Economic development a powerful aid

The unleashing of human potential by the liberalisation of China’s economy has been the force that has driven this miracle of development.

That dynamism is founded in the human spirit and can often be sparked by relatively small levels of support.

This was brought home to me recently during a briefing by a non-government organisation that specialises in micro-finance and financial services such bank accounts in developing countries.

The approach was described as providing people with a boat and fishing line, rather than providing them with fish.

Loans can be as little as $100, although this can be transformational for some people.

The vast majority of their loans were to women, who often worked cooperatively in groups to guarantee loans for each other as they do not have any other means of securing their loans.

One group of women used their funds to buy bicycles to collect produce from farmers to sell to villagers.

They repaid the original loan and had applied for larger loans to establish a produce market, then another loan for business expansion. One woman was on her fourth cycle of loans.

She was illiterate but her involvement in small business had opened her eyes to the possibilities of the world, and she made enough money to send her daughter to medical school.

It is transformational for one generation to go from poverty-stricken illiteracy to the next with children striving to become doctors.

There are many complex challenges in supporting development of other countries, but there must be a firm focus on providing economic opportunities so that people are given the opportunity to lift themselves out of povertyand achieve economic independence.