Global Citizenship

May 12th, 2011

Micro-finance and Global Citizenship

nickmorgan

Comments: none Tags: Tags: micro-finance
 : Categories ICT, international

Talking to schools and teachers on a frequent basis, we often come across examples of innovative approaches to learning about global citizenship. In recent months I’ve seen more teachers introducing their pupils to the concept of micro-financing, a way of lending small amounts of money to entrepreneurial individuals in developing countries to help them move out of poverty. So a school class might raise a modest sum through charitable efforts, and then commit that money in small loans to local people in nations in Africa, Asia, etc. Loan repayments can be reinvested with other individuals. Involvement in such a programme can help young people research and understand life and poverty in other countries, and make a direct contribution towards improving the lives and communities of other people. The young students also learn more about financial education and planning and about enterprise. Here are two examples.

St Vincent’s primary school in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, took part in a challenge activity with the Wild Hearts charity. A video interview with three pupils describes the process and what they learned from the experience.

And the Kiva not-for-profit organisation in the USA is used by other Scottish schools as a channel to support local development. Langlands primary school from Angus were an early adopter of this approach. The recent report of the Curriculum for Excellence ‘Modern Studies Excellence Group’ comments on Kiva as an example of real-world citizenship action.

Nick