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Press Release
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CONTACTS:
Karen Kartes, kkartes@worldvision.org 253.815.2163
Kimberly Tegarden, ktegarden@worldvision.org 310.478.8006

CHANGING THE WORLD ONE WOMAN AT A TIME: WORLD VISION INTRODUCES WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL LOAN FUND

World Vision's "WILFund" Empowers Women Worldwide to Break the Cycle of Poverty

SEATTLE (April 11, 2003) -- Few joys are greater than that of a mother watching her children grow and thrive under her care and provision. Sadly, this is a rarity in the developing world where poverty and widespread diseases such as HIV/AIDS are unraveling fragile economies and leaving many young women widowed. To assist these women in transforming their circumstances, World Vision has introduced the WILFund (Women's International Loan Fund), a capital fund designed to provide microloans to women.

Of the 1.3 billion people worldwide living in extreme poverty -- on less than $1 a day -- 70 percent are women. In some places, women must resort to selling themselves or their children to the sex trade in order to buy food and medical care. However, a small business loan can help a woman establish a reliable way to provide food, health care, and education for her children -- and contribute to her community's economy.

The WILFund is designed to provide a vital foundation that would otherwise be unattainable to women with no established credit. The WILFund pools individual, group, and corporate contributions and distributes the funds through World Vision’s network of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. The MFIs issue loans to women starting or expanding cottage businesses, like sewing or poultry raising. When the business is up and running, the woman repays the loan with interest to the MFI. The MFI repays the WILFund with interest, increasing WILFund lending capital. The WILFund then selects another MFI, perhaps in a different part of the world, to help other entrepreneurs.

Investing in women and enabling them to choose a better life for their families is a sure way to contribute to a region's economic growth and stability. As Kofi Annan, secretary general of the United Nations notes: "Study after study has shown that there is no effective development strategy in which women do not play a central role. When women are fully involved, the benefits can be seen immediately: families are healthier; they are better fed; their income, savings and reinvestment go up. And what is true of families is true of communities and, eventually, of whole countries."¹

How to Contribute to the World Vision WILFund:

To help build a future of dignity and hope for a woman and her family, or to get your company involved in transforming a community, visit http://www.WILFund.org/ or call toll-free 1-800-532-8922. Below are some examples of giving options:

• $54 provides a loan to purchase chickens for a woman’s egg production enterprise
• $100 helps a woman buy seeds and fertilizer to grow more crops to market in Ecuador
• $202 buys an oilseed press in Zambia to extract sunflower and peanut oil for a woman to sell
• $500 enables a woman in the Republic of Georgia to buy a washing machine for a laundry business
• $1000 provides 8 women in Cambodia with a loan to expand their food-vending, vegetable-growing, and craft microenterprises

About World Vision

Founded in 1950, World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization, serving the world’s poorest children and families in nearly 100 countries. World Vision maintains health, education, agriculture, water, sanitation, and small business projects that help millions of people in their communities, helping transform the lives of children and families in need without regard to their religious beliefs, gender, race, or ethnic background.

¹ The New York Times, "In Africa, AIDS Has a Woman's Face", December 29, 2002