A growing unrest is stirring the global microcredit market. Some are asking whether microcredit has really benefited the poor. Although the spotlight might be uncomfortable, microfinance institutions should welcome this soul searching.

Meaningful employment forms an essential part of a person's well-being and identity. Yet there are many who are unable to access the traditional job market due to significant barriers linked to their mental health or addiction challenge.

One of the first companies to really leverage the power of the internet to connect those who have with those who need, Kiva allows anyone to lend money to aspiring entrepreneurs in developing countries in a relatively risk-free way.

The vast growth it has seen is proof that the Grameen Bank's brand of group lending -- which relies on peer pressure rather than collateral to ensure that debts are repaid -- can work in America.

In an important coordinated effort, ten pilots around the world are experimenting with a model initially developed by BRAC in Bangladesh that helps extremely poor families build assets and capabilities and ultimately "graduate" into sustainable livelihoods.

These days, Lokesh works in rural villages where life has stood still for centuries: no paved roads, no electrical wiring, and no plumbing. There are also no real jobs.

We need continued product and business model innovation so that we can reach more people with a broader range of products at lower costs. What is needed instead is a variety of financial service providers that create an ecosystem that serves the poor profitably.

As we watch a devastating drought unfold in the Sahel for the third time in less than a decade, putting millions at risk of hunger, it occurs to me that perhaps the international community has been responding to these crises over the years with a lot of heart, but maybe not as much head.

As international development practitioners, we realize that food-based responses, while immensely valuable for basic survival in times of crisis, are not always the most effective in promoting sustainable, long-term recovery and resiliency.

Access to financial services for the rural poor provides an important tool that can help women and their families be resilient in the face of drought and conflict and respond to health shocks and other uncertainties.

The slum communities are densely packed, with winding paths that have no street names, let alone house numbers, and so although Nilesh has spent time in these neighborhoods, he must often rely on the local residents to be pointed in the direction of the next client.

My greatest challenge as a father has been the moments of terror when my children were gravely ill, and we thought we were going to lose them. It happ...

There's no doubt that the global problem of poverty and its solutions are complex, which is why the microfinance industry needs to approach them with eyes wide open and insist on transparency and results.

The U.S. microenterprise field is over 25 years old now, and there are hundreds of organizations that will be looking at leadership transition over the coming years. What's the best way to engage the best and the brightest of the Millennials to step up?

bringing the benefits of agricultural development to the farmers at the end of the road, is the challenge within the challenge.

What did my mother want most for me? Prestige? No. She wanted me to be strong, free, independent, and happy. Being productive was the first and defining priority. Should it not still be?

This is the seventh installment of the Impact series, #SocialGoodStars. The people highlighted here are passionate, dedicated philanthropists, strengt...