Milaap.org would like to invite you to join them in living below the poverty line and raising funds during the week of April 29th to May 3rd. 100% of the funds raised during the week will go towards improving the quality of water and sanitation in households, installing solar light and panels for families, and improving school infrastructure through building libraries and purchasing computer labs. Any individual or community is welcome to join the campaign and more information can be found at: www.milaap.org
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