Trickle Up Shines Light On The Invisible Ultrapoor

PRLog (Press Release) - Feb. 11, 2013 - NEW YORK, Feb. 11, 2013 – Trickle Up (www.trickleup.org (http://www.trickleup.org)), a leading poverty alleviation organization focused on the poorest of the world’s poor, helped 7,558 ultrapoor people in West Africa, India and Central America start their families on a path out of poverty and, in doing so, improved the lives of more than 37,000 people.

That’s one highlight of the Trickle Up 2012 Annual Report, released today at http://2012annualreport.trickleup.org/index.html. The report details Trickle Up’s many accomplishments throughout the year and highlights new and positive developments helping the world’s ultrapoor.

“We are grateful to all of Trickle Up’s friends and donors for helping make our accomplishments possible in 2012 and for supporting us in 2013 as we help thousands more take the first steps out of poverty,” wrote Bill Abrams, President, and Penny Foley, Board Chair, in the just-released Trickle Up report.

The ultrapoor are some 200-400 million people worldwide living in ultrapoverty. They are a subset of the $1.25-per-day extreme poor. This condition is characterized by chronic food insecurity and poor health, insufficient and irregular income, minimal productive assets with a high vulnerability to shocks, and the need to prioritize consumption over investment. This group is historically marginalized and underserved by government and NGO programs and policies. They are disproportionately women, indigenous and people with disabilities. In 2012, Trickle Up’s participants were 98% women and 13% people affected by disabilities.

As Trickle Up enters its 34th year of helping the ultrapoor start on pathways out of poverty, the group highlighted several significant accomplishments and events of 2012.

·         New strategic plan allowing Trickle Up to expand the ways it pursues its mission;

·         New partnership with BRAC Development Institute in Bangladesh;

·         A three-year grant from the Ford Foundation to increase the Trickle Up India program and showcase the group’s work there;

·         New office in Burkina Faso, West Africa; and

·         Trickle Up received GreatNonprofits’ (http://greatnonprofits.org/organizations/view/trickle-up-...) 2012 Top-Rated Award.

According to the Annual Report, Trickle Up’s goals and outlook for 2013 include:

·         Strengthening the number of people reached by providing technical assistance to other NGOs, governments, funders and the private sector;

·         Continued partnership with core programs in West Africa, India and Central America to advocate for the ultrapoor;

·         Leverage program and units of scale and build capacity to win large institutional grants; and

·         Leverage events including 100 Women Campaign and annual Galas, and their volunteer group, the Young Professionals Gala.

About Trickle Up
Trickle Up (www.trickleup.org) empowers the poorest of the poor—the ultrapoor—to take the first steps out of poverty, providing them with resources to build livelihoods for a better quality of life. In partnership with local agencies, Trickle Up provides business training and seed capital grants to launch or expand a business and savings support to build assets. Trickle Up works India, West Africa and Central America.