Archive for November, 2010
Tax Reform in Ukraine
By Margarita Salasyuk, KF12
One of the first things I heard upon my arrival to Ukraine three months ago was the statement that “государство душит малого придпринимателя,” which means that the government is suffocating the small business owner. It is a sentiment that was present in all of my serious discussions with loan officers, small business owners and general Ukrainian public. I wanted to highlight this point because it is a serious concern for many of HOPE Ukraine’s clients – how to survive in an environment that hinders small business development?
Continue Reading 17 November 2010 at 19:00 Margarita Salasyuk Leave a comment
Trash Talk
Women at Fundacion Mujer are talking trash. How much they have, where to find more, and what they are going to do with it. Keep reading to discover how trash relates to this microfinance institution, and why the Fundación, like many of Kiva’s field partners, offers services beyond financial empowerment.
Continue Reading 17 November 2010 at 08:00 Rachel G 5 comments
A Note from HQ
The email from Kiva HQ began something like this:
Dear Jerry – Could you drop whatever you’re doing…
Continue Reading 16 November 2010 at 18:45 Jerry Harter 5 comments
Unexpected Surprise: A Meeting With Borrowers
By Lorin Alvarez, KF13, Senegal
I had been in Dakar for about ten days when last Thursday I met with the Kiva co-coordinator Yacine Diop at U-IMCEC, one of Kiva’s partners here in Senegal. Yacine who’s been with U-IMCEC for many years and is a great fan of Kiva, works out of one of the local branches of IMCEC-Dakar, in the neighborhood of Yoff. During our meeting, she mentioned that there was an inauguration ceremony at one of the Kiva funded group enterprises that very afternoon that she had been invited to and asked if I would like to accompany her. I jumped at the chance. Then, she showed me AYADY’s (L’Association des Femmes And Defar Yoff) borrower profile that had gone up on Kiva’s website on October 31st, seeking $1,500 to purchase supplies they needed to start a local cereal production operation, right here in Yoff. The loan having been fully funded within 24 hours by Kiva lenders, the group had already purchased all the necessary supplies and was set to start production on Friday – the next day. But first, they were going to have an official ceremony.
At about 5 p.m. a member of the IMCEC credit committee, Yacine and I took the short walk around the corner from their office to a community center where AYADY has set up its operations. The supplies that had been purchased were on display – from raw materials such as sugar and rice to cooking utensils to plastic bags for packaging. As Yacine introduced me to one member after another as the “Kiva representative” about 20 women greeted and welcomed me. The president of the group Mrs. Fatou Moussa Diene, an energetic woman who seemed to be everywhere all at once explained to me the steps involved in making cereal. The process takes 3 days. The fourth day is spent packaging the product in 1 or 5 kilo plastic bags (approximately 2 lbs to 10 lbs, respectively.) The product is then ready to be sold in the neighborhoods. They have divided Yoff into 8 zones with one member overseeing the sales activity in each zone. Mrs. Diene said that once cereal production is set in place and running smoothly, they plan to expand into soap manufacturing as well.
Members of AYADY with their supplies ready for cereal production
After taking a couple of group photos surrounded by the supplies made possible by Kiva loans, the ceremony started. In addition to the President of AYADY, the representatives of IMCEC, and a few community leaders took their seats at the dais. They quickly added a chair for the “Kiva representative.” There were a series of speeches by everyone around the table as well as several from the audience. At one point, the representative of APECSY – the Association Pour La Promotion Economique, Culturelle et Sociale de Yoff (The Association of Economic, Cultural & Social Development of Yoff) – broke into French to thank Kiva for all its support. As a Kiva Fellow and the Kiva representative on the spot, I found myself in the unexpected position of having to make a little speech. One speaker after another spoke about the value of the women in the group partnering with one another and pulling their resources together with the goal of improving economic and social conditions for their families and their community. It was very encouraging to see that the community itself has given its full support to AYADY. These ladies are on their way……
Mrs. Fatou Moussa Diene, President of AYADY, addressing the members
AYADY's members at the meeting
As a new Kiva Fellow, being a part of such a ceremony where I was able to witness first hand, the impact of a Kiva loan at the ground level was extremely rewarding. I felt very proud to be the “Kiva representative.” I will think of these ladies, their energy and their enthusiasm every time I hit an impasse when tackling a “deliverables” on my list….
