Posts filed under ‘Uganda’
Secrets of the ELA Sisterhood (Part I)
Life is not easy for a lot of young women in Uganda. Many girls in poorer urban areas and in rural villages are regularly confronted with sexual assault, unwanted or unintended pregnancies, HIV, and the list goes on. These girls are also commonly forced to drop out of school early because they can no longer pay fees or because they need to help support their families. With these kinds of hardships, young girls are often trapped in poverty with few, if any, opportunities to develop independence and improve their lives.
Enter BRAC. Four years ago, BRAC Uganda began to address some of these problems by implementing what they call the Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescence Program (ELA Program). The program is designed specifically “to improve the quality of the life of vulnerable adolescents by organizing them, creating spaces of their own and helping them develop a set of skills so that they can live and grow as confident, empowered and self reliant individuals contributing to change in their own families and communities.”
Because it is set up to achieve so many ambitious goals, the ELA program can seem fairly complex at first glance. In this blog post, I want to outline how the program is organized and talk a little bit about some of the social components of the ELA clubs. And in the next blog post, I’ll talk more about the finance components of the ELA program and about the impact of the program overall.
General Organization of ELA
Meet Barbara. She works extremely hard to train ELA staff and to develop materials for the program. She has also been with the ELA program from the beginning and has an excellent grasp on how the program functions and on how far it has come. In the video below, I asked her about what she’s currently working on and about some of the major changes she has seen in the program over the years. Check it out:
As Barbara said in the video, the ELA program has expanded significantly in the past few years and as a result, has become much more decentralized. A colleague at BRAC once joked with me: “anyone who says they understand everything that’s going on with the organization is crazy.” Yet somehow, the program functions with uncanny efficiency.
ELA Management
Each ELA girl is a member of a local club, which is organized and managed by a mentor. There are currently a total 785 clubs, which are located all across Uganda. In general, clusters of about 10-15 clubs are linked to Branch Offices based on proximity. Each branch office has a Project Assistant who is responsible for supervising all of the clubs associated with the branch and for helping the clubs to strengthen their relationships with surrounding communities. The Project Assistants report directly to the Area Coordinators, who are responsible for overseeing a handful of Branch Offices in a specific district. Area Coordinators report to Regional Coordinators, who then report to the Uganda Program Manager. The program manager is responsible for overseeing all big-picture aspects of the program and is stationed mainly at the BRAC Country Office in Kampala.
Microfinance Staff
The ELA microfinance, which is recent addition to the ELA program, requires some additional staff members. At the branch level, there are Credit Officers, who are tasked with overseeing all the financial components of the program. ELA microfinance also has its own set of Area Coordinators, who are responsible for managing microfinance at multiple branches and must be present at all loan disbursements. The microfinance Area Coordinators also report to the Regional Managers and to the Program Manager. Every month, all of the Area Coordinators meet with the Program Manager at the Country Office to review the performance of their clubs and to discuss how to improve the program.
Club Houses
The space used for the program consists mainly of extensions of community member’s houses, or of public buildings rented by BRAC from local governments. This is the main space where club members and mentors meet six afternoons per week. The clubs also use community sports fields for certain athletic activities.
How to Join
The requirements to join a club aren’t strict at all. Any girl between 13 and 21 years old, who is a permanent citizen of Uganda and who can pay the 2,000 UGX (~$0.80) admission fee can join. All she really has to do is approach the local club’s mentor and ask.
The Social Components of ELA Clubs
Community Participation
One thing that is emphasized over and over again when discussing the ELA program with BRAC management is community involvement. From what I was able to gather, this happens in mainly two ways. The first way is called a mothers forum. Once, every two weeks or so, the Project Assistant from the branch will get together with the mothers of club members to discuss the club programs and things that the mothers can do to help empower their daughters. Another way that the community is involved with ELA clubs is through community leaders’ workshops. These are events where prominent female figures from the community visit a club to talk to the girls about sexual health, life challenges or a host of other topics.
Life Skills Based Education
The ELA program also provides girls with resources to learn more about life challenges and how to overcome them. The clubs focus on a wide range of topics including reproductive health, menstruation, familial and community responsibility, leadership, bride price, early pregnancy, STIs, family planning and rape. Mentors will normally focus on one aspect of one of these topics every day, and occasionally guest speakers will come to the clubs to give presentations to the girls. BRAC has also published books on each of these topics consisting of general advice and collections of stories from the lives of ELA girls.
