Posts filed under ‘Azerbaijan’
What’s next for KF16? (Part 1)
Compiled by Laurie Young, KF16, Indonesia
I know! We can’t believe it either! Our Kiva Fellowships, as the 16th class, have come to an end. So what’s in store for us once we return to our homes? Or perhaps, stay in the field for another fellowship? Read on for the next chapter in the lives of some of the 16th Class of Kiva Fellows Alumni.
Continue Reading 2 January 2012 at 08:00 laurie4485 3 comments
60 Tips from Kiva Fellows
Compiled by Kate Bennett, KF16 Peru
The sixteenth class of Kiva Fellows has all but left the field- but we’re by no means done talking about our experiences. We’ve collectively spent 422 weeks in the field (just over 8 years!) and worked an estimated 16,650 hours at Kiva field partners around the world. Needless to say, we’ve got a lot of opinions about how to use this time wisely.
Now, we’re no experts in living or working abroad (though we sure do like it), but we have some nuggets of wisdom to offer up for those of you transitioning into a life abroad or beginning your next Kiva Fellowship. Stick by these tips, and you can’t go wrong. (And for more hints and tips, check out 33 Tips from Kiva Fellows (written November 2009) or 45 More Tips from Kiva Fellows in South America.) Enjoy!
Continue Reading 30 December 2011 at 04:00 Kate Bennett 4 comments
Update from the Field: Adapting for Borrowers by Borrowers, Microinsurance +SKFL
Compiled by Jim Burke, KF16, Nicaragua
A Warm Welcome! Manana offers the best from her garden. By DJ Forza, Georgia
This week’s Fellows Blog focuses on adaptability: Adapting microinsurance to poor households in Indonesia, an MFI in Turkey adapts to the needs of women entrepreneurs, a multifaceted borrower in Nepal adapts to market pressures, and a Kiva Fellow adapts to changing expectations. In a continuation of The Stuff Kiva Fellows Like series we hear how different fellows have adapted to their lives abroad by ‘crashing parties’ and ‘going to the Bazaar’. We hear about how practitioners are adapting finance and microinsurance products to their borrowers. Equally nimble we hear from a few borrowers and how they have expertly adapted to market pressures and changing circumstance. Microfinance is a dynamic industry by nature and like DJ or Binu or Maya Enterprise for Micro Finance, ensuring success means staying flexible and welcoming new opportunities born out of challenges. (more…)
Stuff Kiva Fellows Like #10-17
Compiled by Jim Burke, KF16, Nicaragua
We are Kiva Fellows. This is the stuff we like. Here is an insider (often critical, or satirical but always true!) view of what it means to be a Kiva Fellow and promote access to financial services around the world. From party crashing to bazaars to street food, these are the things we like and thrive on. Check out Stuff Kiva Fellows Like (SKFL) #1-9!
#10 Street Food
Mariela Cedeño, KF16, Cochabamba, Bolivia
I’m not really sure why, but there is something inherently appealing to a Kiva Fellow’s being about food that is prepared, cooked, and sold on the streets. Perhaps it’s the dubiously hygienic food preparation, the alternative cooking apparatus used to bring food to fire, or it’s ready availability and our relative laziness…wait, no, it’s actually our need to literally ‘taste’ the local culture. In our fits of street food deliriousness we are open and ready to taste all that our surroundings have to offer, however, we often find that the local fare may not quietly find a home in our stomachs. Thankfully, before leaving to our local assignments, our travel nurses reminded us that in times of intestinal woe, Cipro and other like antibiotics will be our best friend. They sometimes are, but because we are well versed in the dangers of overusing antibiotics and are haunted by nightmares of creating giant super bacteria that start kidnapping local women and children, we use them sparingly and wisely. (more…)
The Most Expiring Loan: Part 1
During training for the Kiva Fellowship I heard it mentioned numerous times that taxi drivers in Central Asia (but specifically in Azerbaijan) were the least demanded loans on Kiva. Their loans took the longest to get funded and expired most often. I was not surprised. After all, “Transportation”, being at the end of the Sector list on Kiva also competes with attention-grabbers like “Agriculture”, “Food”, “Housing” and “Retail” that precede it. What’s more, Kiva’s lenders prefer loaning to women, a fact supported by the percentage of Kiva loans that have been made to women entrepreneurs, which currently stands at almost 82%. Thus, taxi drivers raising funds on Kiva are at a justifiable disadvantage considering their entirely male demographic. I gave some more thought to this trend and came up with a few possible causes for it.
