written by: Glen Warchol
One of the thorniest ethical challenges Choice Humanitarian faces is living up to its core goal of preserving a culture that also has generations of ingrained inequality. βAll over these countries, beating women is common practice,β says CEO Leah Barker. βMy impulse is to say, βWomen! Grab a bat and beat them back!β But Iβm not an international development expert.β
Led by Choiceβs co-founder and University of Utah political science professor James B. Mayfield, the program counters fundamental sexism with βdisruptive technologiesββlike a tin box with a padlock. βAll of our communities have saving-box programs.β says Barker. βItβs my favorite program.β
The concept is simple. The participating villagers contribute tiny amounts of cash to the saving box. Itβs almost entirely women who who join the program. βWhen Choice starts something new in a village, the men are the least interested,β explains Barker. βItβs the women who are willing to take the risks.β
The savings group elects one woman to keep the box. A second is in charge of the key. And a third maintains the ledger that tracks the deposits. The roles are changed regularly, Barker says, so that a husband cannot seize control of the money. βIf you invest time and money in a woman, she will invest in her childrenβtheir health and their education.β
As the money in the box accumulates and reaches about $300, Barker says with relish, βNow, it becomes Shark Tank.β The box bankers gather under a tree and listen to entrepreneurial pitches from their members. One might ask for a $100 loan to buy a pig. The budding entrepreneur explains that she will butcher the pig and sell the parts at a profit, then pay the loan back. βThe women vote, and you get the money or you donβt,β Barker says. βLittle by little, they build on it.β
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Additional Articles: The Business of Poverty | The Young and Grounded | A Village Breaks Free | Built-In Resilience
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See more inside ourΒ 2017 November/December Issue.
