Archive for May, 2011
A Little Trust Goes a Long Way
It’s my first two weeks in Kigali, Rwanda and in addition to the amazing Rwandan buffets, I have found myself tasting the many recipes in life that use trust as the secret ingredient.
When I discovered that I would be traveling to Rwanda, I knew life was about to get awesome. However, admittedly upon preparation for my departure to Rwanda, I couldn’t help but have the occasional “gulp” as I thought about moving to a new country and starting a new role at institutions I feel privileged to be exposed to. I therefore adopted the commonly known phrase “Luck favors the traveler” as my mantra and complacently resigned myself to the assumption that I would have to place trust not only in my own abilities, but more importantly in the people that I had yet to meet.
My initial impressions of Rwandan society have reaffirmed the trust I established at the onset of my journey. Not one person has refused to assist me, whether it is asking for directions or handing me my shopping bag that I left on the back of my chair. Unlike other places I have traveled, one will find in Rwanda that people are unequivocally proud of their country. Therefore, they treat visitors to their country with the same hospitality that I would imagine most provide to a guest in their home.
Perhaps there is no higher level of trust than that I instill in the moto-taxi driver every morning and evening as I commute to and from my MFIs. I had never been on a motorcycle prior to coming to Rwanda, and I empathize with the driver of my first ride. As he dodged through traffic, I shamelessly held onto him for balance (and my life I suppose). It was only after I peaked from under my over-sized helmet that I realized that no one else holds onto the driver. My awkwardness with the moto-taxis is gradually fading as I place trust in these drivers to deliver me in tact. In fact, I already anticipate missing my morning commute once I have returned back to the states.
Another kind of livelihood that relies on trust is that of the members of the lending groups of microfinance institutions. During the first week at one of my MFIs, I was invited to witness a loan disbursement for a lending trust group. The group consisted of 45 members, and the meeting began with the discussion of whether or not a person should be allowed to join the group. In order to be permitted, a person must be vouched for by another member and trusted by all members through a vote. The person had been accused of stealing a bicycle and therefore it was decided that he must wait to prove his trustworthiness before joining.
On my visit to the lending group there was also a batch of American exchange students observing the disbursement process. In their honor, a few of the borrowers within the group were asked to stand up and describe their businesses and how the loans via their “little trust” have helped them expand their enterprises. One woman described how within only 4 loan cycles, she has been able to increase her loans from 100,000 Rwandan Francs to 1 million. She described how her tailoring business is expanding so that now she will offer training services to those who wish to acquire sewing skills. As I listened to the members of the lending group describe their successes, I realized how vital these loans, and the trust needed to facilitate them, are to their businesses.
After the students had the opportunity to ask questions, members of the lending group were given a chance to ask questions of us as well. The most obvious yet profound question was, “Why are you all here?”. These individuals could not imagine why over 20 mzungus(foreigners) would be interested in their businesses. The Kiva coordinator answered that in addition to the innovation and aptitude they have displayed as entrepreneurs, it is quite extraordinary to those not regularly exposed to microfinance that trust and community relationships are just as (if not more) effective than the traditional physical sources of collateral.
Members of trust group wait for their loan together
Therefore in my inaugural weeks I have witnessed the feats that can be achieved with trust. Trust ultimately inspired my decision to journey to this place and have an amazing introduction to Rwandan society. Trust is what allows borrowers with no other means of collateral to acquire loans that will enable them to improve the quality of life for themselves and their families. Having a little trust can take you a long way.
Update from the Field: Unsung Heroes, Community Alliances + and Mission Statements Made Reality
Compiled by Kate Bennett, KF15, Ecuador
The Pros and Cons of Microfinance – A View From The Field: Fixing the chain on the way to a repayment meeting in Haiti. Poor roads thwart borrowers and MFI loan officers alike.
This week in the field fellows across the world explore the factors that make microfinance and its successes a reality. In Kenya, we meet the actors who reach out to borrowers everyday, at any and all degrees of their own discomfort. In Nicaragua, we discover that high aspirations can be met with equally powerful results. In Senegal, a series of well-dressed strangers introduce us to the rest of the community, and the lesson that any organization seeking to serve the community must truly know the community. Between Colombia, Haiti and the Dominican Republic we gain insight about the pros, cons, and the conditions for success in microfinance. Throughout these stories, we’re led into homes, gardens and local festivals; down roads, rivers, and a few wrong turns; and we ultimately reach our destination: a deeper understanding of how- or really, through who and what- this work is made possible.