Continue Reading 30 November 2010 at 07:00 iledyashov 1 comment
Sacrifices and Microfinance
On November 8th AqroInvest received new capital from an existing partnership with PlaNIS and a new partnership with Microenterprise. AqroInvest is one of Kiva’s two Field Partners in Azerbaijan. It is important to note that microfinance institutions, such as AqroInvest, depend on new partners and capital for growth. That Monday also happened to be my first day at AqroInvest. At the end of the day the entire staff and I celebrated with champagne and cake, making toasts to AqroInvest’s bright future, and my anticipated contribution to it. It was a very joyous occasion.
Continue Reading 21 November 2010 at 07:00 iledyashov 2 comments
When Kiva Comes to Town
by Nina Nelan, KF12 Azerbaijan
One of the benefits of a Kiva Fellowship is the opportunity to peek behind the Kiva curtain. Like Oz, Kiva is not always as it seems, but it’s also not smoke and mirrors.
(Continue reading for pictures of real live Kiva staff)
It pays to be a teacher in Azerbaijan
by Nina Nelan, KF12 Azerbaijan
As Kiva wraps up back-to-school month, I feel compelled to provide this perspective on a country that should, and could, do better in the education of its youth. It’s not hard to imagine that Azerbaijan, so resplendent with and dependent on its rich petrodollar economy, is setting itself up for failure when it pays so little attention to the quality and effectiveness of its educational programs. I hear stories of students who skip the majority of their classes, but secure passing grades with payments to their professors. These are Azerbaijan’s future doctors and lawyers and scientists and economists. The future looks very bleak indeed.
Poverty and Paroxysm: an International Day of Peace Post
The first news reports on BBC, CNN, and AP said that the bomb went off at 8:10 in the morning. I swear though, that I heard it at 8:04. Its not every day that a young American not serving in the armed forces hears an explosion as they gets ready for work, but for Kiva Fellows, this isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Morals & Microfinance
By Yelena Shuster, KF 11, Azerbaijan
For some, traveling abroad is an exotic means of recreation, for others it is a learning experience. I cannot find statistics reciting the numbers and nationalities of people who go abroad each year, but from my experience as a backpacker and Kiva fellow, most people who travel (either for leisure, student exchange or professional duties) come from one of the 32 developed countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, NZ, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, UK, US (see the World Factbook for more information). This means that essentially, over 80% of the world’s population, over 5 billion people, have never visited another country!
(Video included!)
Continue Reading 17 August 2010 at 02:21 Lena Shuster 4 comments
People do smile in Central Asia (and they dance, too)
by Nina Nelan, KF12 Azerbaijan
At first, I believed the myth that Central Asians do not smile because I couldn’t coax one out of a single pedestrian as I walked to work last week. But peoples’ street personas have nothing in common with who they are in offices and stores and restaurants and homes. Azerbaijanis are as warm and welcoming and smiley as anyone else in the world, and many have gone out of their way to help me adjust to life in Baku.
Broken legs and hospitals in Azerbaijan
By Yelena Shuster, KF 11, Azerbaijan
Being a loan officer has its perilous moments. The scary Caucasian shepherd dogs that guard client’s homes and threaten to bite you and the difficult to find addresses of remote properties that one must search for in the unrelenting summer heat are obstacles. Then there are the numerous unforeseen hazards one encounters trying to go the extra mile as a loan officer…
Last week one of our loan officers at Komak went to meet a new client, a tomato farmer from the Absheron region. To get a better picture of the borrower’s greenhouse for his Kiva profile, Emin climbed on the roof of a 3 meter high building. Then he slipped and fell onto the hard pavement below, shattering his ankle completely.
