Hand in Hand International (UK)

Look at poverty differently and you’ll see grassroots entrepreneurs, full of energy and ideas. Hand in Hand helps turn that potential into jobs, and they discover a way up, and out.

Since 2003 we’ve worked in 10 countries, generating 1.6 million jobs. We’ve created more than 80,000 community groups, trained more than a million people and helped them start more than a million businesses. And we’ve supplied more than $200 million in start-up loans.

We work in four key stages. First we create community groups, mainly women, who support each other, save together and learn together. Then we train them to discover and develop small businesses that make use of their skills and potential. Next we provide access to microloans and the support across the group ensures they are paid back.

Finally we help scale up members’ businesses and take them to bigger markets, which in turn benefits their families and communities. In countries where we are well established, we’ve also broadened our work to include civic information, education, environment and health initiatives.