Nathan’s Office
Country: Kenya / Fellow: Nila Uthayakumar (KF15)
“It takes humility and tremendous patience to do the work that they do. A sense of humor is essential.” Nila sings the praise of the unsung heroes of microfinance: the loan officers.
A Rainy Day in Masaya
Country: Nicaragua / Fellow: Jason Jones (KF15)
How often does an organization’s mission statement really meet reality? Jason Jones finds that for his partner in Nicaragua and borrowers like Maura, Gloria, and Adelfa, lofty goals are realized everyday.
Kiva in the Community
Country: Senegal / Fellow: Tim Young (KF15)
As Tim Young begins to settle himself within his community, he learns that an microfinance institution’s presence in the local community must be deeply embedded as well.
The Pros and Cons of Microfinance – A View From The Field (A Three-Part Series)
Country: Colombia / Fellow: Nick Hamilton (KF14)
Part One of this through three-part series considers the strengths and benefits of microfinance. Part Two part two weighs its drawbacks and weaknesses. Part Three proposes a set of institutional and environmental factors that contribute to the success of microfinance.
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Updates from the past month:
Personal Connections, Supply and Demand + A Culinary Excursion
Farewells, Mistaken Identities + Micro-Microfinance
Earth Day, Celebrations + Exceeding Expectations
Trash, Delicious Treats + Community Outreach
Cute Pigs, New Toilets + Everything is Relative
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Plus more pictures from the past week:
Colombia, by Nick Hamilton
Senegal, by Tim Young
Nicaragua, by Jason Jones
Kenya, by Nila Uthayakumar
Nathan’s Office
Nathan at work visiting borrowers of Juhudi Kilimo
By Nila Uthayakumar, KF14 Uganda and KF15 Kenya
“It was my first day on the job,” Nathan says with a wide grin.
“I wore a coat and tie, I looked very smart! I was going to work for a bank, sit in a swiveling chair, and swing my legs!”
Nathan and I are standing on the side of a road. The occasional share-taxi barrels past us, but mostly we are surrounded by the hush of farmland that stretches as far as the eye can see. We’re in the Southern Rift Valley of Western Kenya. Nathan is neither sitting, nor swinging his legs. We cross the road. The mid-morning sun casts our shadows long across the hot asphalt. (more…)
Kiva in the Community!
Tim gives his first impressions of how a Micro-Finance Institution interacts with the local community it serves, gets to know the personalities of the Dakar suburb of Yoff and even tries for an early sneaky appearance on national TV!
A Rainy Day in Masaya
By Jason Jones, KF15, Nicaragua
It’s Wednesday, the third day of my Kiva Fellowship here in Nicaragua. After a short ride on a motorcycle, a relatively long walk, two different vans (OK…so the first one MAY have been due to an error on my part) and one taxi, I’ve finally arrived to a small meeting area outside the town of Masaya. As I enter the gathering, I find approximately twenty women sitting around a U-shaped arrangement of tables. They are the “entrepreneurs”, the owners of small businesses that have come today for a training session on the topic of Business Development. Unlike me, they seem to have arrived in a relatively timely manner despite the morning rain. Fortunately, they don’t judge too harshly.
A Day of Business Development
To understand why we are here today, I should probably begin with a brief explanation. With an overall mission of connecting people through lending to alleviate poverty, Kiva partners with 133 microfinance institutions in 60 countries throughout the world. After making a loan through the Kiva website, these funds make their way from the lender (you?)……to Kiva……to a local MFI…….to individuals such as those sitting in front me on this rainy morning in Central America. By receiving such loans, these women are given the opportunity to grow, improve, or enhance their businesses for the economic benefit of themselves and their families.