Just below is a kind of introductory story from BRAC’s book on family planning. It’s called “Tough Times,” and is mainly about a young, 20-year-old woman named Stella and her struggle through her second pregnancy. It emphasizes the importance of leaving time between births.
Last year, in 2009, I got married to Mike, a bicycle cyclist. I’m now five months pregnant. I was forced into marriage because my parents never wanted to stay with a pregnant woman. I had long stopped studying due to lack of finances at home.
Mike stayed in a remote village. Once in a while, when a vehicle passed, every one waited in anticipation of their relative. City people are claimed to be rich since they always carry with them so many gifts. In the village the main source of livelihood is agriculture and most of the farming done is for consumption.
As it was my first pregnancy, I lacked knowledge on how to care for myself. Friends, however, encouraged me to visit the health centre for checkups.
Throughout the pregnancy, I visited the health centre only once. The long distance discouraged me form frequenting the place. I also lacked the money to receive the medical attention I needed. As a result, a traditional birth attendant helped me to give birth to my first child. She was easily available and cheap.
Much as Mike tried so hard to meet every need of the family, the poor man failed. To make matters worse, I conceived again after ten months. This also affected our daughter so much. She was ever sick and crying. I also stopped breast feeding her since e I was down with morning sicknesses and the general discomfort that comes with pregnancy. Eating also became a problem since we could only afford one meal a day.
When it reached birth, Mike was able to gather some money to transport me to the health centre. I delivered with the help of the nurse, but I faced severe complications. I almost bled to death. I was weak and anemic. My baby looked so sick that I doubted his survival. My daughter was stunted. Having two children in a couple of years was too much for me and it also strained my husband a lot.
The nurse advised me to go back for postnatal care, with my husband. She later explained that child birth was the most risky incidence and a threat to the woman’s health and that of her baby. She emphasized the need for birth spacing if we were to take good care of our children’s health and needs.
When the nurse had finished talking, it surprised me that I was so ignorant about family planning methods and birth spacing. Use of contraceptives would give me enough time to properly heal and properly take care of myself and the children before getting unexpected pregnancy.
Since then, I have learned to use contraceptives. I plan on waiting for my two children to properly grow before I conceive again. It is also important that I get a job so that I can supplement on Mike’s income. This will help us to properly take care of our family and keep it happy.
Club Activities
To me, the club activities are in a big way the heart of the ELA program. They afford the ELA girls a daily opportunity to take a break from adversity, to talk about their experiences and to learn from one another.
Towards the end of my fellowship, I was lucky enough to visit the Kanyanya Club in the Zanna district in Kampala. Just before lunch one day, I hop on the back of a boda boda and speed just a few kilometers up the road to the main traffic hub in Zanna. I pick up two oily, floury pancakes called chapattis for lunch, then march off of the main road, back into the Zanna “slums” to find the Branch Office. I get a little lost on the winding backroads, but am only a few minutes late – Uganda style.
Once at the office, I am greeted warmly by the Project Assistant and an Area Manager I’ve met before. The three of us travel up about two kilometers of steep, dusty roads in the hot afternoon sun. It would have been much easier to take a boda boda, but the project assistant had recently been in an accident and really didn’t want to take any more chances. Just as I think I am running out of steam, we reach the top of a huge incline, descend down a short lane with lots of tree shade, and finally arrive at the club house.
It’s around two o’clock, and more and more girls filter in over the next hour. Many of the members aren’t around because they’ve gone to visit family in the villages for the holiday, and many of the girls that show up are also a bit drained from the intense heat of the sun. We still have a great time playing board games and dancing. Fortunately, I have my Flipcam and am able to grab some great footage of the club house and of the girls. Enjoy!
Andrew Huelsenbeck is a Kiva Fellow who worked in Kampala with BRAC Uganda. To learn more about BRAC, please visit their Kiva Partner Page. If you are interested in helping to empower one or more of BRAC’s many wonderful entrepreneurs, you can join the Friends of BRAC Uganda lending team or check out new BRAC Uganda loans on Kiva.org. Happy lending!