Lorin Alvarez is a Kiva Fellow currently working with two of Kiva’s Senegalese field partners: CAURIE and U-IMCEC
Great Expectations, Unexpected Revelations
When Kiva asked whether I’d consider a Fellowship in the Dominican Republic, my first instinct was to head to Google. I’d never been to the Caribbean and knew very little about this small country. After my initial search, Google asked whether I’d like to view some images of the DR and lured me in with 4 or 5 thumbnails. Each contained something that doesn’t exist in my country (the UK): the sun. I don’t think I got past the first page of pictures. I sat there mesmerized by contiguous images of palm trees, white sand and idyllic emerald sea and sent my response to Kiva: “Yes!”
Okay, it wasn’t quite that simple…
By Nick Hamilton, KF13. Nick is serving as a Kiva Fellow with Esperanza International in the Dominican Republic and Haiti
Continue Reading 15 November 2010 at 16:17 nickhamiltonkiva 6 comments
Devil is in the Execution
By Abhishek Banerjee, KF13 Armenia
Spending the last couple of days in the beautiful landscape of rural Armenia has left me in awe. It has also given me an appreciation for the role that loan officers play in often trying circumstances to get their job done.
Continue Reading 15 November 2010 at 10:00 abanrjee 4 comments
O is for Opportunity
By Kaajal Laungani, KF12 Philippines
When I decided to apply for the Kiva Fellowship, I had ‘opportunity’ on my mind. I wanted to be a Fellow so I could become a channel through which disadvantaged people could connect to a network of financial support, thereby presenting them with the chance to improve their lives. Though I came to the province of Bohol envisioning the most effective opportunities to take the form of financial transactions, I have, on several occasions, witnessed other means of empowering underprivileged Filipinos.
Continue Reading 15 November 2010 at 08:00 klaungani 2 comments
What does a traditional Vietnamese market look like?
The Interior of Dong Xuan Market
By: Tran Chau, KF13, Viet Nam
Modern shopping centers and supermarkets are new to Vietnam. They are frequented mostly by the small and powerful middle class, have western products, and carry western price tags. For the rest of the nation and for those who favor the established ways of the east, traditional open air and partially enclosed markets are full of activity from morning until night. (more…)
You’re going to Texas??
“Microfinance in the US isn’t about poverty, it’s about creating opportunity – about economic development.” And it’s clear that ACCION Texas-Louisiana supports economic development here. From 1994 to 2009 their clients sustained over 4,000 jobs and created almost 2,200 new ones! Given the current worries about the US economy and its global impact, that’s a big deal.
Continue Reading 14 November 2010 at 08:00 Bridget 5 comments
Client Waiver Implementation: Not as Boring as it Sounds!
By Julie Shea, KF13, Bolivia
For me, one of the most interesting and potentially controversial challenges for Kiva’s lending model revolves around the concept of posting photographs and stories about real people, their lives, and their financial activities – and the privacy issues this entails. There are undoubtedly millions of microfinance clients that live in such remote areas that they don’t know what the internet is, or even if they do, lack knowledge and understanding about the speed and extent to which information can travel. How do we explain to these people how the Kiva model works and how their information will be used?
Continue Reading 13 November 2010 at 12:00 julieshea 2 comments
How’s the weather?
By Charlie Wood, Kiva Fellow in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan with Mol Bulak Finance (MCC)
Preparing to move to Kyrgyzstan for an undetermined amount of time caused some anxiety to my house. Not the least of our concerns was what mother nature might dish out during the winter in a place so close to Siberia. The day before I left the U.S., wracked with an LSAT induced cold, my mom made sure I was ferried to the local REI to stock up on long underwear. Yet like with many things in life, the reality has been a bit underwhelming so far. I haven’t even needed to wear the ushanka I bought on my second day here. That’s not to say that the weather hasn’t been unique.
Continue Reading 12 November 2010 at 14:00 kivacharlie 6 comments
This, too, is Lima
By Sarah Benjamin, KF13, Peru
Lima, Peru is a sprawling megalopolis of nearly nine million people. Throngs of European and American tourists pass through daily, many of whom are en route to Machu Picchu. Central and residential Lima, which include the posh tourist districts as well as the middle and upper-middle class neighborhoods, have an estimated population of 2.5 million. Where, then, do the other six million residents live? Simple- in the outskirts of the city (where no tourists go). Not surprisingly, the vast majority of Kiva loans in the Lima area are made in these low-income districts, which include: Huaycan, Comas, Los Olivos, Vitarte and Huarochiri. My guess is that many Kiva lenders do not realize that these areas are located within metropolitan Lima. As a Kiva lender myself, I certainly did not.
