For Todd Manwaring poverty and improvidence are a lot like cancer.
That's why he believes to cure and vanquish poverty, people can look to some of the nation's leading cancer research centers — which are in existence to cure and vanquish cancer.
These cancer centers create new, innovative remedies for cancer prevention/treatment/cure. They bring researchers, practitioners and sponsors together to focus on the applied research. Then a solution — one that is both practical and effective — is spread to other cancer practitioners and on to their patients.
So it is with the BYU Center for Economic Self-Reliance and its approach to cure and vanquish poverty.
The center was founded in 2003 to help families become self-reliant; according to the World Bank, more than two-fifths of the world's population live in poverty, said Brother Manwaring, center director. As part of the effort, researchers with the center are analyzing centuries-old questions: What causes poverty? What can be done? How can I help?
The center, part of the BYU Marriott School, receives no direct funding from BYU or the Church and is funded from donations and grants. BYU's center is different, Brother Manwaring said, because they don't apply their research themselves, but instead partner with other organizations that do. "There are people doing research on poverty," he said. "What there isn't is people doing research with a practitioner who is delivering the service, providing the aid, the help, and the training."
Those efforts are guaranteeing that BYU's research is making an impact at the end of the line, he said.
Brother Manwaring said the BYU center has selected three areas: microenterprise, microfranchise, and the single mom initiative. "We are tying to focus on areas where we think we have a distinct ability to help and make an impact," he said.
Microenterprise
BYU and its faculty have been involved with microcredit efforts (when money is loaned to those in poverty who use it to develop a small business plan) worldwide since the late 1980s, said Brother Manwaring. Though many people throughout the world are researching microenterprise — a movement that is now reaching more than 100 million borrowers and their families — BYU is one of the only universities worldwide that has a dedicated center with a major initiative on microenterprise, he said.
One of the most visible outcomes of BYU's microenterprise work is the documentary, "Small Fortunes: Microcredit and the Future of Poverty," produced by BYU Broadcasting in association with the BYU Center for Economic Self-Reliance. A portion of the documentary was shown at the United Nations on Nov. 18, 2004. The documentary has since been broadcast nationally on PBS and continues to air on KBYU and BYU Television.
As a result of microcredit efforts worldwide, millions have risen above poverty; a Church member in the Philippines, for example, learned to make bags in relief society, borrowed a small amount of money to start her own business, and now employs others making and selling the bags.
MicroFranchise
Almost two years ago, the BYU Center for Economic Self-Reliance started the MicroFranchise Development Initiative. The goal, said Brother Manwaring, was to help those who lack the skills and creative energy to start a viable and prosperous business on their own.
BYU wanted to help people be more successful and grow stronger businesses by researching franchise opportunities and partnering with organizations that can implement them, he said.
For example, BYU students conducted research for the Yehu Bank, which offers microcredit loans, but recently expanded to include microfranchise ventures. BYU research classes did market research on the feasibility and marketability of starting coconut oil companies in Kenya, where many live in poverty and where coconuts are a natural resource.
"Most of the women (in Kenya) still had meager enterprises," said Troy Holmberg, Yehu Bank executive director. "We said, 'What can we do to give them larger and better business opportunities?"
Today, he added, the organization has one coconut oil factory operating in Kenya with plans to replicate it in other locations.
Single Mom Initiative
After identifying many needs abroad, the BYU Center for Economic Self-Reliance began looking for meaningful ways to eliminate poverty domestically, said Brother Manwaring.
Eventually, the center set up a partnership with the Single Mom Foundation. The two organizations now work together on what is called the Single Mom Initiative, a project aimed to help single mothers in Utah with financial self-reliance, child care, education and emotional well-being. "Our desire is to help single moms become self-reliant," said Rebecca Biggs, managing director of the Single Mom Foundation.
BYU research will prove invaluable, she said, because to date not much research has been done on issues facing single mothers.
The initiative is the first domestic effort for the BYU Center for Economic Self-Reliance. BYU makes a great partner, she said, because of its ability to bring practitioners, researchers and sponsors together.
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