Boma Project Interview
With over thirteen million women and children living in extreme poverty in the Eastern African countries of Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Tanzania alone, flexible development strategies to help build the resilience of populations to shocks are critical. With a focus on self-reliance and autonomy, development is seeing a transition from structural aid to strategies of empowerment.
Boma Project addresses the crippling consequences of poverty for women that act as the primary supporters of families, and the best means to alleviate them.
Find out how you can support an organisation committed to bringing women above the $1.90 threshold in East Africa.
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February 10, 2021
Investing in Human Potential as the Most Useful Development Strategy
#119 Great.com Talks With... Boma Project
As the primary care providers for families, women’s unique role in development is of the utmost importance. Addressing extreme poverty must be inclusive of women and focus on solutions that foster self-reliance for durable success. In this episode, we spoke with John Stephens from The Boma Project about how supporting women to develop their own businesses through a microfinance-centered approach has seen positive development and human outcomes.
“It is really a set of outcomes and methods around taking a very vulnerable and fragile household and pushing them through that more extreme part of poverty, to a place where they’re more prosperous and more able to keep moving forward.”
In BOMA's poverty graduation programming, a group of women is given a loan of $300 to start a new business along with two years of business and life skills training. Empowering women to transform their future and the future of their children has proven to be remarkably effective: A 2018 Longevity Study showed that BOMA’s women entrepreneurs see a 1900% increase in savings after graduating from the program. In addition, 95% of women operate successful businesses after two years This multi-faceted approach allows for direct investment of financial capital to women and businesses that can foster an income-generating enterprise. John Stephens explains that this solution utilizes time and training as an advantage, both for Boma and for the women involved in the program, who want to see success as much as anyone.
Listen to the whole interview to find out why investing in women is key to helping end extreme poverty. You can also learn more about how Boma’s women entrepreneurs are fighting the impact of climate change, consider establishing a fundraising campaign in your community or make a donation. With a model centered around four of the UN’s sustainable development goals, Boma Project’s ideal future would be one devoid of extreme poverty.
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