Same Continent, Different Worlds: Part 2
By Kiva Fellows in Africa, KF16
Compiled by Tejal Desai
Ow de body! Are Sierra Leone and Rwanda still danger zones? What challenges do Ugandans most commonly face? Kiva Fellows from KF16 bring you another unique perspective from the diverse and vast continent of Africa! We patched together an overview of each of our placement countries that includes: basic socioeconomic stats, common stereotypes (and to what extent they are true or false), greatest challenges, most common loan products at our respective field partners, and the borrowers’ most common use of their profits. Our part 2 series follows the Kiva Fellows through Sierra Leone, Rwanda, and Uganda. We hope our summaries give you a new perspective on the continent and its distinct countries that we’ve been fortunate to explore, thanks to the Kiva fellowship!
Continue Reading 2 January 2012 at 13:00 Tejal Desai Leave a comment
Update from the Field: New Products in Microfinance, Over-Indebtedness + Transparency
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF16, Rwanda
This week on the Kiva fellows blog, start out by learning about three new microfinance products – microinsurance in Indonesia, higher education loans in the Philippines and green and water loans in Kenya. Continue on to Nepal to admire the handiwork of artisan borrowers. Make your way to Ecuador to find out more about the risk of indebtedness. Share the fellows’ personal experiences with the recent elections in Nicaragua and rush hour traffic in Uganda. Finish by taking a critical look at transparency in microfinance and Kiva’s responsibility with regards to transparency.
Continue Reading 15 November 2011 at 06:44 Kathrin Gerner 3 comments
The Kampala Commute
by Andrew Huelsenbeck, K16 Kiva Fellow, BRAC Uganda
Many Kiva Fellows have some pretty crazy commutes. This is a post about what it’s like getting around town in Kampala, Uganda.
When it comes to rush hour chaos, New York City- even with its road-raging bridge-and-tunnelers- has nothing on Kampala. From about seven to nine thirty in the morning and five to eight in the evening, the city center’s tight, dusty roads transform into parking lots packed with big rigs carting petrol or bricks or other cargo; coach buses coming from or going to Kenya or Burundi or various other East African countries; all kinds of family cars; and shoddy white Chinese-made passenger vans called mutatus.
Matatus (also known as taxis) seem to be the preferred mode of transportation for the Kampala commuter for a few reasons: they are bountiful, they have routes to all corners of the city, they are cheap, and they will make pickups almost anywhere along the roadside. The second-hand vans have a lot of room—there are 3 rows of seats in the back, the front two of which have extra seats that fold down to take full advantage of the space. Usually, the seat by the sliding door in the back is occupied by a conductor, who yells out to potential passengers and collects fares. The maximum number of passengers is legally 14, but I’ve seen up to 16 or so commuters packed into a van. Many of my colleagues at BRAC use taxis to get to and from work. I use them mostly for field visits and for traveling to other cities near Kampala.
Zipping through all of the taxis and other larger vehicles are motorbikes called boda bodas, the second most popular way to commute. Drivers usually hang out together and pick up passengers from “stages” that are close to where the drivers live. The boda bodas have long, leather seats behind the drivers that can usually fit one, two (or if you’re Ugandan, three) commuters or some cargo. Boda drivers are fast, fearless and often furiously zigzag along the paths of least resistance, regardless of how precarious. This kind of driving makes commuting on a boda boda quick, but very very dangerous.
Everyone here has a boda story, and quite a few Kampalans can substantiate their tales with scars that span halfway up their arms or legs. A German friend that worked at a local hospital stopped riding boda bodas after discovering how many patients were admitted because of one bad move by a boda boda man. Despite all of this, I still ride bodas every day to get to work and to get around town. I just make sure to wear a helmet.
Besides the hand signals of a few traffic police and the loosely-adhered-to notion that cars should stay to the left, any maneuvers to hasten the commute are fair game. These include but are not limited to driving on the shoulder, driving in the wrong lane, cutting people off, “love tapping,” and good ol’ trailblazing. There are also no emissions requirements. It took me a while, but I’ve finally gotten used to the dust and the thick, purple clouds of petrol smoke that often hang above the roadways.
Kampala’s dusty roads struggle to support all this hectic traffic. They have begun to erode from constant use and frequent heavy rain, and they are now covered with potholes. The problem is so bad that some Kampalans have begun to jokingly refer to their city as “Kampothole.”
Last year, a research group actually attempted to count all the holes in the road, and discovered that the city center alone has almost 2,500 of them. Some of them are like the potholes we are used to—small enough that cars can pass over relatively unscathed; many others, however, occupy half the road and require drivers to swerve onto the shoulder or into oncoming traffic so as to avoid ruining their rides’ undercarriages.
