Author Archive
Signing off from the Philippines
By Adam Preston, KF9, Philippines
ASKI client performs beachside karaoke before annual client meeting
I was perusing through my IPhoto gallery when it occurred to me, I am almost done here. Since October, I have been working at the head office of Alalay sa Kaumlarun or ASKI. I have been on two week long field visits, a day trip to deliver relief goods to typhoons victims, 4 ASKI client annual meetings, and even day of team building through sports and exercise, where I participated in a cheer competition. Needless to say, it has been a very full three months.
As I page through the photos and videos of borrower visits, I feel that I should have a resounding conclusion on microfinance or at least of P2P banking or at least of of Kiva. But I don’t. I have traveled throughout northern Luzon and meet with over 80 ASKI clients. I have found that the Filipinos are proud, hardworking people not looking for handouts, but rather for opportunity. There were the visits to people, like Jelly, who is not renewing her loan. She is taking a break from selling banana chips to focus on caring for her newborn baby. She has no plans to renew. Others, like Lourinda, a smart, strong center chief women, is a pillar in her community. She has renewed her loan multiple times and was recently recognized for her achievements as a business woman in the 2009 annual client meeting. Still others like, Jose who is not renewing his loan due to an farming accident earlier this year. Right now, he can’t work. He said that once he recovers, he might renew. While I have not made any startling discoveries, I have made a few observations:
Microfinance Requires a Team Effort
One thing I came into the Kiva Fellowship with is this idea that Kiva helps regular people make a direct impact in the life a poor person. In my mind I envisioned a women living in a grass hut only needing my $25 loan to start a business to finally lift herself out of poverty. After reading A Banker to the Poor, can you blame me? You as a lender are making a difference, but when you hit that lend now button you not acting alone to help this borrower out, you’re joining a team. What I have learned since being here is that it takes a finely tuned machine to lift communities out of poverty – and that finely tuned machine is the MFI. Just at ASKI, there are the loan officers (or project officers as they are called here), who routinely risk their safety to visit borrowers to collect the payments. There are the documentation officers, who reside in the branches and transfer and translate the loan applications to posted loans on Kiva. There are the communications officers who reside in the head office who oversee and coordinate documentation officer’s work. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of the MFI. There is a team of people working tireless behind the scenes to produce that one photo and the borrower profiles. And this isn’t even counting the Kiva staff responsible for keeping the Kiva platform humming. To achieve this this noble goal of alleviating poverty it requires a sustained, team effort.
It’s the Percentages, Stupid
We hear a lot about how Kiva isn’t perfect or that microfinance isn’t perfect. You don’t have to go very far on the internet to find criticism of microfinance in general or even Kiva in particular . One thing that I have learned since being here is that you can not judge the effectiveness of microfinance based on success of single MFI client (or even a single MFI for that matter) anymore than you can judge the effectiveness of baseball player by a single at bat. I do not have to go far to find examples where additional credit did not result in a prosperous business. But a simple fact remains; access to credit is essential for any business to function. As ASKI Executive Director Roland Victoria once said credit is the lifeblood of an economy. By supplying life to even the road side sari-sari store, gives the small business owner the best chance and climbing to that next rung. Over time, making credit more accessible will result in a higher percentage of stronger, healthier businesses.
Poverty Alleviation Requires More than Microcredit
One reoccurring message I have heard here is how ASKI is “Going beyond microfinance.” To truly lift an individual from poverty, credit is important, but so are other services such as insurance, savings programs, vocational training, community development, and disaster relief. Last week, along with the ASKI management team, I attended 4 ASKI client general assembly meetings. These meetings attended by up to 1500 ASKI clients are usually held around Christmas and serve as an opportunity to update the ASKI clients on the various ASKI programs. Local government officials are also there detailing government run social programs and also educating the audience on a variety of topics such consumer rights . These meetings require a considerable amount of work to plan and run, but are a great example of how ASKI is going beyond microfinance.
Mature Microfinance Institutions, such as ASKI, offer their clients an array of services that previously were not available to this segment of the population and these services are not purely financial in nature. I think mistakenly many of the academic studies are out to find a silver bullet. What I have learned in my short three month Kiva fellowship is that there is no silver bullet. However this should not dissuade us from participating. This is a very interesting time in our history where we finally have the technology to harness the collective power ordinary people for social good, and Kiva is leading the charge.
Adam Preston is a Kiva Fellow who proudly served at Alalay sa Kaunlaran, Inc (ASKI), Philippines.
My Field Trip to Tuguegarao City
By Adam Preston, KF9, Philippines
AKSI clients prepare lunch
In addition to being a very hard word to spell, Tuguegarao (pronounced too-gig-a-raou), is the location of one of the ASKI branches that posts their clients on the Kiva website. It’s also the destination of my second trip to the field. One part of my job as a Kiva Fellow is to help conduct borrower interviews for journal updates. Even though these field trips can be somewhat of a grueling experience, to me this is one of the most effective ways to connect the lenders to the borrowers. And so it was, on Monday morning at 5:30 AM Teke, our loyal driver, Kenneth, an ASKI staff member, Mary, my KF partner, and I loaded up the minivan and headed out for an 9 hour ride to Tuguegarao City.
