Posts filed under ‘Philippines’
A President to Rival Obama
John Rauschkolb III, KF-12, Philippines
The recent presidential election has changed the face of the Philippines for good. Local elections in the Philippines were held on Monday, May 10, 2010, and the elected president, Benigno Aquino III, has become the 15th President of the Philippines.
Continue Reading 19 August 2010 at 10:00 jrauschkolb3 6 comments
To Have a Servant’s Heart: The Essence of Customer Service
By Kaajal Laungani, KF12, Philippines
When you’re in the business of microfinance, you’re in the business of relationship building. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) must rely on a vast network of relationships between stakeholders – clients, lenders, donors, employees, etc – in order to provide financial services to the poor and fulfill their other objectives.
Pastor Boris Joaquin, World Vision’s Director of Publics in Ministry, shared his insight on how to exceed customers’ expectations with Community Economic Ventures, Inc (CEVI) during an intensive workshop. Forty-seven CEVI staff members, including branch managers, area managers, and top management, met at JJ’s Seafood in Tagbilaran City to discuss Customer Service 101.
Continue Reading 16 August 2010 at 00:01 klaungani 6 comments
Kiva, Google Earth, and the Big Wide World
Ok so hear me out on this concept – I think it’s a good one.
In my eyes one of THE greatest things to come out of the last fifty years is the ability to travel. The ability to see, to experience, to understand different cultures, and get a taste of what it’s like to live in a country vastly different to your own.
So what about Google Earth?
I quit my job for Kiva
It was the summer of 2008. As I sat and watched the stock markets crash around the world from my Cambodian apartment, I could not help but get nervous about my job prospects post fellowship. At that point, I felt like I’d made a mistake by leaving a great job in philanthropy to follow my heart by becoming a Kiva Fellow to learn how microfinance works on the ground. I remember when I told my family of my decision, they thought I was crazy. I was beginning to think they might be right. Watching US financial pillars crash and stock markets tumble each day, I worried and seriously asked myself, “What am I going to do once my time as a Kiva Fellow is done?”
10 Things the Philippines Can Teach the World
1) How to smile
At the moment I am working as a Kiva fellow with the field partner organisation Community Economic Ventures (CEVI), based in Bohol, Philippines. Here there are some of the most fantastic smiles I have ever seen. It’s the real face lit up, all teeth accounted for, glowing beam that can spread far and wide.
Lesson: Plain and simple – Smile! Remember to smile as much as possible because everyone knows that smiles are contagious!
Business Development Services
For any employee at Alalay sa Kaunlaran (ASKI) field partner, business and community development programs are seen as crucial in offering a holistic approach to serving the people of Luzon province in Northern Philippines. ASKI combines a variety of non-financial services with lending that is enhancing the technical, operational and strategic skills of clients – helping them to achieve financial and personal growth.
Bringing Sexy Back
The women of Ahon Sa Hirap, Inc. in the Antique province of the Philippines are “bringing sexy back”.
Continue Reading 11 April 2010 at 04:14 Christina Reyes 5 comments
Dear World….
Some people don’t like airports/train stations/bus stations but I do. I like those few moments in between where you’ve been, and where you are going. The fact you actually get a chance to reflect. I’m in a queue at the airport. Here are my thoughts.
My Right Hand Man, Sesenio
It is becoming increasingly obvious to me, living here in the Philippines, that SO often money does not go into the right hands. The two main shopping malls on the island of Bohol are owned by wealthy Chinese business men. Chain stores like Chow King, McDonalds, and Jollibee are filled with customers. When you ask people what they do in the weekend the common answer is “malling” or window shopping. Malls are synonymous with air conditioning. Air con means escaping the heat. Less people shop in the open markets and side of the road stalls. More people are drawn into the big chain stores.
And so the story goes, and it’s an old one, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. ENTER: Microfinance!
Bring It On
Is it possible to “hear” the power of microfinance?
The sweet sound of empowerment is a beautiful thing.
Continue Reading 17 March 2010 at 18:40 Christina Reyes 4 comments
“The Apprentice” Should Hold Auditions in the Philippines
If Donald Trump needs new contestants for his show “The Apprentice”, he should look no further than the Rizal province in the Philippines.
