Case #6 Finance for the Stateless, People with No Identification, and Women

(Cases of How Humaniq can be used in the future)

The World Bank estimates that some 1.5 billion people in the world cannot benefit effectively from society the way they should be able to. For example, if one does not have ID, services in sectors such as education, health, and other social services are generally unavailable. In African states, approximately 55% of the population have no formal identification documents and, in many cases, these people effectively do not exist for targeted social programs.

In a country where few women have the opportunity to take out loans from large commercial banks, Grameen Bank has focused on women borrowers;

97% of its members are women. It targets the poorest of the poor, with a particular emphasis on women, who receive 95% of the bank’s loans.

Women traditionally have had less access to financial services such as credit lines and formal salaries. They were seen to have an inequitable share of power in household decision making. Yunus and others have found that lending to women generates considerable secondary effects, including empowerment of a marginalized segment of society, who share the betterment of income with their children, unlike many men in patriarchal societies. Yunus claims that in 2004, women still have difficulty getting loans — they comprise less than 1% of borrowers from commercial banks.

As of April 1, 2012, 80.46% of Kiva’s loans have been made to female entrepreneurs. Kiva emphasizes supporting women because women can gain the most from microcredit. Patriarchy and a strict division of labor still dominate the societies of many developing countries, and women often suffer the most from poverty because scarce resources are often allocated to males in families, rather than females. In their non-fiction book “Half the Sky”, Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn tell stories of women whose lives were transformed through the microfinance institutions Kiva sponsors.

With microloans, women gain spending power and spend less on instant gratification vices like alcohol, prostitution and drugs. With extra income, they are able to educate their children, renovate their residences, or buy modern technologies and medicines. Along with economic power, a woman with a microloan often gains more independence and respect from her husband. For oppressed women and for other unbanked, the barrier in financial account registration will disappear. Women will gain control over their funds and business.

Female users tend to spend more than men for food, education, health care, welfare improvement and family productivity. Thus, involving the female population in the digital finance system will improve health care and economic outcomes. But it is not restricted to women living in developing countries of course. Anyone — young, old, male or female — can receive loans or donations in Humaniq. We at Humaniq believe we can empower and lift people from around the world out of poverty and help them create better lives for themselves, their families, their loved ones, and even their friends.