I wish I knew more about the state of medical care in Azerbaijan. When I saw Emin in the hospital last week he was reluctant to tell me details. He was sharing a small sunny room with another man, who’s chatty wife laughed at my inquiries about the hospital. After I’d told her about the insurance system we have in the United States she said, “So it’s the same, without money one doesn’t get treatment.” “Almost” I insisted, “except in the US one is guaranteed treatment in the emergency room but may end up with debt of hundreds of thousands of dollars or lose their house.” She nodded her head disapprovingly. (more…)
Language & Culture in Azerbaijan
By Yelena Shuster, KF 11, Azerbaijan
I’d like to tell you about language in Azerbaijan especially since there have been some questions among Kiva lenders and translation volunteers as to why Komak is posting profiles in Russian using Latin letters instead of Cyrillic.
You see, since the start of the 20th century the Azeri alphabet has metamorphosed 3 times…
- Prior to 1929 Azeri was written in Perso-Arabic script.
- 1929–1938 A Latin alphabet was used (although it was different from the one used now).
- 1938 to 1991 The Cyrillic alphabet was imposed by the Soviet Union.
- 1991 With independence, the current Latin alphabet was introduced.
I’ve met several folks in their 40s and 50s who grew up reading only Cyrillic and now have difficulty reading newspapers and books. How isolated they must feel with their access to newspapers, magazines and books so unfairly limited by the alphabet! (more…)
Borrower verification in Azerbaijan: Meet a welder and a sheep farmer
By Yelena Shuster, KF 11, Azerbaijan
Last Tuesday I traveled from Baku to Fuzuli, a rural region in southwestern Azerbaijan, to meet two clients for borrower verification. The drive took us 4 hours (and 4 more to return), on a hot winding road that was paved but a few years ago. We drove past the Iranian border, a simple gate with vegetation behind it and no soldiers. Like custom dictates, we stopped for tea along the way at one of the road stops.
I was excited to go to Fuzuli. Named after a renowned Azeri poet of the 15th century, Fuzuli today is one of the “occupied territories” (see here). Only about 20% of Fuzuli remains within Azerbaijan’s jurisdiction and its current inhabitants are a blend of Fuzuli natives and internally displaced people from surrounding Nagorny-Karabakh. The main sector of employment in Fuzuli is agriculture.
As I’ve written in a previous post, Fuzuli is an important place for my MFI, as it is the place where Komak was founded amongst 20 internal refugees. Currently, about 30% of Komak’s borrowers live in Fuzuli.
I hope you enjoy the following video I made about my day doing borrower verification in Fuzuli!
Guests During One’s Lifetime
By Mammad Araz (Azeri poet born 1933)Someone is knocking at my door.
“Hey, who’s knocking?”
“I’m Memory.
I’ve brought a letter from your first love.”
(An angry woman appears in the kitchen.
The person knocking disappears with the letter.)Again, a knock at the door.
“Hey, who’s knocking?”
“I’m Praise!”
“Welcome!”
“Do you have anything to drink?”
“No, I don’t!”
“Then go on writing!”
(Praise leaves).Knock, knock.
“Who are you?”
“It’s me – Need!
Open the door!”
“What news?
I haven’t seen you for a long time.”
“It seems the less you see of me, the more you miss me.”
“Your neighbor gets a wage equivalent to five salaries
Another man buys a car.”
“By God, let me write!”Again knock, knock.
“Who’s that?”
“Your friend, Latest News!”
This damned world hasn’t collapsed:
Our century is the century of diplomacy, hey brother!
They speak about peace, carrying bombs in their pockets.
Two more of your poems were rejected
Because of your friends there.”*
“Give me some peace! Let me breathe!”Again a knock at the door.
“Who do you want?”