Micro-Infrastructure
By Nick Whalley, KF12, Manila, Philippines
Every day at 5pm Manila is blanketed with rain. I was nominally aware of this before I arrived, and spent a significant amount of time and a not insignificant amount of money equipping myself with waterproof Gortex jacket. To my dismay, I would have been better equipped with a golf umbrella and a pair of waders. In the Philippines, the start of a downpour does not indicate a cold front moving in, indeed the air is stays so warm the effect resembles a hot shower. It is far too hot for my Gortex jacket, and the flooded streets make my pair of sneakers comically impractical. Each day’s commute involves navigation around enormous puddles and across streets inundated with water. An umbrella in one hand and a bag in the other, managing this task through dense crowds can be daunting.
Continue Reading 10 November 2010 at 08:00 nwhalley 1 comment
Reflections on a U.S. Fellowship
By Casey Koppelson, KF12 United States & KF13 Philippines
A video of an Opportunity Fund client demonstrating how to re-shoe a horse. In some ways, Mike is your typical U.S. microfinance client.
Continue Reading 9 November 2010 at 18:37 caseykoppelson 1 comment
The Kiva Community: A Kiva Fellow’s Support System
By Tara Capsuto, KF12 Ecuador / KF 13 Kenya
Kiva is ultimately about people: lenders helping borrowers, borrowers helping themselves, and the staff at MFIs and Kiva who make it all happen. As other Fellows have commented before, one of the many humbling aspects of a Kiva Fellowship is the extent to which people reach out to help. One of the most frequent reactions I got in the field was, “You’re traveling and working completely on your own?!” I would answer that, “Technically, yes, I am.” But, as you’ll see, I wasn’t really alone. Here’s a little window into a Kiva Fellow’s support system.
Kiva Fellows 12th class at training in San Francisco in July
CERISE: A Model for Maintaining Trajectory
from Casey Unrein, KF12, Chiclayo, Peru
My main assignment at EDPYME Alternativa has been to complete a social performance audit using the model provided by the organization CERISE. The description “social performance audit” is a bit misleading, The work does not consist of checking in with individual borrowers to see if their lifestyle has improved. I am not compiling data about the number of borrowers who have improved their homes, sent their children to school, received medical attention, been able to raise more chickens, or any number of other improvements that a borrower may realize in their or their family’s lives.
Instead, the social performance audit is a review of the organization’s controls, policies and practices that provide for the protection of stakeholders and for the development of local communities.
Continue Reading 9 November 2010 at 10:00 Casey Unrein 3 comments
A week in my life..
By Anna Cleal, KF13, Kampala
So what does week one of being a Kiva fellow entail? I can’t guarantee that this will be typical – we are all in very different places around the world, but for me…
Day One: I arrived at Entebbe airport Uganda. Found a taxi to take me into Kampala, to my new abode, met my new flatmates, and went to sleep. Don’t worry the week gets a little more exciting after this!!
Phoenix from the Rubble
Phoneix from the Rubble by Caroline Pattinson KF13
My heart fell when I opened up the e mail, ‘Congratulations…….. you’re going to Beirut’. I hold my hands up, my first thought was warzone. A quick scan of the UK Foreign Office website confirmed my fears, general risk of terrorism, violent clashes in previous months, not somewhere I was in a hurry to leave the UK for. Fortunately I didn’t send an immediate ‘thanks but no thanks’ e mail. I told a friend expecting him to laugh and his response was ‘awesome’, another friend said she had always wanted to visit. With such a positive response from others maybe I was missing something and Lebanon deserved some research and I am glad I did.
Continue Reading 8 November 2010 at 06:29 carolinepattinson 4 comments
The Start of Something New: Expansion in Central Bali
By Joanne Gan, KF12, Indonesia
At the end of 2009, Koperasi Mitra Usaha Kecil (MUK) was a microfinance presence in West Bali, operating at its headquarters office in the village of Blimbingsari and a single branch in Melaya. As we approach the end of 2010, MUK’s footprint is steadily expanding…with a new branch office set to open soon in Baturiti.
The Beginning: Hedging Currency Depreciation in Vietnam
This is less than $25!!
By: Tran Chau, KF13, Viet Nam
I am a multi-millionaire, in Vietnamese Dong that is. The Vietnamese Dong (“VND”) is the official currency of Vietnam. The official exchange rate (a black market one also exists) hovers around $1 = 19,500 VND. Therefore in nearly all business transactions in Vietnam, millions, billions, and even trillions of VND change hands. (more…)
The Road to Kiva Borrowers
As a Kiva Fellow in Cambodia for the past three months, I have had the opportunity to travel through Cambodia, experiencing the crowds and the charms of the urban areas and the beauty and calmness of the rural villages. Here are some of my favorite pictures of the different roads taken to get to Kiva borrowers.
