Giving a hand up (not a handout) to the poorest families on the Thai/Burmese border
UPLift--Poverty Alleviation For The Ultra-Poor
UPLift is a program designed to empower communities on the Thai/Burmese border that lack food security, opportunities for income, and education. Through the use of small grants and skills trainings, these families receive the opportunity to pull themselves out of poverty without having to rely on external aid indefinitely.
Friday, July 8, 2011
5 Minutes to Change the World, and How We're Doing It!
Last week, UPLift and Room 2 Grow staff completed their video entry for the Project Inspire competition, sponsored by the UN Women's Organization and Mastercard. This competition gives a $25,000 grant to the group with the best plan for improving women's lives through social entrepreneurship and financial literacy. Check out the video above!
As you know, over the past year UPLift has been working with a number of families on a city landfill near the Thai-Burmese border in Tak province, Thailand to help increase their food security and income through a variety of pilot projects. Two of these projects have proven themselves to be lasting, effective, and most importantly drawing the interest of other families on the landfill. With this in mind, Paul Hancock from UPLift realized that women have been responsible for our most effective pilot projects and have the power to change the status quo on and around the landfill.
Now that we wish to scale up our activities to include other families, having a grant opportunity such as this that matches our goals is fantastic, and we are "inspired" to continue our work in this area.