Continue Reading 3 March 2010 at 07:45 Christina Reyes 5 comments
The Dangers of Being an MFI Loan Officer
Imagine you’re a loan officer who’s working for one of Kiva’s partner MFIs. You’ve been traveling around the field, collecting repayments from quite a few clients over the course of the day. It’s getting late, and you’ve amassed a huge amount of cash – the equivalent of a few months’ worth of income for locals. As the sun begins to set, you realize you’re still at least an hour away from the office – an hour’s worth of travel on your motorcycle, over rough roads that are poorly (if at all) lit. What do you think could happen next?
Continue Reading 28 February 2010 at 18:27 evacwu 9 comments
The Royal Rumble: Yunus v. Compartamos
“You’re unhappy. I’m unhappy too. Have you heard of Henry Clay? He was the Great Compromiser. A good compromise is when both parties are dissatisfied, and I think that’s what we have here.” – Larry David
Within the international development community, a debate for the heart of the movement came to the fore two years ago with the IPO of Compartamos, the largest microfinance institution in Mexico. Divisive and controversial, Compartamos’ decision to sell shares and publicly list on an exchange is perhaps the clearest manifestation of where the two sides diverge. One side, led by Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005, contends that, at its core, the sole fundamental mission of microfinance is poverty alleviation. The other side argues that the goal must be maximizing profit and, more specifically, ROE (return on equity) – extending services to a previously unbanked population and expanding via revenue growth. Just about everyone has an opinion on the decision and, at the very least, it allows for a great philosophical and economic debate about the most effective way to assist the billions of people who live below the poverty line.
Continue Reading 26 February 2010 at 08:00 Josh Weinstein 13 comments
Why do we need Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and Interest rates?
A blog in response to comments under “Bad Roads, Interest Rates, and MFI Sustainability”
Food for thought on Interest rates
* Have you ever seen a microfinance institute?
Working with Community Economic Ventures (CEVI) in the Philippines I have come across the most passionate, forward thinking bunch of individuals who really care about the community in which they operate. They are of similar mindset to the lenders, Kiva staff, and us fellows. They are a part of this because they really care. Of course they have operational costs! They have staff. They need to distribute the money. The loans are small.
Slavery – abolished or reinvented?
Is exploitation just another form of slavery? This question has crossed my mind a few times today.
The borrower I just visited (who will remain anon) uses her loan to buy materials to make a product.
After a fair bit of questioning and digging. Here’s the dirt.
Of Chicken and Men
By Ujwal Kharel, KF9, Philippines
Today is my last day here at CCT. I can’t believe how soon it’s ending.
I have been largely absent from the blogosphere for more than a month. I blame that on two work weeks I missed being bedridden with chicken pox. I found it ironic (?) that I spent 19 years of my life in Kathmandu without any sickness, and within 4 weeks in a relatively cleaner and more developed city of Manila, I got bedridden. I realized that the worst part about getting a child illness at the age of 25 is not the severity of symptoms, but the ridicule from friends and cousins.
“What!? Chicken pox!? Haha! I had that when I was in the 3rd grade!”
“No way! But you are sooooo old!”
“Hey poxy!”
“Are you sure it’s not adult acne?”
Yeah, thanks everyone! (more…)
Challenging Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon
For all those who have succumbed to playing the late night trivia game “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”, you know it is based on the assumption that any actor can be linked through his or her film roles to actor Kevin Bacon within six steps. The game is a play on the network idea “Six Degrees of Separation” that everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth.
What I have come to realize week one into my placement as a brand new Kiva Fellow is Kevin Bacon is to Hollywood as Kiva Fellows are to the world of microfinance.
Continue Reading 13 February 2010 at 21:17 Christina Reyes 4 comments
Agricultural Microfinance: Serving the Poorest
Last week I went to a town called La Castellana about an hour south of Bacolod to visit the NWTF branch there. I was there to meet a handful of Kiva borrowers and interview them about the progress of their loan. Over the course of two days, I met 6 women that currently have a loan with Kiva, and another 4 that I am going to post to the site this week. La Castellana is a town in the mountains that is largely supported by agriculture. It is also one of the major areas impacted by agrarian reform.
The Philippines is a country of ~90 million people, half of whom live in rural areas. Eighty percent (80%) of Filipinos living below the poverty line are in rural communities, supported primarily by agriculture. Over the past three decades, agricultural land ownership in the Philippines underwent a transformation via a series of legislation known as Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) passed in 1988. Designed to provide landless farm workers a piece of land, the program has redistributed several million hectares of farmland in 1.1-hectare units. It is a controversial topic, and its effectiveness at combating poverty is debatable. Regardless of whether or not CARP has worked, the ARBs (Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries) – the recipients of the farmland – are the poorest of the poor. They struggle to plant sugarcane and a piece of land that is too small to profitably grow sugarcane. They try to buy fertilizer and farming equipment but don’t have the capital. The government gave them land but failed to provide adequate funding or training. In many ways, the cards are stacked against them. So, unable to make ends meet, many just rent their land back to the owner. It is a vicious cycle, but microfinance can offer a solution.
