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At The Marcovia Project, our model of poverty alleviation and micro-lending is inspired by several incredible organizations, each with their own approach to empowering individuals and families. Below, I’ll share a bit about those models, as well as some books that have shaped our thinking and approach to helping those in need.
Our Model: Inspired by Great Organizations
Our approach draws from a few organizations that have shown us what’s possible when we work to uplift others:
The Adelante Foundation (Honduras)
Adelante focuses on lending exclusively to women in Honduras. While this is an excellent model, we’ve expanded our scope to include both men and women. We believe lending to men can also help alleviate the suffering of women and children in their families.
Adelante's model begins with group loans and gradually provides access to more capital. While we admire this approach, we wanted to create a speedier process to help borrowers more quickly scale their businesses.
Mentors International
We can’t say enough good things about Mentors International. Previous participants pay it forward by volunteering and helping new participants.
Kiva
While Kiva is a valuable platform for micro-lending, one concern we’ve noted is that many borrowers are charged 20+% interest. We’ve committed to setting our loans up for success by making them as affordable as possible, ensuring that repayment doesn’t become a financial burden on the families we serve.
Books That Have Shaped Our Approach to Poverty Alleviation
Over the years, we've read many books that have influenced our thinking and helped guide our approach. If you’re passionate about alleviating poverty, I highly recommend the following:
Radiant Mormonism: Using Our Faith in Christ to Power World-Changing Service by Warner Woodworth
This book is a must-read for members of my faith, though others could learn from it as well. Warner Woodworth has been involved in numerous projects globally, including in Honduras, and has helped millions of people. His perspective on faith and service is inspiring.
Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help (and How to Reverse It) by Robert D. Lupton
This book is essential reading for anyone wanting to help others. It helped us reshape our thinking about charity and led us to make meaningful changes in how we run our project. Highly recommended!
When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert
This book provides a framework for helping without causing harm. My only criticism is that it tends to see Christianity as the primary tool for alleviating poverty. Despite this, it's an important and insightful read.
21 Habits of Highly Broke People & How Poor People Think by Dipo Adesino
To truly help people out of poverty, it’s important to understand how they ended up in that situation. This book delves into the mindset of poverty and the habits that can trap people in it. It’s an eye-opening read and might even help you recognize some of these patterns in your own life.
Uplift and Empower: A Guide to Understanding Extreme Poverty and Poverty Alleviation by Danielle Hawa Tarigha
This book provides a broad understanding of poverty alleviation strategies, emphasizing that poverty isn’t just about lacking money. It’s about mindset, empowerment, and creating prosperity for all people, regardless of income.
The Abundance Mentality: Conquering Scarcity to Find the Key to Your Dreams by David Carter
Poverty is often seen as a lack of material wealth, but in many cases, it's more about mindset. This book highlights the importance of switching from a "scarcity" mindset to one of growth and abundance.
Lead with Love: 10 Principles Every Leader Needs to Maximize Potential and Achieve Peak Performance by Gerald M. Czarnecki
This book explores how love—meaning kindness and respect—should be central to leadership.
Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by Jim Collins
We want The Marcovia Project to endure long after we’re gone. This book offers valuable insights on building a sustainable organization, emphasizing the importance of being flexible, experimenting, and adapting as needed.
Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits
This book offers a blueprint for high-impact nonprofits. One key lesson we’ve learned is the power of collaboration. We will continue to identify other organizations doing good work in our space and explore ways to collaborate for greater impact.
Books Waiting to Be Read
There are still many books on my reading list, and I’ll continue to update this list as I learn more. Here are a few I’m excited to dive into:
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
This inspiring story of a 13-year-old boy who builds a windmill to save his village from famine has also been adapted into a Netflix movie. I can’t wait to read it!
Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Mobilizing a Community’s Assets by John P. Kretzman & John L. McKnight
This book explores a unique approach to community development by focusing on identifying and mobilizing a community’s assets, rather than just focusing on its problems. We plan to use this model during our next visit to Honduras.
The Most Good You Can Do by Peter Singer
I’m eager to learn from Peter Singer’s perspective on how we can make the greatest positive impact with our time and resources.
As we continue our work with The Marcovia Project, I’m constantly learning and growing. I’ll update this list of books and resources as I go, and I encourage you to explore these texts if you’re passionate about making a difference in the world. Together, we can help lift people out of poverty and create lasting change.
If you’re inspired by anything you’ve read here, I’d love to hear from you! Whether you want to connect or learn more about our work, please don’t hesitate to reach out through our Contact page.