Eating Frogs
That next morning, accompanied by three members of the local branch staff we headed out and for a full schedule of meeting with ASKI clients. As we headed out of town, with our lists and Flipcams in hand, I noticed a women selling something on the side of the road. Trying to get the conversation going in the car, I asked what she was selling. Its was then that a burst of Tagalog erupted in the car, then some giggling. It wasn’t long after asking that seemingly innocent question, that we had stopped the car, negotiated a price, and stowed away in the front seat our lunch. Yep, frogs. Later that afternoon, we sat down to a wonderfully prepared and delicious meal prepared by some clients. And yes, it actually does taste like chicken.
Caving
I think if you would ask someone in my home state of Minnesota the name of the activity of hiking in a cave, they would probably say “Hiking…in a cave”. When asking a Filippino the same question, they would describe this activity as “Caving.”
Well, after finishing up on Wednesday we went “Caving” at Callo Cave, one of the local attractions. Along with two, the local ASKI field officers, and my Kiva Fellow partner in crime, we all partook in the what ended up being one of the more grueling cave hikes I can remember. Don’t get me wrong, it was good but it was also very slippery and required the utmost concentration as to avoid slipping into what I can only imagine as the abyss. In the end it was worth it, the rock formations, the natural skylights, the very dark and damp sanctuary.
That Friday night, 1 cave, 1 fried frog, and thankfully no renditions of “Bottles of Beer on the wall” later we all arrived back in Cabanatuan City safe and sound.
Adam Preston is a Kiva Fellow at Alalay sa Kaunlaran, Inc (ASKI), Philippines. He thinks you should click here to lend a helping hand to one of ASKI’s clients today.
Hey, Joe
I have been mistaken for this guy a lot since I've been here
By Adam Preston, KF9, Philippines
The Filipinos are a very generous people. So generous, in fact, that if they don’t know your name, they will even give you a name – and that name is Joe. I am greeted in this way no less than 3 or 4 times in a day, coming from men and women both young and old: “Hey Joe!”
As many guide books will tell you, in many parts of the Philippines foreigners especially males of Caucasian decent (read: white dudes) will be greeted as “Joe” referring to the GIs (American soldiers) who had a presence here through World War II.
“Finally, Filipinos have a unique greeting for male (and sometimes female) Westerners: ‘Hey Joe!’ (‘Hey Kano!’ is a less used variation). Both are hangovers from Word War II when the country was overrun by GI Joes or American soldiers (‘kano’ comes form Americano’) and are used ad nauseam. Of course, if your name’s Joe, you’ll feel pretty special. If not, you may start to feel like a clown set especially to give the locals a laugh.”
“Philippines”, Lonely Planet, p. 63, Edition 8, 2009
What is interesting about this experience isn’t just that this moniker dates back more than 50 years, but it is how it is often said, the utter exuberance in which the greeting is delivered. When waiting for my tricycle and I hear someone shout “Hey Joe!”, oddly, I don’t feel insulted. When I look over at the guy saying this, he is looking right at me with a big smile on his face. He seems to be genuinely glad to see me. I politely turn and wave and reciprocate in the only way that I know how: “Hey buddy”, I respond.
Adam Preston is a Kiva Fellow working with ASKI in Cabanatuan City, Philippines. He answers to both the name his mother gave him and also now to Joe. To get involved click here.
When the Floods Recede
The aftermath of Typhoon Parma
By Adam Preston, KF9, Philippines
We as Kiva lenders want to believe that the borrowers take out their loans in good faith. We want to believe that the Kiva field partners conduct the necessary due diligence to ensure that their clients have ability and determination to succeed. But what happens when everyone is doing the right thing and disaster strikes? Given the natural disaster that recently fell upon the Central and Northern Luzon provinces of the Philippines, what if even the best MFI clients cannot meet their loan obligations? What then? (more…)
Well, I’m here
ASKI lights the way in Cabanatuan City
By Adam Preston, KF9, Philippines
I finally touched down in Manila at 2:30 AM last Saturday morning. After getting my bags from baggage claim I wandered through the sliding glass doors and into the heat. Where is my driver? Where is an ATM? Why is that little kid laughing at me? My work as a Kiva Fellow had officially begun.
My name is Adam Preston and for the next 10 weeks I will be working with Alalay sa Kaunlaran, Inc (ASKI), a prized Kiva field partner located in Cabantuan City, Philippines. As a Kiva Fellow, I hope to pitch in and help ASKI better serve their clients and also to be the eyes and ears on the ground for Kiva and its lenders.
I come to Kiva with 10 years of management consulting experience. As a Kiva Fellow, I look forward to using this experience to work with ASKI on how to most efficiently use Kiva as a funder, to work with Kiva to address some of the technical and operational challenges being faced in the field, and finally to work with you, the lending community, to share the borrower stories.
As a side note, its only been 4 days here in Cabanatuan but I have already managed to find time to get my “geek” on and started an open source project called Kiva Dashboard. Hopefully one day this will provide ASKI as well as all Kiva field partners with all sorts of valuable information in using the Kiva platform. If you are interested in helping, let me know.
So, there you have it. There is definitely more to come here from Cabanatuan City. You can be sure of that.
Adam Preston is a Kiva Fellow at Alalay sa Kaunlaran, Inc (ASKI), Philippines. Basically, he is just a regular guy who is currently taking a break from the daily grind in Corporate America to find out how people are getting along in the Philippines. Click here to support fundraising borrowers at ASKI!