Efforts to fix Kampala’s streets are led by the Kampala Capital City Authority. A few months back, the organization requested 345 billion Ugandan Shillings from the national government for repairing the potholes and other damage sustained by Kampala’s 900-kilometer road network. They were only granted 45 billion though, which is still a step up from the 15 billion they were working with last year.
Andrew Huelsenbeck is a Kiva Fellow currently working in Kampala with BRAC Uganda. To learn more about BRAC, please visit their Kiva Partner Page. If you are interested in helping to empower one or more of BRAC’s many wonderful entrepreneurs, you can join the Friends of BRAC Uganda lending team or check out new BRAC Uganda loans on Kiva.org. Happy lending!
Update from the Field: Expanding the Reach of Microfinance, Downsizing Development + Why We Kiva
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF16, Rwanda
This week, you have no fewer than 14 new articles to choose from on the Kiva fellows blog: Let the fellows take you along on borrower visits across the world. Learn how Kiva field partners expand the reach of microfinance in Rwanda, fill the microfinance donut hole in Sierra Leone and improve social performance in Uganda. Find out what poverty is like in urban Tajikistan and rural Burkina Faso. Get inspired by one of the creative ways to bring renewable energy to the developing world in the form of a soccer ball. And finally, watch a video of “Why We Kiva” to get a glimpse of why Kiva fellows jump at the opportunity to be thrown half way around the world to work with Kiva’s many local field partners.
Continue Reading 31 October 2011 at 02:49 Kathrin Gerner 5 comments
The Second Bottom Line and BRAC Uganda’s Gold
by Andrew Huelsenbeck, K16 Kiva Fellow, BRAC Uganda
The Second Bottom Line
One thing that’s gotten very popular with microfinance institutions (MFIs) lately is measuring success based on what is called a double bottom line. For a long time, the only bottom line for many MFIs was financials, but industry experts began to realize that looking good on paper did not amount to having any real social impact. This is why some MFIs have begun to use a second bottom line – social performance – as an additional metric for success.
What is social performance exactly? It is how an MFI is translating its core mission into practice. The success of this can be gauged in basically two ways: (1) by examining the actual impact of services on clients and (2) by examining the systems an MFI is using to optimize its impact on clients.
Among MFIs, a very common means of measuring the social impact of services is the Grameen Foundation’s Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI). The way the PPI works is by measuring the poverty levels of groups and individuals based on certain country-specific criteria like access to water, medicine, shelter etc. By examining changes in the PPI over time, MFIs are able to better determine their clients’ needs, which programs are most effective, how quickly clients leave poverty, and what helps them to move out of poverty faster.
The other main way of assessing social performance focuses less on the actual impact of services and more on MFIs’ management of the systems that optimize impact. This kind of management is commonly called social performance management (SPM). The success of SPM is based on an MFI’s ability to do mainly three things: (1) set clear social objectives, (2) monitor the progress towards achieving those objectives, and (3) use the insights from monitoring to improve overall performance and impact.
One of the major organizations responsible for establishing assessments and best practice guidelines relating to how MFIs achieve these three things is called the Social Performance Task Force (SPTF). The SPTF was birthed in 2005 when the CGAP, the Argidius Foundation and the Ford Foundation brought together leaders from various social performance initiatives in the microfinance industry to come to a consensus on a common social performance framework and an action plan to implement it. The SPTF has worked very closely with CERISE (the creator of the social performance assessment tool Kiva uses for its partners), and has recently been doing a lot of work in Uganda.
BRAC Uganda’s Gold SPM Award
Many Ugandan MFIs are part of a larger organization called the Association of Microfinance Institutions of Uganda (AMFIU). In the past year or so, AMFIU has begun to seriously encourage social performance management among its constituents. With the guidance of the SPTF and with funding from the Ford Foundation, the organization has held training sessions, published instructional guides, and not too long ago, held its first ever Social Performance Management Awards here in Kampala.
The event was huge. All of the big players were there: PRIDE, Opportunity, Finance Trust, Habitat for Humanity, EMESCO and more. The Ugandan Commissioner of Microfinance and the president of AMFIU were also in attendance and helped to present the awards to the MFIs that have really excelled in SPM. Many bronzes and silvers were handed out, but BRAC Uganda, the main MFI I am working with, took home the only gold.