As for the reason behind MY particular presence, that’s a slightly different story. Through Kiva’s Fellowship Program, individuals such as me are sent to the various field partners (MFIs such as ADIM) in one of those 60 countries I mentioned before. I would describe the actual work of the fellows as a combination of such roles as accountant, journalist, photographer/videographer, customer service liaison, globetrotter, business consultant, and auditor. It involves such objectives as being Kiva’s “eyes and ears in the field” and “increasing the impact of Kiva’s global mission”, but in the end really just comes down to creating or maintaining a connection between those four distinct groups in the Kiva model; lenders, Kiva, MFIs, and borrowers. Two weeks ago, while participating in a training session at Kiva’s central office in San Francisco, I was wondering why I hadn’t dressed more appropriately for the cold weather. Today, I find myself sweating in the tropics.
As I am continually learning as a relative newcomer to the world of microfinance, NOT ALL MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS ARE CREATED EQUAL. Of course, when evaluating a particular organization, one always wants to consider such obvious factors as geographic location, size, history, portfolio yield, return on assets, operational sustainability, and that ever-present struggle between the red and black numbers at the bottom of the page. But in a world of mission statements often describing a particular institution’s reason for existence with such phrases as “improving quality of life to specific sectors”, “helping the poor to improve their livelihood”, and “offer financial services to marginalized communities”, the often overlooked SOCIAL PERFORMANCE of an organization remains a vital component of an accurate assessment.
ADIM is a microfinance institution dedicated to entrepreneurial development, especially of female entrepreneurs in peripheral urban and rural areas, to help them move towards transcendence, personal affirmation and evolution into more equitable relationships.
This is the mission statement of ADIM, a small microfinance institution located in Nicaragua. ADIM has been operating in the area for 22 years now and believes strongly that although financial assistance is certainly an important piece, it’s not the entire puzzle. For this reason, they offer their clients (90% of which are women) classes on such topics as identity and self esteem, economic independence, basic accounting, and a variety of themes involving success in the marketplace. Today as I make my entrance, they are giving testimonials with regard to how previous sessions have positively impacted their lives and businesses. After listening for several minutes and giving an impromptu introduction, I ask if anyone in the group has been the recipient of a Kiva loan. One has to remember that although a number of ADIM’s clients do receive loans through Kiva, there are also those that do not. After a moment or two of puzzled looks from the majority of those present, four hands eventually go up. Today, amongst this group of twenty borrowers, it looks as though Kiva has been responsible for 20% of the loans. From there, the stories begin.
Maura with her flowers
Maura is a 39 year old florist who has come today with her teenage daughter. 15 years ago, in an attempt to learn the trade, she began working in local flower shops around Managua. Since no one was willing to pay her for her work at that time, she simply acted as free labor until she gained enough knowledge to be on her own. Although her business remains very small to date, she tells me that it has grown considerably from what it was in the beginning. With her recent loan through Kiva, she’s excited for the opportunity to boost her inventory in preparation for what is perhaps the largest day for the floral industry here in Nicaragua, namely Mother’s Day.
A few of Gloria's purses
Another one of today’s attendees is 23 year old Gloria, who began working with leather several years ago. What began with an initial focus on shoes quickly grew to include purses, wallets, belts, hats, briefcases, etc. In 2010 she, along with two other members of her borrower-group, received an $800 loan from Kiva. With the subsequent improvements to her business and her increased knowledge through ADIM’s training program, Gloria went on to qualify for an additional $1500 in the form of an international grant. Now with a new workshop to call her own and further recognition that has come recently in the local media, she claims that business is better than ever.
I could certainly go on. Adelfa mentions that her Kiva loan has allowed her to purchase beauty products of much higher quality to sell in her small store. As a result, her profit margin has increased significantly. Through a separate Kiva loan, Mayra has been able to raise her inventory as well. In her business of “intimate apparel”, she too reports that sales are up and talks of potential loans in the future.
