This is a brilliant TED talk by Jessica Jackley, the co-founder of Kiva.org. Kiva is a platform that allows individuals to donate to entrepreneurs around the world. Kiva uses micro-finance and the internet to support people around the world set up projects that help improve their lives.
I like how she talks about ‘buying our distance’ and how some people (myself included!) feel like if we give people a few dollars or something, we feel like we can get on with our day and the poverty and all its problems is out of sight and out of mind. Kiva as a project really aims to empower people and I think it’s such a clever yet practical solution to reducing poverty and stimulating fundamental change in peoples’ lives.