“I’m Fame!”
“Welcome, who are you looking for?”
“Mammad Araz”
“Brother, you’re late.
He doesn’t live here any more.”
“Where does he live now?”
“It’s near this place -
There’s a grave over which a woman is crying,
That’s where you’ll find him now.”* “They speak of peace, carrying bombs in their pockets” meaning that his friends are double-faced and superficial and, in reality, don’t support him.
Translated by Aytan Aliyeva
Yelena Shuster is a Kiva Fellow serving with Komak Credit Union in Azerbaijan. Support Komak borrowers and join our team Friends of Komak!
A video update from Azerbaijan
Yelena Shuster is a Kiva Fellow serving with Komak Credit Union in Azerbaijan. Support Komak borrowers and join our team Friends of Komak!
Revelations by the director of Komak, Kiva field partner in Azerbaijan
By Yelena Shuster, K11, Azerbaijan
I’d like to tell you a little bit about Komak, the MFI (microfinance institution), where I am serving my Kiva fellowship. Komak, which means “help” in Azerbaijani, has offices in four regions: Baku, Absheron, Khachmas and Fizuli. The central office, where I have spent most of my time is located in Baku, the capital city. Here I work with five other people: Aydin, the director; Emin, information technology; Aliabbas, accounting; Elnur, bookkeeping; and Afitab, the Kiva coordinator. With over 1,600 current active members, 80% of whom are IDPs (internally displaced people), Komak is a small but energetic MFI.
I asked Aydin, who’s been the director of Komak since its inception in 1999 to tell me about its beginnings and goals.
Aydin grew up in Fizuli and studied technology and food conservation in Odessa, Ukraine. He was living with his family in Fizuli, working as the manager of technology at the local wine factory (Fizuli afterall is one of most fertile regions in the Caucus, producing a variety of distinctive grapes from which delicious wine can be made) when the geopolitical conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh broke out with Armenia in 1992. As Armenian forces occupied his home town, Aydin and his family fled to the neighboring city of Horadiz, leaving all their belonging behind. Soon after their resettlement, Armenians occupied Horadiz as well and Aydin’s family moved again. His wife and five children went to Baku, where they stayed with relatives, while Aydin tried to forge out a living through agriculture in Ahmedbeyei for the next 5 years.
Continue Reading 10 June 2010 at 23:13 Lena Shuster 8 comments
Why is microfinance important in Azerbaijan?
Yelena Shuster, K11, Azerbaijan
Greetings from Azerbaijan!
It’s been almost two weeks since my arrival. Not surprisingly, my impressions are multifarious. I enjoy the good and blast the bad, all the while trying to understand this country and its contradictions. On the one side is the growing economy, with multiple natural resources, on the other are the many people who do not get to bask in Azerbaijan’s growing wealth. While expensive stores line the streets that lead to the beautiful boardwalk along the Caspian sea, where young chick Azerbaijanis eat ice cream as they stroll with friends, bleak Soviet-style apartment buildings emanating poverty and struggle are just a kilometer or two away.
The other day I met an ex-Peace Corps volunteer who noted that in the town where he worked in northern Azerbaijan, the cold winters were frequently spent without heating. The irony is that gas is one of Azerbaijan’s most prominent resources and it was being sold abroad rather then provided to Azerbaijan’s citizens for use during the cold winters!
I have learned not to judge the state of the common people based on the government or politics, or on how the elite of a country flaunt their wealth. The real people are those individuals whom you may never see on television or read about in the news. And this is what I love about volunteering with Kiva… I get to meet real people!
One of the biggest Kiva challenges in Azerbaijan is encouraging lenders to lend to borrowers here. Either because of preconceived notions about what poverty is or mere disinterest in the region, borrowers here have a lot of trouble getting Kiva funds.
So why should you lend to a borrower in Azerbaijan?