Continue Reading 12 February 2010 at 09:00 Josh Weinstein 11 comments
Mass Weddings for the Poor
By Josh Weinstein, KF9 Philippines
The happy couple.
This Kiva Fellows job is unique, in that it offers an endless supply of intellectual stimulation and satisfaction. Every day, I learn something new about something interesting. For the time being, what interests me most is microfinance. My knowledge of microfinance prior to working with Kiva could be described as purely academic. Experiencing it firsthand has been rewarding. In particular, I like understanding the details of execution, the challenges faced by the institution, and generally how a microfinance institution works. The amount of information to digest is enormous, so I try to focus on understanding a few NWTF (Negros Women for Tomorrow) programs that I think are in my wheelhouse. The downside of that approach is that I end up overlooking many fascinating and unambiguously positive programs.
The other day my coworkers were telling me about the upcoming Foundation day at one of the branches. Every year, each branch that meets a certain threshold of repayment and performance can have a Foundation Day party, which has upwards of 2,000 attendees (mostly clients). I was supposed to go to one in Cauyauan on Saturday, but I got food poisoning the day before and was bedridden. At some of the Foundation Day celebrations, NWTF holds something called a mass wedding. This is one of those programs that I find really interesting for different reasons. Let me explain why. (more…)
Community Loans: Another Level of Microfinance
By Josh Weinstein, KF9 Philippines
I spent the last week with the research department touring the region, tagging along on a market research survey. On the last day, we were driving through a coastal town when the paved road turned to dirt. According to the driver and director of the research department at NWTF, when the road turns to dirt, you know you are headed in the right direction. Sure enough, within a few minutes we reached a squatter community bustling with people. (In the Philippines, the government protects squatters, and large communities spring up on other peoples’ lands.) The road was just wide enough to fit the van and lined with nipa huts and sari sari stores. We passed by two makeshift basketball courts before coming to the end of the road. We parked the van and split up to walk around and talk to the people. Unfortunately, the interviews are all in Illonggo, so I chose to follow the director down to the shore. He began talking to a group of women on the beach holding their infant children. He asked a few questions, one of which is particularly interesting. If they could have a loan to spend on anything in their community, what would it be? Their response: a storage tank for diesel fuel or an icemaker. I’ll explain why this is important, but first some background. (more…)
What is a Mass Journal?
By Ed Coambs, KF9 Philippines, Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation
One Great Center
I wanted to share with you one of the many finished products that a Kiva Fellow creates. In this case it is a mass journal. Each Kiva Fellow is expected at some point during their fellowship to write a personal entry to all the lenders that have made a loan through a particular field partner. Part of the mass journal should also clear up the relationship of field partners to Kiva. So I figured that many of the blog readers could also benefit from a similar letter and so here is mine. I hope that you find it helpful.
Hello Kiva lenders my name is Ed Coambs and I am a Kiva Fellow that has spent the last three months working with the field partner Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF). What’s that you don’t know who or what NWTF is, well that is ok. By the end of this journal my hope is that you will understand the important partnership field partners have with Kiva.
Field partners are the backbone of microfinance. They support the (more…)
I have a dream…
By Ed Coambs, KF9 Philippines, Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation
Have you ever had a dream. Sure you have. We all have.
I have created a short video in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. and the women of Negros, Philippines to remind us all that it is important to dream and dream big.
Spending the last three months in the Philippines has been an amazing experience. I have traveled to meet many Kiva entrepreneurs all over the island of Negros, and no matter what I find a way to ask about their dreams. There is no doubt this has been the most inspirational part of my time here. I hope that you will take a few minutes to remember Martin Luther King Jr. and the women of Negros. They are both great dreamers.
A view of lending from the field
By Ed Coambs, KF9 Philippines, Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation
A great entrepreneur!
By now you have probably had a chance to make a loan on Kiva.org and if not you are thinking about it. Either way you are probably thinking about how does the loan get made in the field. Well like you I wondered this until I became a Kiva Fellow. Now that I have spent 3 months in the field, I can honestly say I know how the lending process works.
