Archive for November, 2010
Kiva Financed Loans at a Lower Interest Rate?
By Charlie Wood, KF13, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
One of the more difficult concepts to understand in the Kiva process is that while lenders do not receive interest on their loans and often carry the risk of default, borrowers do pay interest on loans financed through Kiva capital. Most of the time these rates are the same as those paid by borrowers receiving loans financed by commercial capital and carrying default risk.
Continue Reading 30 November 2010 at 13:00 kivacharlie 3 comments
The Most Expiring Loan: Part 1
During training for the Kiva Fellowship I heard it mentioned numerous times that taxi drivers in Central Asia (but specifically in Azerbaijan) were the least demanded loans on Kiva. Their loans took the longest to get funded and expired most often. I was not surprised. After all, “Transportation”, being at the end of the Sector list on Kiva also competes with attention-grabbers like “Agriculture”, “Food”, “Housing” and “Retail” that precede it. What’s more, Kiva’s lenders prefer loaning to women, a fact supported by the percentage of Kiva loans that have been made to women entrepreneurs, which currently stands at almost 82%. Thus, taxi drivers raising funds on Kiva are at a justifiable disadvantage considering their entirely male demographic. I gave some more thought to this trend and came up with a few possible causes for it.
Continue Reading 30 November 2010 at 07:00 iledyashov 1 comment
Welcome Aboard, South Africa!
by EB Moore, KF13 South Africa
Please join me in welcoming Women’s Development Businesses as Kiva’s newest field partner. Not only is WDB bringing its borrowers to the Kiva community, but it is also allowing Kiva lenders to connect with borrowers in a previously untapped country – that’s right, as of this week Kiva lenders will be able to connect with borrowers in South Africa!
Continue Reading 29 November 2010 at 23:26 EB Moore 1 comment
Living the Dream
By Eric Burdullis, KF12, Cuzco, Peru
Back when I was just a Kiva lender, I thought how cool it would be to meet one of the borrowers that I had lent too. I mean that is what just about every Kiva lender dreams of, right? You lend out to people halfway across the world all based off of a couple of paragraphs on a website and a 3” by 5” photo. But you never really think twice about how real the needs of the people you are lending money to are or what difference the loan will mean in the borrowers life.
Continue Reading 29 November 2010 at 07:00 Eric Burdullis 3 comments
Hello Officer!
A day in the life of a loan officer in Cotonou, Benin.
Continue Reading 28 November 2010 at 14:00 fbillou 4 comments
A Tale of Two Cities: First Impressions of Medellín, Colombia
Betsy McCormick, Medellín, Colombia, KF12
When I first told my father that Kiva had placed me in Medellín, he asked, “you mean the drug and murder capital of the world?” Er, um, not anymore! I don’t think….
Medellín is, in many ways, two different cities in one—and a place that faces far more nuanced challenges than its tarnished reputation implies. Caught between a landscape of rich young socialites on the one hand, and an impoverished population searching for its identity in the wake of violence on the other, Medellín makes for complicated and fecund ground in the world of microfinance.
Continue Reading 28 November 2010 at 10:00 betsywmccormick 3 comments
Prohibition during Ecuador’s census weekend.
By Ellen Willems, KF13, Ecuador
Ecuadorians who dare going out onto the public street this Sunday November 28th or who risk drinking alcoholic beverages between Saturday 27th and Monday 29th face sanctions ranging from two to four days in prison or fines from $7 to $15.
The reason for these measurements is the 7th Ecuadorian Census conducted by the Ecuadorian Institute for Statistics and Census (INEC) on Sunday November 28th between 7am and 5pm.
Continue Reading 27 November 2010 at 12:00 gokiva 2 comments
Deciphering a Treasure Map: How to Find a Kiva Borrower
By Katie Morton, KF12, Yehu Microfinance Trust, Kenya
Stepping outside of the office and into the nooks and crannies of an unfamiliar land is fun and exciting…at first. But a simple day out and about can very quickly turn into a character-building experience, especially when faced with obstacles like the nonexistence of posted street signs or printed maps, fickle mobiles, and language barriers—all underneath the equatorial sun’s 90 degree rays.
Continue Reading 27 November 2010 at 08:00 Katie Morton 2 comments
Holiday Shopping
Today, in the wee hours of the morning, American shoppers queued up outside their favorite stores, waiting anxiously to get the holiday season’s best deals. As Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season in the USA, and is one of the most highly-trafficked days of the year for U.S. malls….I also found myself at the mall this Friday…though this mall was in the Philippines.
