Locations of Interest:

Or write check to "Liberian Widows Initiative, Inc." and mail to LWI, 265 College St, Ste. 6G, New Haven, CT 06510.

About Us

Liberian Widows Initiative combines a commitment to efficient operating principles with compassion for the extreme poor. In addition to business loans, our microfinance programs include personalized training and support. We believe that even in distressed economies, lives can be transformed.

Liberia is emerging from a desperate period. Beginning in 1989, fifteen years of violence and civil war ravaged

the country.It destroyed infrastructure and the economy.

It tore apart families and sent an estimated 400,000 refugees fleeing for safety and sustenance outside the country’s borders. Liberians relocated to refugee camps all over West Africa.

LWI began in one of those refugee camps. Buduburam refugee settlement, near Accra, Ghana, was home to over 40,000 refugees. In June 2006, LWI began providing business education and small loans to a group of widows in exile there. Conditions in the camp were difficult, but we found creative and dedicated women who used our financial services to launch profitable businesses, pay school fees for their children, and buy food.

Now that Liberia has stabilized, the refugees are returning home to extremely difficult circumstances. Despite the need for financial services targeted towards the severe poor, very few microfinance institutions function in Liberia. Most cannot or will not take on the risks associated with operating in a country in the nascent stages of rebuilding. LWI is different. We take part in the restoration of Liberia.

Walker & Ida

 

Walker and Ida Brumskine are committed to the development of Liberia. They will spend 2010-2011 in residence strengthening LWI's banking operations, implementing a more comprehensive education program, and increasing LWI's presence among the Paynesville community we serve.

Walker is a native Liberian, and Ida is from Ethiopia. After graduating from Harvard College, Walker joined McKinsey & Company's Washington, D.C. Office where he focused on Social Sector work in Africa. Ida previously worked with the American Red Cross Hurricane Recovery Program as Intake Team Leader, and is a former Department of State Intern. Ida graduated magna cum laude from Eastern University with extensive course work in economic and community development. Walker will attend Yale Law School in the Fall of 2011, but he and Ida have committed this deferral year to help LWI reach more families in need.