Lifting People Above the Extreme Poverty Line

Can you imagine, what it’s like to live on less than two USD per day?

The World Bank predicts that eradicating extreme poverty will not be achieved by 2030 (SDG1). Although progress has been made, 600 million people will be living below the poverty line by the end of this decade, partly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nine out of ten will be in Africa. Felista is one of them. Watch the video to see how her circumstances have improved significantly through joining one of the Hilti Foundation’s Economic Empowerment programs.

Day-jobbers and subsistence farmers are extremely vulnerable to any kind of economic crisis. Finding safe and sound business models is key for them to create resilience. With the Basic Entrepreneur Training (BET), facilitated by the Hilti Foundation and led by Hand in Hand International, people learn how to run a micro-business to earn more than $1.90 per day.

Since 2017, more than 16,000 women and men in Kenya and Tanzania have escaped extreme poverty. Felista now leads a more self-determined life and has already diversified her micro-business to be even more resilient. “The BET program has left indelible fingerprints on my life,” she knows.

Based on the success of BET, the Hilti Foundation has decided to accelerate the grassroots program and expand it to nine counties in Kenya and three districts in Tanzania. The project aims to train a total of 40,000 farmers on how to run a profitable micro-business in the region's most attractive value chains, such as dairy, poultry and other products. Generating a sustainable income will not only help them to recover from the impact of the pandemic, but also to remain successful in the years to come.