Yesterday was my birthday. I’m 39. I honestly don’t want much anymore, except for my family to be happy, bills to be paid, and a little quiet time. But my brother gave me a meaningful present—a gift certificate for Kiva.org, a web site that allows you to make donations to micro-business lending groups across the globe. Best of all, it allows you to choose the individual (or group) who receives your donation, describes their business, and even shows you how much more they need to meet their loan goals. The site sends email updates on this entrepreneur, the progress of the loan, and the progress of the business. According to the site:

Kiva provides a data-rich, transparent lending platform for the poor. We are constantly working to make the system more transparent to show how money flows throughout the entire cycle.

Microbusiness lending is an idea that is gaining momentum—Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for promoting the concept of micro-credit as a means to promote economic stability from the bottom up—but what I love about Kiva is how the site is taking advantage of the ability of the Web to provide transparency and direct involvement. One of the long-standing questions about any charity is “how do I know that my money is going where I want it to be going?” Well, my loan went to Rustam Jumanov who raises livestock in Tajikistan. According to the site:

Rustam Jumanov was born in 1954 in Asht, Tajikistan. He is married and has 5 children. Mr Jumanov is an active client of MicroInvest who has recommended himself as a reliable borrower. He has a home business in livestock raising and milk production. Mr Jumanov is a foreman in his profession. The main business he is engaged in is livestock. He has a large flock. Now Mr Jumanov requests a loan of $725 for a mixed fodder purchase.

I chose Mr. Jumanov because no one had contributed ot his loan yet and I somehow felt an affinity for him—my great-grandfather was a dairy farmer; he has five kids (two are enough work for me).

Furthermore, there are two principles at work here that we here at SustainAbler want to promote. The first is the idea that people are a big part of the sustainability story. There is so much talk and such a big focus on global warming and carbon offsets and recycled materials in the mainstream media right now that we worry that there is not enough time spent on the issues of fair labor and healthy communities. Although not laden with the threat of impending doom, these issues are just as important to the future of our planet. And we believe that healthy economies are essential to healthy communities, to the evolution of green practices, to peace, and to what we refer to as sustainability. There’s an all too prevalent cry out there that we have to “stop buying stuff” to really create a green world. Perhaps. We certainly need to cut down on wasteful consumption and ensure that profit reaches all levels of society. But world-wide economic shut downs benefit no one. Thriving, sustainable economies are essential to a better world. And organizations like Kiva are a very enabling way to help build a thriving, hopefully sustainable, global economy.

What are your thoughts on microbusiness lending? Do you know of or contribute to similar groups?