“Give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day. Give a woman micro-credit, and she, her husband, her children and her extended family will eat for a lifetime.” - Bono
Typically, grants are finite in that, once deployed, the capital is seldom returned or multiplied. For a community to experience sustained prosperity, however, underlying economic activity is required. In order to kick start the creation of markets and the provision of goods and services, Legatum provides modest capital to entrepreneurs to enable them to start their businesses. These grants span both geography and sectors and include funds for small stores, upholstery and vocational training. Most programmes are focused on women who, in poorer communities, are often more vulnerable to physical and sexual exploitation.
Migrant Economic Empowerment in China
China’s rapid economic growth in the past two decades has been attributed largely to the work of rural job-seekers who have been migrating to the cities to find employment. At a rate of 13 million per year, these job-seekers represent the largest migration movement in history. Living in crowded slums of more than 1 million people, many of the migrants lack education, job skills and healthcare, since the government no longer provides such benefits outside their home district, this leaves them vulnerable to forced labour, sexually transmitted diseases and crime.
The Legatum Foundation has granted USD 1.2 million to focus on the 1.5 million migrants living in Beijing’s 346 slums, providing residents with vocational training and primary schooling for their children, and creating job opportunities and access to healthcare.
Together with other partners, the Legatum Foundation has funded further initiatives in Mali and Burkina Faso to establish women’s self-help groups; in Ecuador, to create savings and credit cooperatives; female entrepreneurship programmes in South Haiti; and to support microcredit institutions in the Dominican Republic.