Archive for August, 2010
Does Microfinance Empower Women?
Julie Shea, KF12
I can’t recall a time in my life that I felt something was unattainable because I am female. I would by no means argue that women in the United States and Denmark (the two countries I call home) have achieved complete equality, but nonetheless, I have never considered myself a feminist. As I learn about the historical status of women in Peru, I’m beginning to realize that my former resistance to feminist thoughts and movements is frankly a bit ignorant.
Continue Reading 31 August 2010 at 08:22 julieshea 12 comments
Food Month at Kiva: Humitas from Ecuador
Since today is the last day of ¨Food Month¨ at Kiva, I´d like to share a recipe for humitas, corn-cheese tamales that are common throughout the highlands of Ecuador. Humitas are often made during the months of the corn harvest (August and September) when corn is abundant. They are often enjoyed in the evenings as a light snack accompanied by a hot cup of coffee.
By Kelsey Quam, KF12 Ecuador
Continue Reading 31 August 2010 at 07:34 kelseyquam 1 comment
A Taste of Liberia
By EB Moore, KF12 Liberia
To help wrap up food month at Kiva, I wanted to share some of what I’ve learned about Liberian food. Here is a short discussion of Liberian food, a recipe for Potato Greens, and links for those who want to learn more.
Continue Reading 31 August 2010 at 05:30 EB Moore 3 comments
Superhuman: The Profile of a Credit Officer
By Shirley Fong, KF12, Angkor Mikroheranhvatho Kampuchea, Cambodia
It’s a bird… it’s a plane… no, it’s an AMK credit officer!
Much like a superhero, credit officers are the understated motor that keeps the loan system running. Their continued daily gruel brings loaned monies to those who need it. After a day in the field, I am worn down to the fibers of my soul from the long hours of heat exhaustion, heavy rain (during Cambodia’s monsoon season), and navigating a loud, clunky motorcycle on unpaved roads mapless. But I realize I have no reason to complain – credit officers do this every day!
A Consumer, not a Recipient
By Brandon Vaughan, KF12, El Salvador
There is a lot of debate in the world of international development about the role, both positive and negative, that multinational corporations play in developing countries.
Continue Reading 28 August 2010 at 08:00 vaughanbrv 4 comments
Tough Conversations
By Eric Burdullis, KF12, FAPE/ASDIR, Guatemala
I started this blog on a scrap of paper during a group visit. I started writing because, well, I felt uncomfortable. I wasn´t quite sure what my place in the conversation should be or even what my facial expressions should be. And this wasn´t the first visit I felt uncomfortable on that day.
I wanted to give Kiva lenders updates, journal postings, on a couple of lenders that had fallen behind in their payments…way behind. And now, the loan officer, the operations manager and I were at their homes or their places of business trying to figure out why this had happened, and how they could get back on track with their payments.
Continue Reading 28 August 2010 at 07:22 Eric Burdullis 10 comments
Costa Rica…in ten seconds
By John Murphy, KF12, Costa Rica
*Weekend edition* – Costa Rica in ten seconds
Continue Reading 27 August 2010 at 21:03 johnfmurphy 9 comments
Quantifying Feelings: the Role of Social Performance in Microfinance
Betsy McCormick, KF12, Honduras
We lend to Kiva entrepreneurs because we feel that our loans are making a difference in the lives of those individuals. But how do we know? Beyond anecdotal evidence of improved livelihoods, is there any way to create and evaluate a quantitative link between microcredit and the type of long-run social impact we hope for? The short answer is…not yet. The longer and more interesting answer is…enter CERISE.
Continue Reading 27 August 2010 at 14:00 betsywmccormick 18 comments
I Am Happiest When…
I began writing this blog on a scrap piece of paper just north of the Burkinabé/Ghanaian border. I had spent my morning walking across the border carrying a 40-pound pack and subsequently spending far too much money on a taxi into the nearest town. My Kiva Fellowship had ended a week and a half earlier, and I was sitting in a hot, dirty hotel room with a concrete floor, grimy walls, and inconsistent electricity. I was desperate for entertainment. I had finished the only book I brought on this three-week post-fellowship excursion, my computer was lifeless without the electricity to charge the battery, and my broken iPod seemed to be mocking me with its inaccessible entertainment. I was entirely alone. So, I took some time to process the last four and a half months.