Because without credit these individuals cannot improve their lot in life. Opportunities here are limited by corruption and lack of credit. In a post-communist developing economy like Azerbaijan’s, self-sufficiency is important. By helping Azerbaijanis expand their businesses, lenders also create opportunities for whole communities! By supporting a farmer who wants to buy more seeds or fertilizer we are helping his neighbors buy local and inexpensive food! By supporting a female hair stylist we are helping the network of local women and improving their self-esteem! And think about the children! As a borrower’s business becomes more financially prudent, children of borrowers can pursue their own interests like music lessons, sports and university education instead of being limited by subsistence activities.
Here’s a picture of a Kiva borrower with his calf. Aftandil’s other cows were out grazing and enjoying themselves on the pasture not far from his home. Free range, hormone-free, local yogurt? I saw it with my own eyes. Plus, Aftandil provides the local stores with fresh yogurt. He says that neighbors love his dairy products so much that they sometimes come to his house to purchase them. He’s seeking a loan to buy another cow because he’d like to dedicate himself to his cows full time and quit his part-time job as a construction worker. His loan request will be online later this week, meanwhile check out one of the other borrowers (many of whose loans are expiring in a day or two).
Çox sağ olun!
(thank you)
Salam əleyküm from Azerbaijan
By Yelena Shuster, K11, Azerbaijan
Last week I arrived in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan to begin my three-month fellowship at Komak credit union. For me, Baku is a special place because like the country of my birth (Ukraine) it was one of the 15 republics that made up the former Soviet Union.
So you may wonder, where is Azerbaijan?click on the map below for details
Breaking the ice at XacBank
Why is it that when you’re just starting a job, you always introduce yourself to the CEO with spinach in your teeth, or rip your pants pocket, or spill toner on your shirt?
My finest hour was when I was starting on the copy desk at a newspaper, trying to make a good impression as a head-down, able worker, and the copy chief gave me a big story. I had my take-out dinner on my desk. As I stared intently at the screen, trying to be the model of a journalist who’s so totally engrossed in the task at hand he can’t even be bothered to look at his food, I gave my Orangina a vigorous shake, as instructed on the bottle. Forgetting about the cap. Which was off.
The guy sitting next to me said he couldn’t believe his eyes: me just shaking this bottle, the bright-yellow fizzy drink flying everywhere. And it took me a second to catch on, too: even as I felt myself getting I drenched I think I was in disbelief at the sheer stupidity of what I was doing, so I kept right on shaking the bottle for another second, soaking my clothes, dinner, and workstation in sugary goodness.
Yeah, I’m awesome.
So I’m on Day 2 as a Kiva Fellow at XacBank, here in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. XacBank is the first microfinance institution Kiva has partnered with in this country, and I have been given specific instructions to make a good first impression as a Kiva representative because Kiva is super-excited about the partnership. And I am, too: I’ve been pumped to get to Mongolia ever since I heard Kiva would be starting operations here.
In Azerbaijan, where I spent about two months as a Fellow before coming here, each of the MFIs I worked with rents a few rooms and has a few employees in their main office. I got to know the CEOs personally. We all wore sweaters to work most days. The employees were tight, like families.
XacBank (pronounced haas-bank) is like — well, a bank. It’s a microfinance bank, but it’s definitely a bank. Gleaming marble floors. ATMs. Currency exchange. An HR department. Fatigue-wearing security guards with guns. Suits and ties. A conference room with snazzy rolling chairs.
So, of course, Day 2, I break a mug right in the hallway by the stairs, the most high-traffic part of the office. I’m actually thinking, as I put the mug down on the blatantly-neither-flat-nor-level Hyundai water cooler (see photo): “This sure seems likely to fall, as this is not a flat surface.” I’m actually thinking that.
This is not a flat surface.
And this is not a new experience. I’ve been down this road before, either thinking “if I back up any more, I’ll put my tail light out on that fire hydrant,” or “if I flick this cigarette butt that way, it’ll hit that dude’s Harley,” and then proceeding to do it anyway.
