Author Archive
A Community in Search of Progress
Throughout my Fellowship in Peru and now in Ecuador, I have been bestowed the opportunity to launch Kiva partnerships with 2 microfinance organizations and teach loan officers in various communities how to administer loans and interview borrowers. However, after visiting the town of Chillanes, Ecuador with new Kiva Field Partner Cooperativa San José, this time I didn’t leave with the exciting feeling that I am helping bring the Kiva support and hopefully positive change to more people in underdeveloped communities.
Kiva Climbs the Ecuadorian Andes to Team Up With Its Newest Field Partner
by Josh Wilcox, KF10 Ecuador
Please join me in welcoming the latest Field Partner to the Kiva platform and third in Ecuador, Cooperativa San José! They are headquartered in the small village of San José de Chimbo and have 5 other branch offices within the Bolivar and Los Ríos provinces. Located in the heart of the country up in the Andes Mountains, Cooperativa San José offers various types of savings and credit products to its members.
Cooperativa San José will be working with Kiva to administer loans to their ventanillas rurales (group loans in the countryside). The majority of these borrowers works in agriculture and predominately grows corn, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, among other crops. Many also raise small animals or have a small store within their home to augment their income, since their harvests often do not provide them with adequate income to support their families. These farmers will also travel weekly to the fairs in the village to sell their grains, fruits, and vegetables.
Happy New Year: Ecuador Style
By Josh Wilcox, KF10 Ecuador
Greetings from KF10! As the first to start a placement with the most recent Fellows class, I’d like to share my first New Year’s experience outside the good ol’ US of A. During the first week of my Kiva Fellows placement at brand new Kiva Field Partner Cooperativa San José, I was fortunate enough to spend December 31 recognizing and celebrating the Año Viejo (Old Year) while also welcoming in the Año Nuevo (New Year). At Cooperativa San José, one of the Cooperativa’s suppliers of office materials gave the entire staff a cooked chancho (pig). As is the tradition every year to recognize the Año Viejo on December 31, the employees of the Cooperativa celebrated by eating la carne (meat) and el cuero (pig skin) of the pig accompanied with salad and mote (boiled corn) around 10am!
Behind the Scenes: How Kiva REALLY Works
By Josh Wilcox, KF9 Peru
As many Kiva supporters submitted entries to the Kiva Video Contest, I unfortunately was not able to upload my own version of “How Kiva Works” due to Internet issues in Peru. In order to not let the precious hours I spent go to waste, I have included below my attempt at describing how Kiva maintains their innovative model, particularly highlighting the role of the Field Partners, who perform an incredibly vital role in the Kiva cycle. Enjoy!
Josh Wilcox recently finished his KF9 placement with Caja Rural Señor de Luren in Ica, Peru and is beginning with Cooperativa San José in Chimbo, Ecuador as part of KF10. Become a part of the Kiva cycle by lending here and join the Caja Luren lending team!
The Future of Microfinance: A Brief Peek Inside the Brain of one MFI
By Josh Wilcox, KF9 Peru
While Kiva Fellows work diligently with their host microfinance institutions to implement the Kiva processes, verify borrowers, and write insightful journals on the impacts of the loans, it is easy to miss the other behind-the-scenes projects that microfinance organizations are crafting in their lair.
Those of us from the developed world often do not realize that we are not the only ones brainstorming and designing how microfinance will evolve, determining the most effective means to empower individuals in emerging nations to improve their standard of living.
A Quick Break in the Oasis of America
By Josh Wilcox, KF9 Peru
Taking a brief recess from borrower profiles and repayment schedules at Kiva’s MFI pilot partner Caja Rural one weekend in Ica, Peru, I escaped to visit the small town of Huacachina, the “oasis of America”, located just a few miles outside the sandy metropolitan hub of Ica. Having become famous for its natural lake enclosed by sand dunes, the tiny city of about 115 people has become an immensely popular tourist destination not only for its aesthetic appearance but also the sandboarding and dune buggies.
For those unfamiliar, sandboarding is very similar to snowboarding except, yep you guessed it, it is performed on sand. First popularized in California in the 1980s, there are now annual Sandboarding World Championships held in Hirschau, Germany. Who knew???
A Stockpile of Dollars: How to Deploy Kiva Funding
by Josh Wilcox, KF9 Peru
With a significant new source of funding comes considerable responsibility and opportunity for those who represent the funds at the local MFIs (aka the Kiva Fellows). One of the most exciting privileges about working at a brand new pilot partner is the opportunity to influence how Kiva is best utilized and implemented. When discussing just this topic with the credit manager of Caja Rural Señor de Luren, we brainstormed how the new “Kiva product” could benefit the community within Ica where other capital did not penetrate:
- The major benefit decided upon will be that new “Kiva clients” will be charged a 1% lower monthly interest rate than their other clients, which is quite significant on an annualized basis! This will not only ease pressure off clients who struggle to pay the high interest payments that microfinance institutions typically charge but it will also attract additional microentrepreneurs whose access to funding has been limited due to their inability to make the monthly repayments from solely their standard business operations.
- Another aim for these loans will be to support new microenterprises in need of funding to get on their feet. These entrepreneurs may struggle either because they do not have sufficient credit experience/collateral or because they need an injection of capital to start all over again after their previous business or home was destroyed in the severe Peru earthquake of 2007. By promoting the “Kiva product” to these entrepreneurs who may typically be viewed as higher risk and not eligible for a normal loan, we will provide the funding necessary for many hard-working men and women to realize their business ideas.
Only time will tell how these factors may or may not impact the lives, families, and businesses of those within the Ica community. However, I was quite grateful to be bestowed the opportunity to provide input on how microcredit will be disbursed to entrepreneurs in Peru!
The following is Chapter 2 of my video diary. Enjoy!
Josh Wilcox is a Kiva Fellow at Caja Rural Señor de Luren in Ica, Peru as part of the KF9 class.
Don’t forget to LEND to other South American entrepreneurs and JOIN the Amigos de Caja Rural Señor de Luren lending team!
A Shaky but Warm Welcome to Ica, Peru!
By Josh Wilcox, KF9 Peru
Three flights, one bus, and two taxi rides behind me, I arrived safely in the southern Peruvian city of Ica. Surrounded by a desert and thousands of miles from Monday Night Football with too much luggage and guitar in hand, I was a bit shocked when I found out the hotel I was hoping to temporarily stay at had collapsed in the formidable Peru earthquake in 2007. Thanks a lot Lonely Planet!
Fortunately I just asked a taxi driver to take me to an affordable hotel he would recommend. After chatting it up a bit with him in the car and telling him I was going to be working with the microfinance institution Caja Rural here in Ica, he snatched a piece of mail out of his glove box that read “Caja Rural” on the letterhead. He proceeded to tell me he is a current borrower from Caja Rural and is hoping to purchase a second taxi with his third loan. He then pulled out a picture of a 1936 Opel that he hopes to use as his second taxi. I have been a volunteer Kiva translator since February and have seen numerous stories such as his, but I was pleasantly caught off guard to finally hear an amazing story of a Kiva borrower first hand in such an unexpected setting!
Before I forget to introduce myself, my name is Josh Wilcox and I am part of the most recent Kiva Fellows class (KF9) to hit the field across the globe. I will be helping set up a recently approved new partner in Ica, Peru, officially named Caja Rural Señor de Luren. They have yet to start Day 1 of their pilot stage so I am in the fortunate position to experience the beginning stages of the Kiva process.
Below is the first chapter of a video diary I hope to maintain throughout the duration of my fellowship. Enjoy!
Loans to Caja Rural will be available soon, but in the meantime check out our other loans from South America here.