And so the day continues. We complete the testimonials, several educative sessions, lunch, and a demonstration of products by a number of the entrepreneurs. Before the inevitable departure, the group is given one final surprise in the form of being serenaded with several songs from Mayra, all in honor of the upcoming Mother’s Day. As I make my way back to Managua, I see that the rain has stopped, and I experience a small victory of my own by successfully boarding the right bus in the right direction. While traveling in the northern direction, I can’t help but reflect upon the day. I think it’s fair to say that the borrowers represented by today’s cross section would not be considered to be OVERTLY successful by much of the world’s standard. For the most part, they are simply owners of very small businesses trying to make it from one month to the next. Is microfinance the answers to ALL of their problems? Of course not. Is immediate radical transformation experienced following a simple training seminar? Most likely, no. But from what I’ve witnessed over the last 8 hours, I have to say that this group is certainly heading in the right direction. At some point and in some form, a positive difference is being made along the way. And for that, I also have to say that despite the afternoon showers, it’s been a pretty nice day.
Now…..which one is my stop??
The Pros and Cons of Microfinance – A View From The Field (Part 3)
This is the final installment of a three-part article on ‘The Pros and Cons of Microfinance – A View From The Field.’ The first concentrated on the pros of microfinance and the second on the cons. This third part will describe what I deem to be the optimum conditions for successful microfinance.
The cons described in Part 2 of this article may come across as quite negative, but at Interactuar (in Antioquia, Colombia – my second Kiva Fellowship) I saw many being countered and microfinance working particularly effectively.
Continue Reading 25 May 2011 at 07:06 nickhamiltonkiva 4 comments
The Pros and Cons of Microfinance – A View From The Field (Part 2)
This is the second of a three-part article on ‘The Pros and Cons of Microfinance – A View From The Field’. The first part concentrated on the pros. The second will focus on the cons.
Most of the cons described below demonstrate one thing; microfinance assists on a micro level but is unable to affect macro-level influences. The latter are the main reason that people are impoverished in the first place.
Continue Reading 24 May 2011 at 06:27 nickhamiltonkiva 3 comments
The Pros and Cons of Microfinance – A View From The Field (Part 1)
The article will be published in 3 parts. The first will concentrate on the pros of microfinance, the second on the cons, and the third on what I perceive to be the best conditions for successful microfinance.
Continue Reading 23 May 2011 at 07:29 nickhamiltonkiva 5 comments
Update from the Field: Personal Connections, Supply and Demand + A Culinary Excursion
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo
As the 14th class passes the baton to the 15th class, the Kiva fellows are sharing their final thoughts and first impressions. Be inspired by the personal connections Kiva creates between lenders and borrowers in Nepal and Sierra Leone. Find out how a phenomenal harvest can prevent farmers in Nicaragua from repaying their loans. Discover the creative ways of assessing credit worthiness used in Uganda and around the globe. Sample local customs and cuisine, while reading about the Day of the Child in Mexico and taking a culinary excursion in Liberia. Lastly, share the experiences of Kiva fellows across three continents in Colombia, Ghana and Ukraine.
Continue Reading 23 May 2011 at 01:10 Kathrin Gerner 3 comments
Video Blog: Interactuar – A Quite Amazing Organisation
By Nick Hamilton, KF14
I have just come to the end of a 3-month Kiva Fellowship with Interactuar, Kiva’s Field Partner in the state of Antioquia, Colombia. I was blown away by this organisation. ‘The Google of Microfinance Institutions,’ I kept thinking to myself.
Continue Reading 19 May 2011 at 08:05 nickhamiltonkiva 1 comment
Faces: How We Connect.
By Eric Rindal, KF15, Sierra Leone
“To touch a person’s heart, you must see a person’s face.” (quote from My Name is Asher Lev – Chaim Potok)
Lending on Kiva.org is a very personal experience. Reading a borrower’s profile, understanding a glimpse of their life, and seeing their picture, kindles, in one way or another, a sincere interest in their potential and forms a connection with the uniqueness of that borrower. Beyond the loan, lenders affirm a strong and inherent hope within the borrower and encourage their entrepreneurial spirit. How awesome for global lenders to see a borrower’s face, take a $25 risk to make a loan, and possibly change that borrower’s life.
How does this really play out? Does the borrower get to look through this window, called the Internet, and see their lenders’ faces?
Kiva Fellows have the opportunity to open that window and make the Person-to-Person connection tangible. Allowing not only the borrower’s financial life to be changed, but also possibly their heart. It’s one thing to know a loan is funded by Kiva…but another to know who Kiva is. A person? A group? Or just another organization? Certainly this does not happen with every borrower, but the previous Sierra Leon based Fellow, David McNeill, and I used my computer to show Kiva borrower, Muhammad, the Kiva webpage of his 38 (and counting) global lenders. 