Mr. Ariful Islam, the (former) Country Representative of BRAC Uganda, displays BRAC's Gold SPM Award
BRAC Uganda is an incredible organization. In just six years, with the help of the MasterCard Foundation, Kiva, Unicef and other major partners, BRAC has become a microfinance titan in Uganda. It currently has over 1,800 employees working at 114 branches, has dispersed more than $71 million in loans, and has touched the lives of nearly 2 million of Uganda’s poor.
What’s more impressive, though, is BRAC’s dedication to the second bottom line. Its mission is clear and simple: to alleviate poverty by empowering the poor to bring about change in their own lives. BRAC has achieved this not only by bringing financial services to some of the remotest regions in Uganda, but also by starting and scaling up health, agriculture, education and adolescent empowerment programs.
Many systems at BRAC are set up to ensure that clients are actually benefiting from these programs. More than half of the time, program managers are out in the field interacting with clients; the 15-member Monitoring Department continually evaluates programs to prevent mismanagement and misappropriation of funds; and BRAC Uganda’s unique Research and Evaluation Unit regularly conducts studies on the relevance and effectiveness of BRAC’s operations.
The research unit at BRAC Uganda is also currently working with AMFIU and the Grameen Foundation to promote the use of the PPI among other major MFIs in Uganda. The poverty index (or scorecard) was originally developed by a lead BRAC International researcher using national household survey data in Uganda. The Grameen Foundation adopted the idea, and worked with BRAC to update the index using newer data from many different countries. Now, the two organizations are using the PPI to improve social performance in Uganda and all over the world.
Andrew Huelsenbeck is a Kiva Fellow currently working in Kampala with BRAC Uganda. To learn more about BRAC, please visit their Kiva Partner Page. If you are interested in helping to empower one or more of BRAC’s many wonderful entrepreneurs, you can join the Friends of BRAC Uganda lending team or check out new BRAC Uganda loans on Kiva.org. Happy lending!
On the road again: Borrower visits throughout Southern Uganda
By Michele Wehle, KF15, Uganda
Two weeks ago I set off bright and early to the bus park in Kampala to catch my six hour bus to Ibanda, Uganda. My objective was to meet five Kiva borrowers around Southern and Western Uganda in order to complete my Borrower Verification. I gave myself five days and several pep talks to complete the journey. Pep talks and prayers were a prerequisite for my adventure as I would be traveling solo to some places that weren’t even on Google Maps (unprecedented). I didn’t know how I would eventually reach some areas and had no idea where I would sleep half the time, but none of this mattered as I only had one goal – meet those borrowers!
Continue Reading 1 August 2011 at 01:48 Michele Wehle 1 comment
Updates from the Field: Roads, Remittances + the “Little Paris” of Togo
Last week our internationally-scattered Kiva Fellows introduced us to some of the men and women that compose the sixty countries in which Kiva works. From the woman in Cameroon who represents the strength of her nation; to the Phillipino men that must migrate from their country to make a living; to the young men and women of Uganda who show us a glimpse of raw entrepreneurialism and hope. We also see how a nation’s people are brought together, whether by a common and incredible credit culture in Nicaragua, or by the dream for Togolese roads to one day connect people, markets, and credit throughout the country. From roads to remittances, Fellows learn there is more to microfinance than world markets and interest rates, and that human factors are tipping the scales of success for microfinance in all corners of the world.
Continue Reading 27 June 2011 at 02:00 Kate Bennett 7 comments
More than Microfinance: How BRAC Uganda Empowers Adolescents
By Michele Wehle, KF15, Uganda
A Bengali organization founded almost 40 years ago, BRAC is one of the largest NGO’s in the world. BRAC does tremendous work in and outside of Bangladesh, and has programs promoting economic development, health, education, gender justice – the list goes on. When I found out I would be working with BRAC this past April I was excited since it is such a pioneering organization, but I was also really looking forward to working with BRAC since I have a soft spot in my heart for Bangladesh. I had the chance to live in Bangladesh for four months last year as a social business intern at the Yunus Centre, and my time in the country was certainly life altering. Dhaka was not an easy place to live, the sheer number of people is overwhelming and unlike anything I have ever experienced (imagine fitting half the US population into Iowa). The Bengali hospitality and warmth made my time there special however. And truthfully, I couldn’t wait to show off the three Bengali phrases and five words I knew! Apart from my excitement, I realized I didn’t know much about BRAC and that I would have alot to accomplish once in Uganda.