Clients' products on display at the store NWTF has set up at the mall in Bacolod City
Cow Dung and Cleaner Energy in Kenya
By Jennifer Coronel, KF13, Kenya
The town of Murang’a is a rural respite from the commotion of Nairobi, Kenya’s bustling capital. Our car deftly handled the curvy roads, throwing up dust in its wake on the way to the group loan meeting.
One of the group’s borrowers, a young woman named Esther Marubu, took a second loan from Juhudi Kilimo to construct a biogas unit. This system takes cow dung and converts it to natural gas, which can be used in the home for cooking and lighting.
Continue Reading 26 November 2010 at 08:00 jennifermarie88 7 comments
The Right to a Life without Violence
by Sarah Benjamin, KF13, Peru
Today protesters took to the streets of Lima to draw attention to violence against women. Peru has staggering rates of domestic violence: a report released by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática said that 38.8% of all Peruvian women have suffered from partner violence.
Taking Action: When Thanksgiving isn’t enough
Costa Rican women can give thanks for many things:
Educationally, they have comparative literacy and enrollment rates as their male counterparts. Economically, they are doing exponentially better than their Central American neighbors, such as Nicaragua. Politically, they are represented by the country’s first female president, Laura Chinchilla. Legally, they are protected by a pro-woman legislature and institutions such as the INAMU, or National Institution of the Woman. Socially, however, there is ground to be covered.
Continue Reading 25 November 2010 at 15:00 Rachel G Leave a comment
Developed or Developing – Which would you rather?
These words were inspired by a recent conversation I had with a Ugandan man who had spent 10 years of his life living and working in the UK. He left shocked over the lack of community, how you couldn’t just talk to a stranger on the streets like in Uganda, and how people would refuse to acknowledge someone sitting next to them on the subway. “They all just want their space!” he exclaimed mortified. He looked at his watch and said; “and it’s all about time.”
Here I seek to compile a list of my observations from living in both developed and developing. In my eyes both have certain advantages and a merger is what we need to aspire to.
The Kiva Community
By Eric Burdullis, KF12, Cuzco, Peru
I am always surprised by the power of online social media and networks. Facebook, Twitter, blogging sites like this Wordpress one, dating sites like eHarmony, sharing sites like Freecycle or rating ones like Yelp all command huge followings and powerful networks. The world becomes smaller thanks to sites like Facebook—it is sites like these that allow me to keep in touch with friends while I serve abroad as a Kiva Fellow. Information gathering and sharing from news, to politics, to microfinance happenings or even the latest costume that friends have caused their pets to suffer through becomes easier thanks to Twitter and the ever expanding blogging community. You can connect to date, to recycle, to rate. You make connections with old friends and new ones who share common interests.
Continue Reading 24 November 2010 at 11:00 Eric Burdullis 2 comments
A Microfinance Classroom in the Philippines
In the U.S., there is a great deal of concern about hidden fees from financial service providers. “Read the fine print!” we are warned, because this is where fees and special conditions hide.
In a small village in Antique Province in the Philippines, I witnessed an entirely different approach. (more…)
Text to Repay
At a busy center[1] meeting, a woman waits, among 50 other women, for her turn to meet with her loan officer and make a weekly loan repayment. In a different village in the Philippines, one woman collects repayments from her 50 other center members, then travels the distance to the nearest commercial center to make the weekly repayment for the entire group at a bank. Now, imagine a scenario where a borrower can simply go to a retailer in her village and make her loan repayment by text message. Sound interesting?
In a rural area served by NWTF – where mobile banking could prove a useful solution for borrowers (more…)
The beat goes on…
by Jacqueline Gunn, KF13, Ghana
One of the first things I noticed about living in Ghana is the ebb and flow of sound. It feels like Ghana is living by a constant rhythm which is created in every household, on every street and every road.
Continue Reading 22 November 2010 at 12:00 tinkgunn 6 comments
Raising Pigs by a Beautiful Garden
By Jerry Harter, KF13 Indonesia
After weaving through a chaotic maze of trucks, cycles, and cars, I was relieved to leave the main highway and turn down a quiet lane of paddy fields and cucumber farms. We were on our way to visit the Taman Indah Group. It was time for the members to repay their first Kiva loan. It was an important occasion.