In his true smile and kind eyes it was clear he recognized the significance of a loan funded by Kiva. He understood his loan was facilitated by the local microfinance institution BRAC and was funded by 38 lenders around the world. (more…)
Along the road
by Jacqueline Gunn, KF13 Ghana, KF14 Ukraine
For the past 7 months I have been roaming the world as a Kiva fellow. I began in the lovely town of Cape Coast in the Central Region of Ghana where I spent my days in the office and my evenings and weekends on the beach. When I applied for a second fellowship, my only request was that it provided contrast to Ghana. Working in an industrial factory city in Eastern Ukraine has certainly delivered that. I arrived in Winter and it was -20 degrees Celsius outside and not much warmer inside.
Before I started on this adventure, I had expectations about what I would learn- microfinance in action, the inner workings of Kiva. I have had so many great opportunities to learn about microfinance, but for me this experience has been so much more as well. Here are just a few of the things I have learned as a fellow.
Stretching a buck in Monrovia
by Carlos Cruz Montaño KF14, Liberia
Are you hungry and you have only one dollar for a snack? With an exchange rate around 72 Liberian Dollars (LRD) per US dollar, a buck will give you a chance to try several snacks that sell for 10LRD or less…
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Kiva Farmers: A Tale of Irony and Woe in Nicaragua
Onions and more onions.
It has been a phenomenal summer harvest here in Estelí, Nicaragua. Everywhere you look; there are fields filled with onions, sweet peppers, tomatoes, and cabbage, thanks to just the right amount of rainfall and sunshine, and access to financing through micro-credit. With loans from Kiva, borrowers bought plants, fertilizer, pesticide, gasoline for irrigation pumps, and also paid the salaries of workers, and rent for the land and use of a tractor.
So why then, are all the farmers struggling to make their loan payments? Why is a Kiva borrower delinquent 40 days in paying back his loan?
We have to go back to the last three years, before 2010. Harvests were not good. There was too much rain during the summer (Oct – April) which brought pests and rot. The farmers lost part of their crops, and couldn’t meet the demand in the market. Consequentially, prices for their produce shot up, and then did very well.
Then in 2010, the farmers, expecting the same conditions, all sowed their crops in October. However, this year, conditions were perfect. Come March, harvests exceeded expectations, and all the produce came to market at the same time, driving down the price. So instead of $6 for a box of tomatoes, the farmers were receiving $1.50. Now many farmers are forced to rely on an intermediary to broker a deal for their crop. The intermediary takes only three cents on the dollar for selling their harvest, but he is selling it at a cut-rate price, leaving the farmers with little to no earnings.
Tomatoes left to rot in the field.
With no help from the government, the farmers are on their own to solve this dilemma. Many are letting their crops rot in the field, because it costs more to pick, bag, and ship the produce to market, than what they can expect to receive from a buyer. As a Kiva Fellow, seeing the poverty and hunger here in Nicaragua first-hand, and knowing that this is the second poorest country in Central America after Haiti, letting food go to waste is an outrage.
Imported tomatoes can be found in supermarkets in Managua.
To understand how bad the situation is, Nicaraguans normally consume 60,000 lbs of tomatoes, and this year the farmers produced double that amount. And it is not only tomatoes that exceeded expectations, but onions, cabbage, and sweet peppers too. Onion farmers have told me their earnings this year are 80% less than in previous years.
Only a few lucky farmers were able to export their produce to neighboring El Salvador and Costa Rica, where the governments restrict imports to protect their own farmers.
Meanwhile, I have heard one heartbreaking story after another as farmers sit on produce they can’t sell, and are forced to sell off their assets, including livestock, to cover their debts, or face going into delinquency. To help the farmers, Kiva Field Partner MiCredito has begun to restructure the loans of the farmers to help them through this, but they cannot stop the downward spiral as the farmers are unable to take any new loans, which means they will not have the financing needed to sow their next crop, and so on.
