Annie is a grad student at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. She has experience with UI programs in Africa and Asia. But this was her first time being “set down” in a developing nation on her own. The Chair of the Board of Directors of the Liberian YMCA welcomed Annie and provided a room in his home and a place in his family for the summer.

Annie quickly joined the Y Livelihood Program team visiting operations in not only Monrovia but also Ganta, Kakata City, Gbarnga, and Zorzor. She met loan recipients, current participants in apprenticeship programs, and applicants for first and second loans.

In addition Annie volunteered her help and support to other YMCA programs in Monrovia where the YMCA has a long history in sports and continuing education programs.

As Annie worked on videos she ran into the realities of the technical challenges in Liberia. The electric infrastructure has not been rebuilt since the civil war. Power is generally supplied by generators within each building. Fuel for running the generators is expensive. Couple this challenge with the high demands various YMCA programs make on the data line when power is available and it is extremely difficult to up load videos. Finding ways to meaningfully use social media in Liberia is a not going to be easy.

It was invaluable to have Annie in Liberia dealing with these frustrations. Ymicro has a much clearer understanding of the operational needs we need to work out together. A group of YMCAs in North America that each have a history of supporting the Liberia YMCA met recently for the first time and thanks to Annie’s experience we were able to begin to address collaborative approaches to strengthening the Liberian YMCA so that it’s critical work with twenty-somethings becomes more and more sustainable.

No one said being an intern would be easy. But …
The Vice President for Development of the Liberian YMCA will be in the USA from January to May 2013. He will be helping us all discuss, plan and problem solve how we can help each other.

And when Tim goes back to Monrovia in June, would you like to be the next intern to take our shared dreams to the next level?

Abby is a graduate student in an unique international program focused on global development.  Her course work has taken place in Europe, Latin America and Asia.  She’s currently in North America working on her thesis which she will complete this winter and defend at the University of Freiburg (Germany).

When Abby arrived in Batticaloa job one was to learn all she could about the women’s empowerment program.  She interviewed staff at headquarters and in the field.  She listened to members of groups in different villages.  And she let the camera roll the whole time.  Thus when in the new Ymicro office in the Batti YMCA she edited videos as a way of organizing her thoughts and impressions of the program.

It struck Abby that the Batti program provided a special way to engage micro donors in North America and elsewhere by offering “membership” or “a seat within the circle” of one of the groups.  The vision is of twenty women in Batti sharing videos and even live conversations with twenty women in North America and visa versa.  With cell phone coverage of most of Sri Lanka a reality, a Batti YMCA Women’s Empowerment Program group can sit around a lap top with a wi fi connection in their village and Skype with their peers almost anywhere else in the world. This new option has been added to the individual loans already posted on Ymicro.org.  There are currently two different groups you can join by making a monthly pledge to “pay your dues” just like the group members in Sri Lanka put 100 rupees into their savings account each month.  Your pledge will be used to make micro loans to the members of the group you join.

At the same time that Abby was strengthening the whole social networking component of Ymicro with new You Tube and Face Book pages she was also training local YMCA staff.  She has left behind the camera and lap top, knowledge and practice in using the equipment and the web, and most importantly a great deal of shared enthusiasm for the future of the global YMCA family.

Abby highly recommends that we expand the internship program to where we have a twenty-something member of the Y family in Sri Lanka year around.  Who’s interested in a life-shaping experience?  Who can pick up where Abby left off?

Our partner institution in Colombia is working with young men and women. Who the organizations work with is completely up to them; they are local, grassroots initiatives that know their clients best. Most benevolent MFIs seek to create opportunities for the members of society who are systematically disadvantaged in some way. This may mean residing far from an urban area, lacking education and material or financial wealth, or in some cases – one’s age or gender. Most of our partner MFIs and most MFIs around the world, are intentionally focused on supporting women. There are undeniable gender dimensions to poverty and banking. Studies have shown that:

-Women are generally poorer than men

-Women have historically had restricted access to credit

-Women have proven to be better savers and more successful at loan repayment than men

-Women are more likely to invest savings in health and education for their children

Microfinance schemes are not only for women, or young people or people living in rural areas. However, they tend to work where the need is greatest. Each YMicro partner MFI collaborates with the local YMCA to generate the most meaningful impact in their area. Learn more about the MFIs on the ‘Partner YMCAs‘ page.

For more information on microfinance and gender:  http://www.ifad.org/gender/pub/gender_finance.pdf

Fast Facts from the World Alliance of YMCAs:

• Founded in 1844, the YMCA now operates in 125 countries, and has over 45 million members worldwide. The YMCA works to bring social justice and peace to young people and their communities, regardless of religion, race, gender or culture.