A moto driver carrying bananas in Phnom Penh (more…)
The cost of doing good (El costo de hacer el bien)
by Carlos Cruz Montaño
One of my favorite business talks is from Yvon Chouinard, the founder/owner of Patagonia, an outdoor clothing manufacturer. Patagonia has been very successful at innovating in the apparel industry but they did it by finding the way to do the right thing at all levels of their business.
As I work with Fundación Paraguaya, travel to branch offices, attend meetings and events one quote comes to mind from this talk: “leading and examined life where you have to question everything you do is a real pain in the ass, let me tell you”. In Patagonia’s case is about causing the least harm to the environment, in microfinance it’s about alleviating poverty and proving that you’re being successful at it.
Una de mis pláticas de negocios favoritas es de Yvon Chouinard, el fundador/dueño de Patagonia, una marca de ropa deportiva/para actividades al aire libre. Patagonia es una compañía inovadora y con mucho éxito en su industria pero lo han logrado mediante una búsqueda contínua por hacer lo correcto en todos los niveles del negocio.
En mi trabajo con la Fundación Paraguaya, recorriendo oficinas, asistiendo a juntas de trabajo y otros eventos una frase de esta plática me viene a la mente: “llevar una vida responsable en la que tienes que cuestionar todo lo que haces es un dolor de cabeza” (o como diríamos en México, es una verdadera chinga). En el caso de Patagonia se trata de hacer el menor daño posible al medio ambiente, en las microfinanzas en cambio, es acerca de disminuir la pobreza y probar que se está haciendo con éxito.
Lessons from a Cowboy Town: the Importance of Good Institutions
Betsy McCormick, KF12
There is a saying here in the cowboy state of Olancho: “Come if you want, get out if you can.” The phrase, I believe, originates from two primary facts: 1. Olancho is quite removed from anywhere else in Honduras, and 2. Olancho has, unfortunately, become known in the last few years as a place for violent family feuds and deadly drug crimes.
For me, however, the saying (thankfully!) has garnered a different meaning all together.
Continue Reading 3 November 2010 at 10:00 betsywmccormick Leave a comment
5 Interesting Questions from the Field
By Tamara Crawford, KF 12, Samoa
But once I get to sit and talk to clients, and explain to them what a Kiva Fellow is and what we do, I get a number of interesting questions. As the questions tend to be similar on my visits, I figured I share the top 5 questions – and my responses – that clients have asked me each time.
Presenting Manuela Ramos, a Kiva Field Partner
By Julie Shea, KF12, Peru
As I finish up my three month fellowship with Kiva’s Peruvian field partner, Manuela Ramos/CrediMUJER, I would like to share a short video in which Executive Director Gloria Díaz discusses the organization’s work empowering the women of rural Peru, as well as the role Kiva lenders play in supporting that work.
Debating the profit motive in microfinance
By Donald Hart, KF12, Tajikistan
Microfinance has been featured extensively in the media recently – even making it on to an episode of The Simpsons, where a cartoon version of Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, provides financial advice to Lisa. The real live version of Mr. Yunus also made headlines in an exchange at the Clinton Global Initiative with Vikram Akula, CEO of SKS, an Indian microfinance bank that raised over $350 million through an initial public offering (IPO) this past July. The IPO fueled a debate within the microfinance community on governance structures, and whether microfinance organizations should pursue profit and/or be publicly traded.
Despite the ideological debate over the profit motive, it is my view that success will be determined by who borrowers choose to do business with, and how an organization chooses to balance their social mission with the profit motive.
Continue Reading 2 November 2010 at 08:26 donaldhart 13 comments
Today is an exciting day!
By Jacqueline Gunn, KF13- Ghana
Monday 1st November marks the start of the 13th class of Kiva Fellows. In various locations across the world, our class of 24 individuals from a large variety of different backgrounds, ages and interests will be eagerly stepping into their host MFI’s office to start their journey as a Kiva Fellow in the field. Watch the video to find out where we will be based.
Continue Reading 1 November 2010 at 16:00 tinkgunn 7 comments
Adventures in East Africa
By Katie Morton, KF12, Yehu Microfinance Trust, Kenya
A perk of the Kiva Fellowship is having friends who live and work in diverse locations around the globe. This is the story of some KF12s that met up and the ridiculous adventure that ensued.
Continue Reading 1 November 2010 at 12:00 Katie Morton 3 comments
