Sustainable Development Programs Help Families Change Their Lives for the Better

I am a big supporter of sustainable development, because it can make a lasting difference for a family. It's the difference between giving a woman a fish and teaching her how to fish. Here are some ways you can support sustainable development.

Heifer International is one of my favorite organizations. Not only is it based in my hometown (Little Rock, Arkansas), but Heifer makes wonderful contributions to sustainable development. Heifer donates a wide variety of animals (and trees) to families around the world. Recipients use the animals to improve their standard of living. For example, water buffalo can help a family in Nepal plow their land to grow more food. Goats can provide meat and milk for a Romanian family, improving their diet. A family in Ecuador can eat and sell eggs and meat from Heifer ducks, and generate money for school fees. One requirement is that recipients 'pass the gift" by donating the the offspring of gift animals to others in need, making them equal partners with Heifer in the fight to end world hunger.

"So what can I do?"

* Send llamas to your lover, bees to your boss, geese to your grandma, or oxen to your uncle by donating online at www.heifer.org. You can even use the catalog to find the perfect gift for that hard-to-buy-for friend or colleague. Heifer animals are the perfect gift for the person who "has everything." 'Tis the season for giving!

* Visit Honduras, Tibet, South Africa and other places on a Heifer Study Tour. In the US, you can tour the Heifer Learning Centers. Learn how the animals benefit people and get more information on ways to end world hunger.

* Teachers, consider using Heifer's Read to Feed (www.readtofeed.org) service-learning materials in your lesson plans. Your students will discover more about the world and its people, see that they can make a real and positive difference in someone's life, and learn about poverty and environmental damage, all while improving their reading skills. You may even want to read Beatrice's Goat

Visit www.heifer.org. You're sure to love the work they do.

What can $10 buy? A pair of scissors and other supplies for a Filipina woman to start styling hair and support her family. What can $25 buy? Supplies to start a noodle house allowing a Cambodian family to save enough for a first home. What can $50 buy? A cell phone that a Bangladeshi woman can rent out in a neighborhood with no phones, improving her life and the lives of her neighbors. Read more stories here.

Microcredit is yet another way to support sustainable development in the US and around the world. When recipients pay back the loans, the money is sent back out again to improve someone else's life. So check your pockets and see if you have any money to spare. Pool it with a friend and you can make an even bigger difference in someone's life. It's a Nobel Prize winning idea! Consider these organizations:

* Opportunity International "Our mission is to provide opportunities for people in chronic poverty to transform their lives. Our strategy is to create jobs, stimulate small businesses, and strengthen communities among the poor."

* Accion International is "a nonprofit that fights poverty through microlending." They also have Accion USAwhich makes small loans in the US.

* Association for Enterprise Opportunity is "the national association of organizations committed to microenterprise development."

* Kiva offers a new way to make a microloan. When you fund a microloan through Kiva, you get your money back: "Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on our website and then lending money online to that enterprise, you can 'sponsor a business' and help the world's working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive monthly email updates that let you know about the progress being made by the small business you've sponsored. These updates include reports on loan repayment progress, photos of new capital equipment, narratives on business growth and standard of living improvements, and more. As loans are repaid, you will get your original loan money back."

Your money will go far in the countries where Kiva works, so it's easy to make a big difference in a family's life with a relatively small amount of money. You can start with as little as $25. The money is used to start a small business, like a barber shop, vegetable stand, restaurant or cell phone rental. Such business create a sustainable change in the family economy and allow the family be economically independent. Funding a microloan is just one more step toward economic justice.

Your money goes further when it's used for microloans, since a small amount can make a very big difference. Fund a microloan today.

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." - Norman MacEwan