Continue Reading 27 August 2010 at 10:03 taylorakin 4 comments
Angela’s 10th Loan In 10 Years…And Her First Time On Kiva
By Vanick Der Bedrossian, KF12 – Armenia
I recently travelled to the small Armenian town of Sevan to visit a Kiva partner’s branch office. Armenians flock to Sevan throughout the year to enjoy either a lazy day at the beach, attend a wedding reception, or just to visit the Sevanavank monastery, which is nestled atop a scenic mountain overlooking the Sevan Lake. Due to tourism, this town serves as an important marketplace where people from surrounding communities come to buy clothes, household goods, and food.
Continue Reading 26 August 2010 at 09:15 vanickd Leave a comment
Concrete Floors and the Digital Ceiling – Building MicroFinance Banking MIS in Chile
By Lorena Gil, KF12, Fondo Esperanza – Chile
I am not a computer wiz at all, so when Kiva asked the fellows heading to Latin America to conduct a survey of the Management Informational System (MIS) at our designated MFI placements I had no idea what to expect.
Continue Reading 26 August 2010 at 06:48 gbrooklyn 3 comments
Lenders Push Kiva Connections
By Kelsey Quam, KF12 Ecuador
Kiva is about connections. In a rural Ecuadorian community, I tested a new way to strengthen the dialogue between lenders and borrowers.
Continue Reading 25 August 2010 at 07:00 kelseyquam 5 comments
In Sickness Or In Wealth
By Brittany Boroian, Kiva Fellow Class 12 with Faulu Kenya in Nairobi, Kenya
It all started last Monday with a cold. I downed orange juice, popped some sudafed, and went through two boxes of tissues.
A day later, I found myself in St. Theresa’s Ward of Nairobi Hospital.
Being Comfortable with the Uncomfortable
By Sarah Curl, KF12 Uganda
I have spent the last two weeks in Kampala, Uganda learning how to adapt to a country that is very different from the one I’ve known for the last twenty-three years. It has taken some patience, some meltdowns and some courage to continue on. In the last two weeks, I have had my luggage lost, been chased by a crazy man with a branch and peed on by a child on a mini-bus.
Continue Reading 24 August 2010 at 02:00 sarahcurl 11 comments
Loans for Gold and Fierce Competition
Tara Capsuto, KF12 Ecuador
Gold was not one of the topics I would have guessed I´d be immersed in as a Kiva Fellow. But last week I found myself in a tiny backroom at Fundacion Espoir in Cuenca, Ecuador learning the details of what is perhaps their most innovative product: loans for gold.
Continue Reading 24 August 2010 at 01:30 tcapsuto 14 comments
Google Comes to Liberia
By EB Moore, KF12 Liberia
Several days ago I attended an event at Monrovia’s City Hall called “Internet Camp Liberia,” hosted by representatives from Google. I found it very informative and well-targeted, in addition to having some larger implications for microfinance in the region.
Continue Reading 23 August 2010 at 05:55 EB Moore 2 comments
A Sweet Recipe: How You Can Help an Economy
by Sam Kendall KF 12 Tajikistan
As this is food month on Kiva, I’ve decided to talk about how food relates to you, microfinance, and an entire countries economy. And as an added bonus, I give you a recipe based on fresh fruits and vegetables I’ve found in the market “Tajik Summer on Rice”
A Cry for Benin
Benin is a country not often in the news. When I was a Kiva Fellow placed there, I’d come to appreciate this. It meant we didn’t have the political instability of Togo, the violence of Nigeria, or the food shortages of Niger. While Benin still had many flaws, it was stable compared to its neighbors. This gave it hope for the future – hope for growth and international investment. (more…)
Portfolio Teams to the Rescue!
By Ann Hingst, KF12 Tanzania
Every Kiva Fellow attends a weeklong training at Kiva Headquarters in San Francisco. The training we received is top notch. But what happens once a fellow is in the field, and all of a sudden forgets the procedure for reporting loan repayments in Kiva’s system or has trouble navigating the politics of the microfinance institution (MFI) that he or she is visiting? That’s where the portfolio team comes to the rescue.
Continue Reading 20 August 2010 at 09:03 annhingst 2 comments
A Kiva Fellow’s Scrap Book
Today is my last day as a Kiva Fellow. Kiva Fellows Class number 10 (or KF10) took me to Zaporozhye, Ukraine where I worked with Kiva’s field partner HOPE Ukraine; KF11 brought me here to Lomé, Togo, where I work with two different field partners, Microfund Togo and Women and Associations for Gain both Economic and Social, or WAGES. I can’t think of two countries more different, and I have loved and been challenged by both experiences equally. (more…)
Fueling flames with connections
by Zerrin Cetin, KF 12 Ghana
Having finished my second week on the field, I’m starting to gain a greater appreciation for the connections that Kiva facilitates and the work that MFIs do. I’m learning what it takes to introduce a borrower in a remote village in Ghana to you, surfing the net in the comfort of your living room. And not surprisingly, the flow of information is not as easy as Google makes it out to be.
