You know the saying, give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. That applies to Africa. Africa’s efforts to be sustainable have been a challenge. Over the years many organizations have been implemented in Africa but very few focus on economic development.
The majority are interested in feeding programs. The positive side is that people are getting fed but on the other hand they become dependent on these feeding programs. This does not improve development because there are certain individuals that will not work because they know that at the end of the day they will get fed and then there are extreme cases where they will sell the food they get.
It is important to teach and give them an opportunity to change their living standards. Micro finance projects are a good way of providing Africans with a window of opportunities. They get to start their own business, do something they enjoy or are good at but did not have the means to make it happen. This type of credit is used by poor people to secure property such as farmland, which gives them a certain security towards their future. This way they have a steady income, it addresses material poverty and it does not only change one family’s life, it can change a community. If a community has no economic growth, a micro finance project might boost their economy though it is long term rather than short term.
Micro finance organizations provide training and assistance in addition to financial aid. However, success in a business depends on the input of the individual as well as skill and entrepreneurship. Though there are also negative sides for these projects, I can concur that the benefits outweigh the losses. It is safe to say that for a nation to prosper and develop it is important to create opportunities for the masses to overcome poverty. If there are programs benefiting the poor, then it will definitely benefit the nation as a whole. Feeding programs are important for the nutritional development of a human being but micro finance projects are a way of teaching the poor to become independent.