Continue Reading 24 June 2011 at 05:38 Michele Wehle 3 comments
Update from the Field: Instability, Trust + A New Home
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo
This week, the fellows continue to get their bearings in the field. Learn about the importance of trust in Cameroon, find out how political instability affects businesses and microfinance in Uganda, and take a trip to a fellow’s country mountain home in Cameroon.
Continue Reading 6 June 2011 at 02:00 Kathrin Gerner 3 comments
Instability and Microfinance in Kampala
By Michele Wehle, KF15, Uganda
Pearl Microfinance Ltd. "...a choice to success"
I am beginning to feel as if I’m getting a handle on life as a mzungu (foreigner) in my second week as a Kiva Fellow in Kampala. Despite my luggage being lost and having to wear my clothes inside out my first full day in the country, I was excited to start work at Pearl Microfinance Limited. Pearl has been a Kiva partner for almost four years, and does wonderful work with more than 16,000 borrowers throughout Uganda. In fact, Pearl is Kiva’s Partner of the Month for June! No surprise here as Pearl’s staff is a committed and hardworking bunch, and I am very honored to be part of the team. My first day at work started off as I envisioned, and included many warm introductions and to-do lists. When lunch time rolled around, I was treated to my first Ugandan meal of fish in groundnut stew, matooke (mashed bananas similar to plantains), and greens. The food was delicious and the portions monstrous. It quickly dawned on me that intense food comas and weight gain would be in my future if I did not take all necessary precautions.
As my first day of work as a Kiva Fellow was coming to an end, I suddenly heard a loud commotion coming from the street. Extremely curious, I joined several of my colleagues at the window (probably not recommended) and saw that the street right outside of Pearl was completely filled with people shouting and yelling. I wasn’t sure if there was an accident or a mutiny, but my colleagues informed me that people were protesting rising fuel and food prices. Note: Fuel prices have risen more than 50% in the past few months. I asked if protests happened often and in this location, and to my delight I was told yes, this does happen often! In fact many of the government protests over the recent February elections took place in this very location. Apparently many “idle” people frequent this area of Kampala, which brews the perfect opportunity for voicing discontent over government politics and policy. I found myself captivated by this turn of events, but obliged when my responsible Kiva Coordinator named Grace requested that I leave the area before things got worse. What, banish an innocent Kiva Fellow to the rioutous street you ask? Rest assured readers. Both Grace and another dedicated Pearl employee named Richard ensured that I secured a safe and fairly priced boda boda ride, think motorcycle, back to my guesthouse. As I sped away from the commotion, I saw large blue tanks holding the Ugandan police traveling in the opposite direction.
Me, Richard, and Grace at Pearl Microfinance HQ
One would think that as an expat living in Uganda for the first time, make that an expat living and setting foot in Africa for the first time, I would have some trepidation reporting to my second day of work given the circumstances. Despite being utterly exhausted I looked forward to day two at Pearl. I went to work refreshed after a good night sleep and Tuesday started off similarly to Monday. At lunch over another plate of matooke and too many starches to name, I asked Grace if the protests affected the businesses of Pearl’s borrowers. As it turns out, many borrowers with businesses in the area found themselves needing to close shop temporarily due to the instability. This naturally affected borrower’s cash flows and abilities to make timely loan repayments. I reflected on this and added political and economic instability to my mental checklist of why interest rates at MFI’s are higher than some would like. Other items on my mental checklist include transportation costs to obscure field locations, mother nature, and the lack of collateral (to name a few).
My week at Pearl continued with more memorable experiences. One of my favorites was being stuck in a torrential rainstorm enroute to a borrower meeting outside of Kampala with my Field Support Specialist, his Field Support Manager, and a Pearl credit officer. The journey from Pearl went something like this: shared taxi ride to taxi park, traffic, second shared taxi, more traffic, torrential downpour, 30 minute wait under awning of a hair salon in the village, and alas – borrower meeting! If visiting borrowers in Kampala can have this many obstacles, how many more will I face when I trek to rural Uganda? Stay tuned.
In short, my first week as a Kiva Fellow was filled with much excitement, learning, weight gain, understanding, and appreciation. Nothing quite caps off a good first week as a second commotion from the street however. This time the noise wasn’t due to rising fuel prices. When I asked what the commotion was about a colleague responded, “don’t worry, they are just killing a thief!”. I think my time here will be quite an adventure.