It all starts with that entrepreneurial flame. Over and over in my borrower interviews, I see it burning alive and well.
Continue Reading 20 August 2010 at 04:00 zerrincetin 5 comments
Business in Manila, Both Mall and Small
By Nick Whalley, KF12, Philippines
A first Jeepney ride through the heavy traffic congestion on Taft Street, the main thoroughfare through Ermita and Malate, gave me a quick introduction to the urban economy of the Philippines. Despite the presence of familiar franchises (McDonalds, Starbucks, etc.) and some not so familiar ones (Jollibee, a local favorite), the majority of commercial enterprises lining the road are small, family run store fronts and stands, most of them selling a diverse and predictable range of products: candies, bottled water, soft drinks, small toiletries, spices, canned goods, etc. The sheer number of these “sari-sari” stores is astonishing. It wasn’t surprising then that as I began working with the CCT Credit Cooperative uploading borrower profiles onto Kiva’s website, I found that the vast majority of borrowers listed “SSS” (Sari-Sari Store) as their current business, and the purchase of small consumer goods for repackaging and resale as the purpose of the loan.
Continue Reading 19 August 2010 at 15:55 nwhalley 5 comments
A President to Rival Obama
John Rauschkolb III, KF-12, Philippines
The recent presidential election has changed the face of the Philippines for good. Local elections in the Philippines were held on Monday, May 10, 2010, and the elected president, Benigno Aquino III, has become the 15th President of the Philippines.
Continue Reading 19 August 2010 at 10:00 jrauschkolb3 6 comments
Top 10 things to know about microfinance
KF11/12 James Allman-Gulino goes through a Top 10 list of the most important facts about Kiva and microfinance.
Continue Reading 19 August 2010 at 00:01 James Allman-Gulino 6 comments
From “One hundred years of solitude” to one hundred days of solidarity
by Magdalena Malinowska, KF11, Dominican Republic
Well, almost 100 days. A Kiva Fellowship lasts three months so my work with Esperanza International in the Dominican Republic and Haiti has lasted some 90 days. And so has my experience with micro-finance.
Continue Reading 18 August 2010 at 19:00 Magdalena Malinowska 5 comments
Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast – Sociolinguist’s Paradise, Electrician’s Nightmare
By Dan Tulchin, KF12, Nicaragua
What do Miskito, Rama, Garifuna, Spanish, Creole, and English have in common? Well, nothing really, besides the fact that you can hear all of them within a block in Bluefields, on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua – a place where international organizations and tourists rarely venture. While a number of these languages are, in essence, subsets of others, I am hard pressed to come up with another place of such linguistic variety (no, Times Square doesn’t count). Bluefields is, without question, a sociolinguist’s paradise.
Continue Reading 18 August 2010 at 16:56 dantulchin 3 comments
Planting Trees with Schoolchildren – Social Responsibility in Microfinance
By John Murphy, KF12, Costa Rica
*Update: additional video just added – interview with the ECC’s vice president Vicky.
Social responsibility means taking care of the “triple bottom line” – people, planet, profit. Check in for pictures and a video about one Communal Credit Company’s social responsibility efforts.
Continue Reading 18 August 2010 at 06:30 johnfmurphy 4 comments
Moving Forward in El Salvador
By Brandon Vaughan, KF12, El Salvador
Whether it’s the memory of a drawn-out civil war, stories of gangs and violence, or the influence of one of Central America´s most prolific emigrant communities, El Salvador´s complex past directly relates to the challenges it faces today.
Continue Reading 17 August 2010 at 13:42 vaughanbrv 7 comments
A Celebration for Savers in San Jose
By Casey Koppelson, KF12, United States
On Saturday I attended a Savers Party in San Jose. The party (complete with balloons, a DJ, and face painting) was thrown by Opportunity Fund, Kiva’s field partner in San Francisco. I spoke to a client who had earned $4,000 through the IDA Savings matching program.
Continue Reading 17 August 2010 at 08:00 caseykoppelson 3 comments
