Friends of Women's World Banking

Friends of Women's World Banking is rated 3 out of 5 in the category civic & social organization. Read and write reviews about Friends of Women's World Banking. FWWB was promoted in 1981, as an affiliate of Women’s World Banking, a global network created to focus on the need for women’s direct access to financial services and recognizing women’s role in building a nation’s economy. At the core of the vision behind FWWB’s creation are millions of women from low income households, who do not have access to any financial services. We attempt to harness the collective power of these women by supporting self-help groups, federations, co-operatives, and farmer producer companies. We believe in the bankability and credit-worthiness of women, knowing that economic empowerment is crucial to fight injustices of all kinds. However, we are not a lending agency. As a facilitator of access to financial services, we catalyse the formation of a credit history by becoming the first lenders. A big part of this process also includes building capacities of the women we work with. We enable them to overcome barriers of gender, poverty, and lack of access to knowledge in the path of lifting themselves out of poverty. Our experience of over two decades shows that the combination of loan support, capacity-building and collective action is one that yields rewards, creating a positive and lasting impact on the lives of the women we work with. We provide loans and capacity building support in the following four areas: agriculture finance, solar energy, financial education and women entrepreneurship support, and water and sanitation. Cumulatively, we have reached out to more than 1 million women across India through our interventions.