Frequently Asked Questions

Put simply, they are small loans, given to people living in poverty who run small businesses. They often lack access to traditional bank. People receiving the loans are also supported with business and financial support advice. World Vision Microloans help men and women build their own livelihoods and generating an income that helps them build a better life for their families.

It empowers people.

By increasing household incomes, building assets, and reducing vulnerability to humanitarian disasters, microloans help recipients overcome the cycle of poverty. They are able to plan for their family's future, manage savings, and apply money to household and family priorities. Microloans help equip people to make their own choices and work their way out of poverty.

It breaks dependency.

Because the formal financial sector does not extend credit to impoverished people due to the absence of any credit history, and the lack of collateral assets. A moneylender (i.e., "loan shark") will step in to make loans at high rates of interest. While this enables people to buy the supplies needed to produce a product, once they begin selling their wares, nearly all of their profits are applied to the payment of interest to the "loan shark," leaving them in a position of poverty once again.

A Microfinance Institution (MFI) is a local lending office within a community that is managed by local professionals. These offices ensure that funds are protected and widely invested.

Currently, World Vision has a network of 42 MFIs located in every region where we work. Forbes Magazine recognized two World Vision MFIs among their Top 50 List of MFIs, out of more than 12,000 currently in operation worldwide.

No, not at this time. Our field offices are currently not equipped to handle transactions of this type. If you'd like to support World Vision with gifts in general, please check out our Gift Catalogue or call our supporter helpline on 0845 600 6448

No, not at this time. Our field offices are not equipped to handle this. We hope that in the future we will be able to accommodate these requests.

Yes!

World Vision Microloans provides you with Mid-term Updates and Final Reports on their recipients.

Fund a loan yourself. It's easy. Choose a resourceful person with a small business idea to support.

Share Microloans with others. Tell your friends and colleagues.

For more information, or to contact us, please use our Contact Page.

World Vision Microloans is an initiative through which World Vision collects donations to help fund microloans, thereby allowing you to connect with resourceful individuals in need around the world.

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide. To tackle the causes of poverty and injustice by providing individuals a way to reach their full potential.

World Vision provides hope and assistance to approximately 100 million people in nearly 100 countries. Motivated by our faith in Jesus Christ, we serve alongside the poor and oppressed as a demonstration of God's unconditional love for all people. World Vision serves all people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender.

For more information, visit World Vision's home page www.worldvision.org.uk

WorldVision Microloans currently features Mexico, Philippines, Rwanda, Kenya, Armenia and Cambodia with more and more being added over time!

World Vision currently offers microloans to people in 42 countries.

Yes, all recipients pay interest to the MFIs; however, it is at a much lower interest rate than other lending programs offered by commercial banks, rural banks, etc. Rates are in line with non-profit industry standards, and in many cases, are much lower!

Providing loans to impoverished individuals in remote rural areas is expensive, that’s why we have to charge interest rates to keep our local operations going. A £180 loan requires the same manpower and resources as a £1,500 loan, which is why the formal financial sector does not traditionally provide microloans.

Lastly, our interest rates do vary by country because of differing inflation rates and operating environments. Rates are affected by many factors, including varying labour costs, credit-risk, local market conditions and more.

Yes, they are.

We don’t want entrepreneurs to wait until someone is able to support them so we pre-fund the microloan to help them get to work and build their livelihood straight away.. Then, when the microloan gets funded by someone like you, we make sure your money gets directly attributed to paying back the loan that you intended.

Also, transferring funds across the world -incurs charges, so World Vision bundles transactions and sends them on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. This allows us to be more efficient and make sure small businesses are not waiting unnecessarily for the money they need to start making a difference.

Investing in women can lift an entire community out of poverty. Not only do they show a higher loan repayment rate, they also work two-thirds of the world's waking hours. Women are innovative, dedicated, and given the proper tools, industrious.

Supplying money empowers women and men to financially support their families. Children can attend school Women can keep their families healthy with regular check-ups and earn money to purchase medicines. And they are able to buy more nutritious food to vary the families diet and not rely strictly on what they can grow themselves.

Statistics show that women, as the primary caregivers of children, consistently spend more of their income on their children and families.

A real connection.

With a single donation, a donor connects with a possible recipient and learns their story – from their struggles to successes. Donors choose whether to support women or men, invest in a country they have an affinity with, or reach out to a person whose story touches their heart. Moreover, after the donation is made, donors can share in the borrower's success throughout the repayment process. Our one-to-one approach allows donors to hear updates from their recipient via mid-term loan updates and final reports, learn about their community, watch their business grow, and see how a single loan can touch several lives.

The gift that keeps on giving.

It begins with a simple microloan donation. A donor funds a loan to help someone’s livelihood grow. Microfinance Institutions (MFI's) in the borrower's community help facilitate this arrangement. Once the loan is repaid, the money continues to recycle back into the community as other local small businesses have the opportunity to receive a loan. So overtime, one donation can help support a whole number of life changing microloans within a community.

A trusted organization.

World Vision's 60 years of humanitarian aid demonstrate the organisation's commitment to providing a better quality of life for children living in poor communities.

Since 1993, World Vision has provided microloans throughout the world. We believe that when parents are provided more opportunities, children are provided more opportunities.

Yes. You can.

In fact, our donation model is what makes us unique from other microfinance programs. You donate to help us fund a loan. Once repaid, your gift recycles over and over again to help an ever-growing amount of small businesses in the same country. Your donation of one loan could literally help dozens of people to begin supporting themselves and their families.

In short, a donation model is makes more of a difference to the lives of poor communities. By providing a donation to fund a loan for a recipient, you provide money for funding not only the initial loan, but also for loans in the microfinance institution (MFI) in an ongoing way.

Your gifts keep revolving in the future, helping even more borrowers in the community – like a ripple effect. Our donation model allows the money donated to stay in the community for others to benefit.

Once repaid, the loan is recycled. Your donated loan will remain in the country of your original small business. The next small business idea will be carefully selected by World Vision’s local credit officers on ground.

We currently are not able to provide you with the tools to choose the next recipient, as this would lead to a significant increase in administration costs. In order for your donation to have the maximum impact with the lowest overhead, your donation will remain in the community of your original recipient. Microfinance credit officers will carefully select the next recipient – one who demonstrates an enterprising spirit, trustworthiness, a solid work ethic, and a sound idea for building their livelihood.

The recipient you choose is guaranteed to receive the microloan you fund. We give out the loan and plan to recoup that money from new donors who want to donate to a resourceful person’s income generating idea.

Gift Aid increases the value of donations to charities by allowing them to reclaim basic rate tax on your gift.

That is a very unlikely event, as around 97% of all our microloans get repaid.
When entrepreneurs can't pay back their loan,our local staff talks to them to determine the reason that the payment was late. If it is determined that the payment is late because of sickness or some other serious problem our local staff will work with the entrepreneurs to come to a resolution about a new payment schedule.
If our local staff determines that the entrepreneurs are late for some reason other than sickness or a serious problem, they will talk with them to sort out when they will be making a payment.
If all these actions are taken, and the entrepreneurs still don't repay, they will no longer be considered for future loan applications.