Continue Reading 21 November 2010 at 22:00 Jerry Harter 9 comments
Sacrifices and Microfinance
On November 8th AqroInvest received new capital from an existing partnership with PlaNIS and a new partnership with Microenterprise. AqroInvest is one of Kiva’s two Field Partners in Azerbaijan. It is important to note that microfinance institutions, such as AqroInvest, depend on new partners and capital for growth. That Monday also happened to be my first day at AqroInvest. At the end of the day the entire staff and I celebrated with champagne and cake, making toasts to AqroInvest’s bright future, and my anticipated contribution to it. It was a very joyous occasion.
Continue Reading 21 November 2010 at 07:00 iledyashov 2 comments
Thanks Giving in Bali
By Jerry Harter, KF13 Indonesia
Because of its reputation as an important center for Balinese culture and arts, the town of Ubud in eastern Bali is a destination for most tourists who visit the island. Its magic and charm are legendary. Streets are lined with arts and crafts shops as well guest houses and restaurants catering to tourists. Taxis, motorbikes, and busses weave their way through the narrow main street of town. But amidst this overlay of intense tourist activity and modern technology there are gentle expressions of a traditional Balinese ritual.
Continue Reading 21 November 2010 at 00:22 Jerry Harter Leave a comment
Hot Topics in Ecuador
Earlier this year, in April, MFTransparency.org, an international non-governmental organization committed to pricing transparency, launched its Transparent Pricing Initiative in Latin America. The data collected in Ecuador will be presented during a conference in Quito on November 30th. Awaiting this event, let us look at the laws and regulations currently in effect in Ecuador.
Continue Reading 19 November 2010 at 15:00 gokiva 6 comments
Growing services, not profit
By Bridget Lewis, KF13, Texas USA.
I loved the opportunity to meet the entirety of the ACCION Texas-Louisiana staff. Considering ACCION Texas-Louisiana is the largest microfinance organization in the US, I was expecting a big crowd. So I was surprised to learn that they do everything with less than 70 people! And they do a lot. … As Janie Barrera, founding president of ACCION Texas-Louisiana said; “We’re the biggest and the best. But that doesn’t mean we can sit on our laurels.”
Continue Reading 19 November 2010 at 08:00 Bridget 1 comment
Welcome to Kiva, Georgia! (Part II)
By Kevin Mihelic, KF12, Georgia
Kiva will soon start a new partnership in the Republic of Georgia. I have already introduced the Kiva community to the country of Georgia in Part I. Part II will be introducing our partner in Georgia, VF Credo, and some of their clients.
VF Credo
Credo’s mission is providing sustainable financial services to the entrepreneurial poor and Georgian micro- and small businesses, with a preference for rural activities and those businesses that create income and employment opportunities for the poor. With a portfolio of above USD 29 million, Credo serves up to 38,000 clients in the country. Credo offers a variety of the loan products to Georgian citizens through 16 branches of the organization.
Continue Reading 19 November 2010 at 02:29 hoosierkevin 1 comment
Solb! 21 Centers, 21 Meals, 1 Day in Antique
“Solb” or “solve” is Filipino slang for “problem solved,” and typically said upon finishing a big meal. My problem (hunger) is solved, and I am full.
Was I ever solb last Friday…
Rwanda: Where the women are kind, the men are generous and everyone is just so nice
By Michelle Curtis, KF13, Rwanda
“Someone told me she loves me, just then…she told me that she loves me and I am so happy.” When an overjoyed stranger took his mobile from his ear and turned to find the first person to share his wonderful news with…there I was. Someone loved him and he had to let it out to the world. I gave him my congratulations, shook his hand and landed an encouraging pat on his back. He was beaming. So was I.
Welcome to Kiva, Georgia!
By Kevin Mihelic
Kiva will soon start a new partnership in the Republic of Georgia. As this will be Kiva’s first partner in Georgia, I want to introduce the Kiva community to this very interesting country!
Continue Reading 18 November 2010 at 07:30 hoosierkevin 4 comments
Preconceptions, Misconceptions & Pleasant Surprises: Kiva Fellowship in Beirut
By Josh Richards, KF13, Beirut, Lebanon.
I’m just starting my 3rd week as a Kiva Fellow with Al Majmoua, one of Kiva’s partner MFIs (Micro Finance Institute) in Beirut, Lebanon.
This morning (15th November 2010) I sat down at my desk and discovered that a loan request for $1000, that I had posted onto Kiva’s website last Friday, had gone live & been fully funded over the weekend – by just 2 funders!
Continue Reading 18 November 2010 at 02:38 joshstyx 5 comments
