During the fall semester of 2006, Dr. Shawn Humphrey from the University of Mary Washington gave the students of his Principles of Macroeconomics class a unique challenge: live on two dollars a day for a week. In the spring of 2007, that challenge became the "Living on $2 a Day" project for his Economic Development class. That project is now the Challenge Week. It asks participants to choose a cause, a partner, set a monetary goal, and take participate in Challenge Week.
In the first year the chosen cause was microfinance, the chosen partner was Kiva, and the monetary goal was $1,000. Using Challenge Week, this one class raised $1,600! Even today they are still extending small business loans to entrepreneurs in developing and transitioning economies (see their lender's page). That was just the beginning. In the spring of 2008, students enrolled in Dr. Humphrey's Economic Development class and the Economic Development Club at the University of Mary Washington partnered with Students Helping Honduras. Their shared objective was to raise the seed capital for La Ceiba; a student-led, operated and governed micro-financial institution for the communities surrounding El Progreso, Honduras. What started as a project for one class was transformed into a university-wide event. Participants from other courses and multiple disciplines signed up to participate in Challenge Week. Together they raised $6,750!
This was momentous. Challenge Week had capitalized a development initiative that has the possibility of concluding in tangible assistance for impoverished individuals in Honduras. Not only that, this was a student-led development initiative. It empowered a group of students at a small university to make a direct difference in the lives of others. What would happen to global poverty if students at other campuses could use Challenge Week to capitalize their own development initiatives? To see what can happen and the impact that can be made, that's why TDC, including Challenge Week, has gone National this year. Please join us by registering so we can see what we can do.
