The Out of Poverty Program is one of two primary programs carried out by 100WEEKS. It targets people living in extreme poverty who are often subsistence farmers.

Participants are enrolled in groups of 20 to 25 women who receive mobile cash donations and training on a weekly basis for 100 weeks. Group members also set up village savings and loan associations (VSLAs) in coordination with 100WEEKS. Each VSLA get an account at a microfinance institution.

Weekly meetings are led by a coach and offer training in financial literacy, entrepreneurial skills, life skills and best agricultural practices.

At the end of the program, around 80% of the women have developed stable income-generating activities and have sustainably moved out of poverty. Positive effects reach way beyond that though, as demonstrated by our own data. The women lift their families out of poverty and give their children a better chance for a stable future. School attendance in participants’ families rises to almost 100% in the first few weeks. The program has an immediate impact on child labor, as traffickers are left unable to take advantage of desperate families. Communities are strengthened, and the surrounding environment improves as people become less dependent on illegal logging and poaching as sources of income and agricultural practices move in a more sustainable direction.

Donors that fund this program have privileged, personal access to a dashboard monitoring the impact of the program on dozens of indicators. We also offer access to our cash-tracking platform for business accounts. Here recipients can be registered, payments and trainings tracked and impact measured.