So now I’m picking up broken ceramic shards and apologizing to whoever walks by. And I’m having a lousy day — I’m new to this country, it’s freezing cold, there’s bad news coming by e-mail from home and I’m too far away to be of help, I feel lonely and jet-lagged — and I’m experiencing wave after wave of let’s-call-the-new-guy-’butterfingers’ shame.
“In Mongolia,” he says, “it’s good luck if you break something. We say that if you break a glass, all conflicts will go away. So now, any conflicts people were having with each other on this floor will be solved.”
I’m not sure if this is true, or if he was just feeling sorry for me and decided to make something up. It made me feel better, though.
5 things I think I think about Azerbaijan
(with apologies to Sports Illustrated NFL writer Peter King)
1. Cats are great city animals.
Cat on car.
At one time, Baku was rat country, so I’ve been told. Someone decided to fix the problem by either introducing cats to the streets or firing all the cat-catchers. You don’t see many rats around nowadays.
Cats are everywhere. They stand guard outside the markets, scurry beneath the tables inside the posh furniture stores, sleep atop parked BMWs, pick through garbage, and mew in the hallway of my apartment building. A friend here started adopting street cats and now has seven in her flat.
Coming from New York, I’ve always held up pigeons (and to a lesser extent, squirrels) as the best city animals. And I’ve always taken rats for granted. But cats, quiet and clean, are, to me, the new gold standard.
2. Traffic laws are outstanding.
So THAT'S what a seatbelt is for...
As a car owner, I have some ambivalence about traffic laws. I hate parking tickets. Sometimes I find a 65 mph speed limit to be — idealistic. And I’ve sent the occasional text message at a red light.
So I write this fully aware that I am a hypocrite: traffic laws are outstanding.
I’ve been in countries with bad drivers before. The drivers of India and Pakistan and Bangladesh don’t deserve any medals. But there, because it’s generally poorer and warmer, the streets are jammed with every sort of vehicle: hand-pulled, bicycle and motorized rickshaws, scooters, buses, trucks and cars, not to mention a variety of livestock.
So bad driving is mitigated by 1) self-preservation (as you can get thrown from a rickshaw pretty easily) and 2) weak engines. It’s hectic, lawless traffic, but it’s not that fast.
Azerbaijan, in contrast, has hectic, lawless, fast traffic. People are generally driving cars, buses or trucks, and good cars, too, not Tata Nanos, but Benzes.
And because cars are the only thing on the road and cars are expensive, if you’re driving at all here, you’re a big deal. That, in turn, means you shouldn’t have to break for any commoner on foot. Nor should you approach a blind turn through a narrow, residential alley at less than 50 mph.
It’s not that right-of-way is ambiguous here: the cars have it. I guess I’ve been spoiled living in places where cars break for pedestrians, but I find the traffic here beyond aggravating. Everyone uses their car horns constantly to express anger, and tricked-out horn upgrades (the “air horn” and the “Godfather theme” being ubiquitous) are mandatory.
What’s optional? Seatbelts. Headlights at night. Child safety seats. Staying within the solid double-lines on a highway. Most people with kids have them ride on their laps in the front passenger seat, their little faces pressed to the windshield.
On a recent road trip, we passed a roadkill horse (!), two dead dogs, and a brick truck that had lost its bricks on the way out of Baku. On the way back, we saw a dead person in the road (!!). No wonder everyone stops at the mosque just outside of town to make an offering to Allah thanking Him for a safe ride!
3. Russian is hard.
Three genders? Six cases? I’ve been studying for two months and still don’t know what a case is.
4. All politics is local.
So said Tip O’Neill, long-serving Speaker of the House.
Case in point. In America, we fought a “cold” war with Russia from the mid-1940s to 1991. There is still hatred and fear of Russia in some parts of our political sphere (ask Sen. John McCain how he likes the Russians).
We also have as our enemies the “Axis of Evil”: Iran, Iraq and North Korea. Iraq, of course, is now are ward. North Korea is flirting with giving up the bomb. But Iran appears to be carrying on as a threat, with worried talk in the news magazines and Sunday morning talk shows over when it will get nukes and what it will do with them.