A Kiva borrower's home filled with onions, waiting for a buyer.
As for the Kiva borrower who is already 40 days late in paying off his loan, his case weighs heavy on my mind as he tries daily to find a buyer for his onions. He and his wife have two young boys in primary school. They live in a one room house with a dirt floor and no running water. They own a horse and a few cattle, that the farmer may have to sell to keep from defaulting on his loan. The last news I received on his situation, was that he was restructuring his loan with Kiva Field Partner, MiCredito, to give him more time.
To avoid this adversity in the future, the farmers’ association has decided that next summer, starting in October 2011, the farmers will stagger their plantings in the three agricultural regions of Sebaco, Colita, and Estelí.
- Karen Gray, Kiva Fellow 14, Nicaragua
Microlending Behind the Scenes: How MFIs Judge Credit Worthiness
By Nila Uthayakumar, KF14, Uganda,
With the help of several other Fellows in the field
Borrowers of an MCDT solidarity group meet under the shade of a tree in Kampala, Uganda.
I’ve met all kinds of borrowers. From age 16 to 76; from orphans to a former beauty queen; from potato sellers to auto parts saleswomen to motorcycle transportation tycoons. I’ve met them in urban slums, in villages, in homes, on porches, in churches, in community centers, and outside in grassy fields. I’ve listened to their stories, I’ve photographed and filmed them, I’ve played with their children, and I’ve been welcomed into their homes. Two months into my Kiva fellowship, and I am more motivated and inspired than ever. My name is Nila and I live and work in Kampala, Uganda.
What I have understood from these borrowers is that poverty takes many shapes and forms. Poverty can mean desperation and destitution, and it can also mean having to make impossible choices between paying medical bills or school fees. It can mean not having enough food to eat today, or not having a secure enough future to be able to retire. The microloans I have seen in action place into the hands of borrowers the power to shape their own lives. The recipients of these loans are among the most dignified people I have ever met, and when given the chance, these individuals make tremendous improvements in their lives. (more…)
Kids Get Their Day
By John Farmer, KF 14, Mexico
Mexico decided back in 1924 that The Day of the Child would take place in April, long before the rest of the world decided to celebrate it in November. On April 30th I was in the state of Morelos, and went out into the streets to participate in the food and fun even though I long ago ceased being a child. A couple of women saw me without much food and insisted I get more. Such is the generosity in Mexico. The kids had all they wanted and more and there was still plenty for outsiders.
Mexico is a great place to be a kid in many respects. Children are absolutely adored in this culture where family is everything. They often live at home until well past childhood.
But youth here face all sorts of problems. Health is a major concern — the childhood death rate is nearly 7 times that of Western Europe. 15% of Mexican children under age 5 are stunted by malnutrition. Food insecurity effects over 40% of the country’s population according to some sources. Environmental concerns, such as pollution and smoke inhalation from cooking stoves, are also crippling factors.
Continue Reading 4 May 2011 at 18:00 john.beckwith.farmer 1 comment
Farewell from the Field
By Claudine Emeott, KF14, Nepal
To sign off from my post as a Kiva Fellow with BPW Patan in Nepal, I thought that I would take a cue from Alexis Ditkowsky, who wrapped up her Fellows Blog contribution by leaving readers with a note that she wrote to lenders who have funneled loans to WDB in South Africa. Below is my own note to BPW Patan lenders, but the gratitude from the Kiva borrower featured below should be enjoyed by all.
Dear BPW Patan lenders,
As I wrap up my three-month Kiva Fellowship with BPW Patan in Nepal, I want to share a few highlights with you and thank you for your support of this great organization.
I am very grateful for the opportunity to volunteer on behalf of Kiva and to learn about the experiences of both BPW staff and borrowers with Kiva. First and foremost, I want to convey how much BPW values Kiva funding. When BPW became a Kiva partner in 2007, Kiva provided crucial funding during a particularly challenging time for the organization. As BPW has continued to grow and flourish during the last four years, Kiva loans continue to supply the organization with important 0% interest funding to do its amazing work with women borrowers in Nepal. BPW staff members proudly talk about how quickly their loans get funded on the www.kiva.org website – as you lenders likely know, within just two or three hours.
