INCOME GENERATION

WHY INCOME GENERATION?

Alleviating extreme poverty requires access to job opportunities, skills development, and capital for the nearly 700 million people living under the international poverty line of $2.15 per day. Investing in jobs and skills leads to increased earnings, reduced gender disparities, and improved school enrollment rates among children. However, many jobs continue to be irregular or informal, which makes it difficult to secure consistent income and safe working conditions. Without consistent income, small-scale farmers and entrepreneurs often use their wages for household maintenance instead of expanding and diversifying their activities in order to become financially stable. Women are disproportionately impacted by barriers to income generation – due to gender pay gaps, social norms, and inequitable access to loans – despite the fact that poverty reduction is most effective when women have access to formal finance. Reducing poverty then requires comprehensive and inclusion access to training opportunities, resources, technologies, inputs, and low-interest rate loans.

DID YOU KNOW?

• In 2024, the extreme global poverty rate was 8.5%
• In 2022, 2 billion people worked in informal jobs with no social protections 
• 1 in 4 youth are not engaged in education, employment, or training opportunities

OUR RESPONSE

One Day’s Wages comes alongside grassroots partners to support entrepreneurship, vocational training, and meaningful employment opportunities.  Since 2009, we have supported 71 income generation projects in under-resourced communities, impacting over 66,000 people. Through our partnerships, Jeannine’s recycled doormat business is booming and her self-confidence has blossomed despite experiencing years of discrimination, and in an urban slum community in Nairobi, Amina has been able to open her own small bakery and enroll her children in school.