Uganda Police Tank
Michele Wehle is a Kiva Fellow working in Kampala, Uganda with Pearl Microfinance Limited and BRAC Uganda. Want to help Pearl Microfinance and BRAC Uganda reach more borrowers? Become a member of their lending teams here: Friends of Pearl Microfinance Limited and Friends of BRAC Uganda.
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
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…)
Update from the Field: April Fools, Terrible Coffee + Getting Attached
Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa
We hope you enjoyed our April Fools post on Friday! While we were entertaining ourselves pulling it all together, we also found the time to attend to some serious matters: coffee in Colombia is no joke (in a bad way), some borrowers are easier to locate than others, and oftentimes Fellows must say goodbye to people and places before they’re ready to. We also learned about the “No Pago” movement in Nicaragua, the elections in Peru, what daily life is like for a Fellow in Bolivia, and how to sensibly and respectfully collect past-due payments in Ghana. Somehow there was even time to host a previous Fellow and a documentary film student in Colombia and to visit borrowers, eat chocolate, and stop for the view in Armenia.
Continue Reading 4 April 2011 at 00:46 Alexis Ditkowsky 8 comments
Special Update from the Field: Beaches, Safaris + Cambodian Glamour Shots
Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa
Kiva Fellows are nothing if not creative. We’ve gone to elaborate lengths to convince you that it can be hard to visit borrowers and that when we’re not trekking for miles, we’re doing elaborate calculations or dealing with databases and reporting. In truth, it’s all a front for an extended holiday from our regular lives. You thought our recent Carnival coverage represented a change of pace? Think again!
Continue Reading 1 April 2011 at 00:13 Alexis Ditkowsky 7 comments
My Heart has Taken Root
The Source of the Nile in Jinja, Uganda
Nila Uthayakumar, KF14, Uganda
My Rough Guide to Kenya has been open face down on my desk for the past few days. My time in Uganda has been incredible. I have seen and experienced so much in such a short period. Like my life has been on fast forward. This country captured me instantly. Drew me in. And held me close. Whispering. This land is unlike any other. (more…)
Update from the Field: Fun Facts, Field Visits + Back to Basics
Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa
For many Fellows, this week was about getting back to basics: the borrowers. In between fun facts about Kiva Fellowships, doing database detective work, and reflecting on the internal dynamics of Kiva’s partner microfinance institutions, Fellows found themselves in the field again and again, much to their delight and often to the delight of borrowers. From Latin America to Africa to the Caucasus to Southeast Asia to Eastern Europe, meet Kiva clients, learn about their businesses, and check out all of the great photos.
Continue Reading 21 March 2011 at 01:53 Alexis Ditkowsky 9 comments
Update from the Field: Man’s Day, Singing Fellows + Learning How to Count
Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa
The Fellows will be covering International Women’s Day later this week but let’s take a moment to acknowledge its lesser-known cousin in Kyrgyzstan, “Man’s Day”. And while you’re appreciating culture and history in far-off places, take a trip to Peru and West Timor through photos, visit borrowers in Uganda and Rwanda through video, learn a little something about communicating in South Africa, and catch up on the latest from Liberia, Ghana, and Mexico (home to the “Singing Fellow”).
Continue Reading 7 March 2011 at 00:16 Alexis Ditkowsky 7 comments
Video Blog: The Kiva Story
By Nila Uthayakumar, KF 14, Uganda
Nila is a Kiva Fellow living in Kampala, Uganda. She looks forward to working with several Kiva partner MFIs in Uganda and Kenya over the next few months.
Update from the Field: Videos, Epic Commutes + Going Beyond Microfinance
Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa
Another week, another incredible range of dispatches from around the world. Several Fellows told their stories with video and pictures while others took time to reflect on the state of microfinance as a global industry and in their respective countries. And what would a week in the field be without getting to know a few borrowers? Plus, scroll to the end of the post for pictures you may have missed the first time around.
Continue Reading 28 February 2011 at 00:38 Alexis Ditkowsky 10 comments
Video Blog: The Story of Lini Nanyonga
By Nila Uthayakumar, KF 14, Uganda
Nila has just arrived in Kampala, Uganda after having spent six months in Zanzibar, Tanzania last year. She considers East Africa home now, and looks forward to working with several Kiva partner microfinance institutions throughout the next few months in Uganda and Kenya.