As for my interactions with Kiva borrowers, I have been fortunate to take many productive and rewarding trips to the field. For some of these visits, I conducted borrower verifications, and during this process I brought along printed copies of the borrowers’ profiles. When sharing the profiles with the borrowers, I always pointed to the photos and names of their Kiva lenders at the top of the page. Borrowers – and their fellow group members for that matter – invariably studied their profiles intently, particularly focusing on the lenders from around the world who helped make their business dreams a reality.
One of these borrowers, Sarswati Thapa, is pictured in the photo below.
Sarswati Thapa, BPW Patan Borrower
Like 90% of BPW’s borrowers, Sarswati works in agriculture. Here she is chopping down a papaya, one of the crops that she grows on her small family farm adjacent to her home. In addition to papaya, Sarswati also grows green onions, cauliflower, and a plant that provides the foundation for garam masala spice. Farming in Nepal can be challenging, given the long stretches of dry weather and water shortages from October through April. Sarswati mentioned that she had already lost some crops to drought, and the Kiva loan – her first – helped her pay for additional seeds that she would not have been otherwise able to afford this growing season. At the moment, she and her family manage the farm on their own, supplying produce to their local village. But with additional land surrounding her home, she hopes to eventually expand her business and employ people on her farm.
From all of us at BPW Patan, thank you for lending to women in Nepal. With your loans, you not only provide BPW borrowers with the ability to purchase inputs for their businesses, but also empower them to dream about the future.
Sincerely,
Claudine Emeott
Claudine Emeott has been honored to work with the women of BPW Patan in Nepal. Although she is wrapping up her fellowship, she looks forward to remaining in close touch with her new friends at BPW Patan because she is staying in Nepal to work in the development sector. Check out the BPW Patan Lending Team and consider making a loan to a woman entrepreneur from Nepal.
Previous posts by Claudine Emeott:
Giving Women a Voice: Local Governance in BPW Patan
Women Working for Women: Staff + Client Collaboration in Nepal
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Landscape of Microfinance in Nepal
Small if Beautiful: Microcredit Fair in Nepal
Update from the Field: Farewells, Mistaken Identities + Micro-Microfinance
Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa
We’ve officially hit the point in the Kiva Fellows cycle where the current batch says goodbye just as the latest group is getting their bearings at Kiva HQ. Fortunately, there are a number of posts this week to help us through the transition and cheer us up. If you’re interested in a comprehensive image gallery of the hot designs for share taxis in Rwanda, we’ve got you covered. We’ve also got stories about micro-micro-businesses in Sierra Leone, visiting research fellows in West Timor, and the intersection of medicine and microfinance in Bolivia. Plus, take long trips to the field in Armenia and Peru, and catch up on the impact of microloans in South Africa.
Continue Reading 2 May 2011 at 00:38 Alexis Ditkowsky 4 comments
Sala Kahle: Saying Goodbye to KwaZulu-Natal
By Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa
Like most Fellows from Kiva’s 14th class, I am busily tying up the loose ends of my Fellowship. As much as I enjoyed my trips to the rural areas surrounding Richards Bay (although I wasn’t a huge fan of Richards Bay itself), I can’t say that I mind my current locale: the beach at Kommetjie, about an hour south of Cape Town. My Fellowship required a sustained burst of manic energy and proved to be an extraordinary mixed bag that was both incredibly challenging and rewarding. While I’m ready for a little R&R, I wouldn’t take back any part of the past three months, except perhaps for the multitude of yappy dogs that started barking at 5:30am each morning and harassed me on all of my walks. I definitely could have done without them!
Continue Reading 1 May 2011 at 12:20 Alexis Ditkowsky 5 comments
West Timor Research Insights from a Boren Fellow
Yvonne Chen, a Boren Fellow in Indonesia (2010-2011) and a graduate student at The George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, contacted me after reading about my experience here at TLM on the Kiva Fellows blog. She was interested in conducting her research study in West Timor with TLM to collect data for her thesis on youth financial inclusion in East Indonesia. Despite her busy schedule, Yvonne was able to share some findings from her West Timor research as well as thoughts on Indonesian microfinance and Kiva’s work. Enjoy reading the interview below!
