The KPMI firmly believes that charity is not an answer to poverty; we offer a ‘Hand-Up’ not a ‘Hand-Out’. Hand-outs create a culture of dependency and take away individual's self-respect and initiative to break through the wall of poverty. In the words Professor Yunus of the Grameen Bank, “Unleashing of energy and creativity in each human being is the answer to poverty.”
The KPMI fund is managed by M4 students, aged 14-15, at Sotogrande International School, Spain in partnership with The Kindred Project, a NGO registered in Gibraltar. The operating budget is currently limited to 1,000€. KPMI’s driving mission is to initially help disadvantaged young people in southern Uganda to help them to overcome poverty.
KPMI’s broad aim is to help to open minds, promote intercultural understanding and enrich the lives of others. Supporting the Kindred Project’s mission statement, “To promote education as a force for good”, KPMI provides one avenue to contribute to the achievement of the UN Millennium development goals by making education ‘authentic’. This a life-shaping, world-changing social mission charged to enable all young people, regardless of location and social background, to seize control of their destinies and ‘make a difference’ as proactive local and global citizens.
KPMI delivers very small loans to young borrowers (aged 13-19) in Masaka district, Uganda, that live below the poverty line and do not have access to other formal financial institutions. In future, loans will be extended to deserving borrowers locally and in Morocco, India and beyond. The loans are not based on any collateral or legally enforceable contracts; they are based purely on trust.
Microcredit is provided to young borrowers to help them improve their lives by financing sustainable, informal, income-generating activities. Credit is used to build assets such as providing an education, providing bicycles to transport and sell products and renting/buying land to help ensure present and future financial security. All loans are paid back in instalments on a monthly basis; the current interest rate is 6% per annum.
The KPMI gives special emphasis on building social capital and protecting the environment. In order to obtain a loan a borrower must join a group of borrowers with common goals in order to create a collective sense of responsibility and a social agenda owned by the borrowers. Groups are expected to take decision making processes seriously and to implement them responsibly.