Last Week in the Field: “Christmas”, Trekking, Adversity + Good Company
Compiled by Alexis Ditkowsky, KF14, South Africa
Members of the 14th class of Kiva Fellows have officially hit their stride. While we never know where the next dispatch will come from or what interesting topics the Fellows will cover next, we always know we’ll be transported, entertained, and edified. This past week, topics included “Christmas”, trekking to a remote village (with video!), handling adversity (including a serious car accident and stolen electronics), and enjoying the company of loan officers, borrowers, and community members. Enjoy!
Continue Reading 21 February 2011 at 02:17 Alexis Ditkowsky 12 comments
In Defense of “High” MFI Interest Rates: Part II
By Nila Uthayakumar, KF 14, Uganda
On the one-year anniversary of Eva Wu’s blog post entitled In Defense of “High” MFI Interest Rates, I was inspired to write a post on this exact topic. The date of this post is a coincidence, as I was actually inspired by the concerns of a group of friends I met with last week. They inundated me with questions: Why is it that microfinance institutions (MFIs) all over the world charge interest rates between 30 to 60% or even higher in many cases? Are they all predatory organizations, profiting from the hard earned money of the world’s working poor? How are these astronomical interest rates even remotely justifiable?
As they asked me these questions, I found that I was repeating myself in answering them. It is expensive to run an MFI. There are bad roads and very high transportation costs, it is time consuming to make visits to borrowers, borrowers often do not have collateral and loans are given to solidarity groups whose members guarantee each other’s loans, and borrower default is also a problem. These are but a handful of the issues that make microlending very different from traditional banking. Still, as I explained, I was not convinced myself. I wanted to see some numbers.
Video blog: The heart of Kiva
Mindblank! Recently I have been at a loss for words, and haven’t felt so compelled to share anything on the blog. Instead I decided to focus my efforts on producing a video of my time in the field as a Kiva fellow. One of the most amazing parts of being a Kiva fellow is the beautiful meetings you have with microfinance clients. In these sessions you have the opportunity to chat with borrowers about anything and everything. At the end of an interview we all commonly ask borrowers what are their hopes and dreams for the future.
The View from the Ground
Sam the loan officer counting loan repayments
By Nila Uthayakumar, KF 14, Uganda
Tuesday morning. It was just my second day at Micro Credit for Development and Transformation (MCDT), a Kiva partner microfinance bank based in Kampala, Uganda. I sat at the helm of a grouping of desks in an airy room within an office building perched at the very tip-top of a hill in Kampala. What a view. Of the city, but also of the four loan officers preparing to go into the field and meet with their borrowers. I looked out of the window, and then back at the people in the room. How did I get here again?
I needed to remind myself, lest I forgot. It had been the most intense month and a half of my life. In the beginning of December I was still living in Zanzibar, Tanzania. More specifically, I was painfully packing away six months into my backpack and getting ready to visit the States. I would be home for a month and a half, (although home for me is relative at this point), and I had an expanding to-do list to address. Most importantly, I was to attend Kiva Fellows training in San Francisco in January. I, along with a group of nineteen others, was going to be taught how to be Kiva’s eyes and ears on the ground. What exactly that meant, I could not have possibly known until I got to “the ground.”
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.
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!!
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
A Photo Diary of Uganda
Sarah Curl, KF12 Uganda
Here is a photo diary of what I have seen in Uganda over the past three months.
Uganda’s Taxi Park: Organization in the Chaos
By Sarah Curl, KF 12 Uganda
It’s five thirty in the morning and my cell phone that functions as an alarm, telephone, clock and flashlight is going off. The sound starts off soothing but gets more obnoxious as the minutes pass. I reach out but my bed net is blocking my access to the blaring sound. I fumble around the bed net and find some opening to reach out and turn my alarm off. This morning is the start of a long day which consists of traveling to a branch that is five hours away. As I quickly get up, I stumble around and find clothes that appear appropriate in the dark. I grab a yogurt that I drink while I walk the ten minutes to find a boda-boda. My eyes have not completely opened yet but with the boda speeding through traffic lanes and oncoming traffic, it always has a way of waking you up and being the natural caffeine you need in the morning.
Continue Reading 21 October 2010 at 14:00 sarahcurl 2 comments
