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http://www.unitus.com (Innovative solutions to global poverty)

Unitus is a microfinance accelerator. Our mission is to alleviate global poverty by increasing access to microfinance.

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Unitus is a USA public 501(c)3 charity organization dedicated to reducing global poverty through economic empowerment.

The Need and The Opportunity

More than 2.5 billion people survive on less than $2 a day. In places such as Sub-Saharan Africa, the total living below this line approaches 75 percent. The bottom line is hundreds of millions of families don't earn enough money to meet their basic needs let alone their aspirations. Economic empowerment provides the opportunity for increased economic stability, better healthcare and housing, the opportunity for education, and ultimately, the real possibility of self-sufficiency.

Microcredit Acceleration



In 2001, Unitus identified the potential to dramatically catalyze expansion of the supply of quality microcredit, and subsequently developed and deployed a methodology we called ‘microcredit acceleration’ to realize this opportunity.  We saw ourselves as a catalyst for the microfinance industry, hoping that our methods and practices would be adopted throughout the industry.  We are proud of the substantial, concrete, positive impact that we’ve been able to make with your support in the operations and scale of our 22 microfinance partners, in the industry overall – and ultimately, in the lives of nearly 15 million of the world’s desperately poor.


New Focus: Livelihood Development

In July 2010, Unitus announced that we were not going to be initiating new microcredit projects and would be researching a new focus and strategies for best achieving our mission going forward.  We have been consulting with many experts in the poverty and economic development sectors to understand what’s working and what’s needed.  We’re setting a high bar for ourselves – seeking a focus where we have the potential to bring economic opportunity to millions of global poor families.

We are currently exploring an area we’re calling “livelihood development,” which involves identifying and backing entrepreneurs who are creating opportunities for poor men and women to significantly increase their earning capacity. While microcredit has provided working capital to millions of micro-entrepreneurs to increase their income, it only goes so far. We are increasingly excited that innovations in livelihood development could be the next big opportunity that Unitus can leverage to dramatically impact global poverty. We hope to be able to provide more details on our new focus and strategies early in 2011

http://www.unitus.com/about-us/mission

CONTACTS:

Unitus Headquarters         
220 W Mercer Street
Suite W-500
Seattle, WA 98119

Tel: +1.206.926.3700
Fax: +1.888.415.3030
 Unitus India Office
No. 9/3, Kaiser-E-Hind
1st Floor, Richmond Road
Bangalore, 560 025
India
Tel: +91.80.4112.0008
Fax: +91.80.4112.0009
 
http://www.unitus.com/about-us/contact