• The YMCA movement is organized as a federation of independent national associations linked through the World Alliance of YMCAs, which is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

• The World Alliance of YMCAs has had consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations (UN) since 1947. The World Alliance participates actively in the Commission on the Status of Women (New York) and the Human Rights Council (Geneva) and collaborates with UNICEF and UNESCO.

• The YMCA is a very diverse organization. As one of the oldest grassroots movements in the world, within the YMCA you can find programs and expertise on every social issue you can think of.

YMicro.org is working to connect YMCA members and others globally, by sharing the good work of Y programs in places such as Liberia, Colombia, The Gambia and Sri Lanka, and allowing you to show your support. For example, the YMCA of Batticaloa, Sri Lanka runs a very successful Women’s Empowerment Program in over 45 local villages. On our website, you can read about the individuals involved and the impact of their microfinance plus social support equation.

These YMCA projects are locally-conceived, locally-shaped and locally-run, but through photos, videos and articles, YMicro brings the project to you and offers you the opportunity to support the work of YMCAs around the world through small individual or group donations.

YMicro is a platform that connects individuals and encourages micro philanthropy via small monetary donations. It runs on a people-to-people microfinance model supported by the established global YMCA network.

YMicro turns you into the director of your own personal charitable foundation. You review the information and you make the executive decisions – to whom your money will go, how much and when. Have any questions? YMicro staff are always happy to hear from you! Please click ‘contact us’ on the main page.

On microfinance -

Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty

By Muhammad Yunus

On women’s struggles around the world -

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

By Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

On poverty –

Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day

By Collins, Morduch, Rutherford and Ruthven

On interconnectivity -

The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World

By Jacqueline Novogratz

On philanthropy -

Saying Yes Wisely: Insights for the Thoughtful Philanthropist

By Richard Marker

On inspiration and creating social change -

The Cathedral Within

By Bill Shore

On global citizenship -

Global Citizenship and Social Movements – a YMCA Perspective

Dr. Jai Chang Park

Read a book and pass it on! Then, share your thoughts on the YMicro Facebook page!

Ymicro was created by people and their ideas. We want to hear yours!
If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please do get in touch!

Ymicro’s uniqueness is the link to long standing community development programs created and operated by local YMCAs in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Ymicro is a web-based social network channel for these YMCAs to engage peer donors from North America, Europe and elsewhere, with the participants in the economic component of community development.

For example: in Sri Lanka, the Batticaloa YMCA has been running their Women’s Empowerment Program since 1993, into which it incorporated microfinance in 1998. The women begin by joining their local community group and starting a savings account. Once they’ve saved 1,000 Rupees (about $8), they become eligible for a loan of 10,000 Rupees (about $78) and can increase the amount for subsequent loans. The money is paid back with a 15% service charge in 10-18 months. The YMCA program boasts a 98% recovery rate and an estimated 15% of the loans result in additional job creation. There are other MFIs in the area, but they tend to have steep interest rates and lack the success-multiplying factor of the community groups that the YMCA cultivates. The YMCA MFI is a non-profit organization and is part of a multi-layered poverty reduction and community enhancement strategy that includes medical, psychological and educational support in addition to the financial services it provides.

Microfinance alone is by no means a cure-all for poverty and MFIs are not all the same, but Ymicro has done its homework and can whole heartedly recommend supporting our partners, who take a holistic approach to improving lives by empowering individuals, families and communities.

Abby – Ymicro intern, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka

Incoming search terms:

• sri lanka microfinance internship

Since her arrival, Abby has a) begun working with Chowmy, a woman from Batticaloa who joined the Batti YMCA staff team specifically to work with Abby to manage creative communications between the women involved in microfinance and the people who support the program, b) produce and post videos and blogs about the Batti YMCA women’s empowerment program, and c) find ways to establish Ymicro as a unique opportunity for the development of personal relationships among global participants – relationships that change lives and promote peace.

Already Abby and Chowmy have a half dozen videos on You Tube and have developed a plan to shift the Sri Lanka “product” on Ymicro.org from donations to one person/one loan, to joining a specific women’s empowerment group, pledging a monthly donation to the group and then truly engaging with the group through web based exchanges.

This summer you’ll experience a whole new Ymicro.org when you choose to get involved with the women who are making a big difference in the lives of their families and communities just north of Batti.

Abby’s blogs will be coming your way starting in three days …