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Microcredit

Alternative Investment - Oikocredit

Investing in People

OneStat.com Web AnalyticsOikocredit believes that poor people can build themselves a better life, if only given the chance, if only given credit. As a socially responsible investment opportunity, Oikocredit promotes global justice by converting investments into credits. Oikocredit aims for high social impact and sustainable development.

Oikocredit and microcredit

Oikocredit supports Microfinance Institutions around the globe with loans they then divide into thousands of microcredit loans. According to the World Bank’s CGAP, Oikocredit is actually the world’s largest source of private finance for Microfinance, financing around 445 microfinance institutions in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Typical loans are around 100 Euro. Read more

Roots of Oikocredit

The roots of Oikocredit lie in the 'social gospel' of the World Council of Churches. In 1968, when the General Assembly of the World Council of Churches conveded in Uppsala, Sweden, the Western world was experiencing unsettled times. The unease of that period was also felt within the churches. Young and politically engaged church members cried out at the General Assembly: 'We preach love in our church, telling people to be good and not to fight. But why do churches invest without scruples in banks that might channel their investments to industries that support Vietnam War and Apartheid? Can't we invest our funds in a better way; something ‘that is more in line with the social teaching of the church?'

Even after this dramatic request, it still took seven years to establish Oikocredit. It was only in 1975 that the Oikocredit Ecumenical Development Cooperative Society U.A. was established to provide churches and church-related organisations with an alternative investment instrument, to serve the interests of the poor. The aim was to encourage social justice by giving credit to productive enterprises run by disadvantaged people.

 

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