Poverty is one of the most alarming issues in many parts of the world and has driven some people to dire consequences.

Myanmar is one of the least developed countries, according to the United Nations. Its agricultural economy is in shambles because cyclone Nargis devastated the whole of the fertile delta region of southern Myanmar in May 2008.

Shining Horizon was born out of the idea that tackling poverty at grassroots level would be the most effective way in alleviating the problem. The goal of this CAP was to provide easy access to loans for poor families for their basic emergency needs, such as health care, education and/or disaster relief.

Shining Horizon achieved its goal by providing micro credit training to 50 households in a village near the small town of Pantanaw, about 100 km west of Yangon.  It is located in the delta of the Ayeyarwaddy River, which used to be known as the ‘granary of Myanmar’ because of its rich annual harvest of rice, but now reeling in the aftermath of cyclone, Nargis.  This project enabled the people living there to speed up the recovery from the effects of the cyclone and also to provide them with a system to stay out of hardship in the long run.