Let me just say it is a lot hotter, and (more…)
Filipino Values Pt 1: Bahala Na
When I was in grade school, we would start every year of Pilipino class with a lesson on what the Filipino traits were. The ones I particularly remember are: bahala na, pakikisama, hiya, mañana habit, and utang na loob. These five values inform every Kiva Fellow’s experience in the Philippines but also explain why many of the micro-entrepreneurs I’ve spoken to become borrowers in the first place. Literally translated, these words sometimes seem pejorative in English yet without understanding them, one would be hard-pressed to understand how microfinance works in the Philippines. (more…)
From the Office of the President
By Prem Thomas, KF9, Philippines
After spending over three months in Manila working in the Center for Community Transformation Credit Cooperative’s (CCT) head office, I thought it would be interesting for the Kiva family to hear from CCT’s President and Founder Ruth Callanta and meet my coworkers. Ate Ruth, as she is called by her coworkers (Ate, pronounced “ah-TEH”, is a Tagalog term of respect meaning older sister), is very passionate about her work and respected and loved by the CCT community for her vision and dedication.
If you don’t have time to watch the whole video, here is a table of contents of the questions: (more…)
Candy, where’s my skirt?
Mary Riedel KF 9 Philippines
Last month I picked up my clothes from the Washeteria. I was psyched, walking home with that, “I have clean clothes to wear,” feeling (you know the one). I got home, opened the cube shaped bag, it smelled so nice, even my underwear were folded! “What can I wear tomorrow?”
I stumbled upon a long blue, polyester skirt. “Hmmm, this definitely doesn’t look like mine,” (although having worn uniforms for 12 years I did
feel a slight connection.)
Quickly I worried, “If I have someone else things I wonder if someone has anything of mine.” I looked, my black skirt was missing.
Who is Poor? Defining Poverty
by Josh Weinstein, KF9 Philippines
How do you define poverty? A basic needs index looks at whether (and to what extent) fundamental needs are fulfilled – food, water, shelter, clothing – and whether people have access to critical services – education, information (newspapers, etc.), sanitation facilities, healthcare, financial services. This is an absolute poverty calculation, which uses a standard threshold that can be compared across countries and continents. Another method is to use a national poverty line, usually a percentage of median income. For example, if the median income is $10,000 USD, and the poverty line is 60% of that, any family making below $6,000 is technically below the poverty line. This is a relative poverty calculation, because it is country-specific. Using this method, it doesn’t make sense to compare across countries, since the poverty line in wealthier countries with higher median incomes will allow for greater purchasing power than in much poorer countries. In microfinance (and development in general), you often hear about the percentage of the population that lives on less than $1/day – the definition of extreme poverty – or $2/day, or some other defining statistic of poverty.
Statistics are important for microfinance institutions (MFIs). When you know what you are dealing with, you can more effectively target the population with programs that are proven to work. It is important for an MFI to understand its clients and where they exist on the spectrum of poverty. This is actually more difficult to assess than you’d think. It is not feasible to ask clients how many dollars a day they spend, or even try to determine their income relative to the rest of the population. Instead, MFIs use social performance metrics – simple tools to help them to define exactly what they are as an organization and whom they are serving. They are basically proxies, which, when examined in aggregate, give the MFIs a profile of the poverty level of their clients.
Dancing like we just don’t care – Happy New Years from KF9
Mary Riedel, KF9, Philippines
It’s that day of the year when we look forward with hope as we let go of last year’s demons and angels; as they say, “let go or get dragged!” So we put on those funny hats, blow those horns, and dance like we just don’t care!
To inspire you this New Years I’ve collected some dance footage of Kiva Fellows bustin’ a move in the field at their respective Kiva Field Partners (Microfinance Institutes). Each fellow recalls feeling a little trepidatious at getting out on the dance floor, but all seem to recount the story with a smile. If the US Post Office unofficial motto pledges that “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” Then the Kiva Fellow unofficial motto might be something like, “neither typhoon, nor malaria, nor diarrhea, nor subzero temperatures, nor mouthfuls of exhaust, nor embarrassing dance exhibitions stays these fellows from tenaciously completing their appointed deliverables.
So when your out celebrating tonight if you feel like you’ve got lead in your feet or you catch a glimpse of yourself dancing in a reflection just remember the following 5 clips and keep on movin! If the Kiva fellows can do it…so can you! (more…)
