Empowering Individuals in the Global Community Through Entrepreneurship
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Whole Planet Foundation partners with Mercy Corps and Nirdhan Utthan Bank in Nepal. In Nepal today over half the population has no access to even the most basic financial services. In rural areas, farming families are trapped in cycles of debt and are often forced to sell their crops at below market rates, further slipping into poverty. Even when financial services are available, the products rarely suit the unique needs of farmers. Mercy Corps, with support from Whole Planet Foundation, is teaming up with Nirdhan Utthan Bank, a Nepali-owned microfinance institution, to help farmers escape this vicious cycle by providing them with tailored financial products such as loans to help them escape debt and climb out of poverty. With a grant of $272,000, Mercy Corps and Nirdhan Utthan Bank will distribute $3.5 million worth of loans to 10,000 poor farmers in eastern Nepal over the next three years. In addition to providing the farming community with desperately needed sources of credit, this program will serve as a successful financial model for providing financial services to remote, rural populations in Nepal and around the world.
Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps works amid disasters, conflicts, chronic poverty and instability to unleash the potential of people who can win against nearly impossible odds. Since 1979, Mercy Corps has provided $1.5 billion in assistance to people in 106 nations. Supported by headquarters in North America and Europe, the agency's global programs employ 3,500 staff worldwide and reach 16.4 million people in more than 35 countries. Over the past five years, more than 89 percent of the agency's resources have been allocated directly to programs that help people in need. Mercy Corps is a proud recipient of the 2008 Fast Company/Monitor Group Social Capitalist Award.
Nirdhan Utthan Bank, Ltd.
Nirdhan Utthan Bank is a Nepali-operated financial institution created with the vision to reduce poverty in Nepal by enabling the poor to “contribute equally to a prosperous, self-reliant rural society through self-employment and social awareness.” Established in 1991 by Dr. Harihar Dev Pant after seeing first hand the success of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, the Nirdhan Utthan Bank supports a clientele of nearly 89,000 with a staff of over 300 and is based in Siddharthanagar, Nepal.
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