micro-lending for a Mutual activity? a progressive spin on Integrity #7

This past weekend my stake had a YW conference, themed on small things we can do to make a difference in the world. One of the speakers happened to talk about microlending and the work of Mohammed Yunus and the Grameen Bank. Then (obviously not by coincidence), a couple of days later I got this email from Joanne, who lives in the MidWest. She writes:

One of the strengths of the YW Personal Progress (PP) program is its flexibility. Participants can literally write their own curriculum. From what I understand, for all its virtues, the Boy Scout program is not so flexible. So here I am, YW second counselor, trying to help the young women take advantage of that freedom. I tell them, "Put the personal in Personal Progress!" But it's hard for them to think outside the box and consider anything other than the dominant reading of the value experiences and projects. And it's hard for me to pitch something unusual; until I read Integrity #7 for the 10th time.

Integrity #7 invites us to consider the forces that weaken the family and home. It's easy to make a list of negative trends. One problem that is often left off this list is economic poverty. Maybe poverty is forgotten because we don't want to criticize wealth or capitalism. Or maybe poverty gets forgotten because we prefer to focus on individual sins rather than societal or institutional problems. Nevertheless, poverty threatens families throughout the world, and poverty has real causes that responsible, moral youth should be aware of.

So, in the spirit of Integrity #7, I would like to introduce fair trade and micro-lending during an upcoming Mutual activity. I want to take the girls to a nearby fair trade shop (think Ten Thousand Villages) and have the manager explain the moral dimensions of poverty and responsible buying. The girls could hold in their 1st world hands some cool handmade items from around the world, and hopefully feel a physical connection to their struggling sisters and brothers. They can shop and become educated at the same time. The manager may prepare a small ethnic snack. Afterward, we do a pseudo-fast offering: we take the budget money we would have spent on refreshments (plus spare change) and invest it in a micro-loan. Over the months and years, we monitor the health of the business we sponsored. To increase the impact of the micro-loan, we pool our money with money from young women from anywhere in the church.

I think the benefits are obvious: cultivating a social conscience, seeing the power of small sacrifices, feeling a connection with like-minded young women. Some potential problems I foresee: Does this activity sound paternalistic or elitist or political? Does it instill guilt in young women who can only afford to buy made-in-China stuff? We don't do fundraisers anymore, but does this sound like a fundraiser? (It's not!)

So I have two questions:

1) How many of you would like to try this activity and contribute to an LDS YW micro-lending account, shared by young women across the church? (I'm shooting for August, but anyone could join at any time, I believe.)

2) How have you personalized PP in creative or progressive ways?