Hh Begum Aga Khan - Davos debates 2009

>> Hello YouTubers. This is Begum Aga Khan and I'm very happy to join you today. Let me tell you what I believe is one of the most important things that all people should be doing in 2009 in order to fight poverty. It is called micro-finance and micro-finance is proved to be one of the most effective tools to lift people out of extreme poverty. And the good thing is, it can be done by everyone, actually governments, businesses, banks and every single person like you and me. Let me explain how it works. Think about 1.4 billion people who are living in extreme poverty in developing countries. They have to live every day with less than $2, and they have no extra for basics. In other words, they have no clean water, they have no safe housing, no medical care, and no education. Now the good thing is that it takes a relatively small amount of money to lift these people out of poverty by granting them small loans called micro-loans. For example, a small amount of money like $150 can lift a whole family out of this vicious circle of poverty and with this amount of money they can start building their little business and for the first time take control of their life, for example [inaudible] and Richard Stewart. Let me give you an example, my Princess Inaara Foundation recently announced a fund raising campaign in the German city of [inaudible] and in yet in four weeks we were able to collect more than half million euro for poor families, for women and their families in Southern India. And with this money alone, we will be able to reach out to by 2010 to more 100,000 more families than we are reaching out to now. So in other words, what I want to say is it works, it is fantastic and all of us can do it. So please do join in the fight against poverty. Let us invest together in the poorest members of our society thereby helping, shaping this world into a better [inaudible]. Thank you.