At ICAfrica, we believe that at this point in the fight against extreme poverty in Africa, impoverished enterprising women have unique strengths and abilities to stretch scare dollars around basic life saving family necessities. (Because Women Carry the Load). We are therefore putting high emphasis on leveraging the capacities of these women to deliver more efficient returns in basic human development with limited dollars. 

By mid 2011, we know that there are approximately 110 million adult women who are living in extreme poverty in sub-Sahara Africa. Most with children. But almost all are busy struggling daily, to scuff out a living for their families. There are no employers in their small towns and villages so these women and their families create their own micro businesses or operate tiny farms. But with little or no capital base, they struggle just to get the bare minimum profits from their ventures for food and housing. And they continue to live below the regional poverty line of $1.25 per person per day. 

Our number one Women's program is to offer micro-loans and business coaching to these women, because the small dollars we spend on them truly gets a lot of mileage. How could you go wrong if an investment of just $50 into a woman's micro-business, brings her and her children permanently above the poverty line? 

ICAfrica  truly believes that if the citizens of this world are interested in helping the children of Africa escape perpetual poverty, we must focus on how to achieve relative financial independence for their mothers. It's not difficult at all, if we are committed - one person at a time. Many of us have already been donating but we must try and work with efficient delivery organizations. For those not already donating, it's not going to take much out of you but rather, will enrich all of us in diverse ways.

Eugene Nzeribe