So here I am in Azerbaijan, sandwiched between Putin and Ahmadinejad. Azeris don’t care. There’s nothing too frightening about either. They may not always have nice things to say about their neighbors to the north and south, but Americans aren’t always that charitable with Canada and Mexico, either. Anyway, Azeris have reserved 100 percent of their negative energy for their neighbor to the west: Armenia.
The cause is a dispute over the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which took the form of a war in the late ’80s and ’90s and now is the source of much saber-rattling, but little fighting. Some 800,000 Azeris were displaced by the loss of the territory, and bettering their lives is a major part of microfinance here.
It’s less of an axis and more of a singularity of evil. And, sadly, it’s no exaggeration to say that dislike of the Armenians is nearly universal and is strong. I don’t know, there’s some axiom here that fits, one man’s jelly is another man’s jam or something…
5. Bribes suck.
I finally paid one, last week. Sixty manat (about $75). It wasn’t, like, spiritually degrading or anything, but it was 60 AZN that I’m not going to be spending on candy and DVDs.
Hello, cool world!
I’m the only fellow headed to Azerbaijan from Kiva Fellows 6, so I’m pretty excited to bring word of this fascinating region to those of you who make Kiva such a success. I’ll be visiting each of Kiva’s partner microfinance institutions in the region to assist them in any way I can, support Kiva, journal and train the MFIs on new software systems being put into place.
I’ve never been to the Caucasus. It’s largely a blank slate to me. What the Lonely Planet, my Azeri taxi driver last night and previous Kiva Fellows in the area, such as Jonathan Buser, say is that it’s a real crossroads: a blend of post-Soviet bureacracy, Shi’ite Islam, impoverished “internally displaced persons,” fabulously wealthy petrocapitalists living off the transport of oil and natural gas from east to west and the ex-pats who help that happen. I’ll be living in Baku (birthplace of chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov), the capital, for 6-10 weeks, and then moving on to my next destination for Kiva (Mongolia?) for the remainder of my 6-month fellowship.
I really hope to shed some light for people on this poorly understood region and its challenges for all of you. I’ll do my best.
–Mark Bulliet, KF6
Livestock Bazaar
Families in rural Azerbaijan are heavily reliant on farm animals, often just a handful of sheep and a cow, for food and income. Microcredit loans allow enterprising individuals to scale up animal raising activities so that excess milk, cheese, wool, and offspring can be sold for a profit. But where does one go to buy a cow or a half dozen sheep? I learned that once a week as many as 4,000 farmers congregate with their animals to exchange ownership at the Livestock Bazaar. Kiva’s field partner, Aqroinvest arranged for me to meet a client and conduct an interview at the bazaar. With the help of another fellow we filmed our visit to the sprawling animal market.
The Role of Microfinance in Azerbaijan II (video)
As I wrap up my time as a Kiva Fellow with Norwegian Microcredit (Normicro) in Azerbaijan, I realized that I cannot adequately summarize in words the knowledge I’ve gained on microfinance and Azerbaijan, things and places I’ve seen, and people and entrepreneurs I’ve met. For to share about microfinance in Azerbaijan, one must place it in the context of the country’s historical and current political and economic situation. Besides, the previous Kiva Fellow in Azerbaijan had already written an excellent blog on this topic. (See: ‘The Role of Microfinance in Azerbaijan‘) Hence, I decided to put my thoughts into a video instead:
Baku is Burning
The biggest holiday in Azerbaijan is Novruz. This spring event has its roots as a pre-Islam New Year celebration. It officially begins on the spring equinox but the celebration ramps up much earlier with large street bonfires every Tuesday for the month preceding Novruz. Each week represents a different element: earth, water, air, and fire. Much of the community comes out for the bonfires to socialize and listen to music. Tradition calls for fearless youth to jump across the bonfire regardless or how large it is. On one occasion I witnessed a boy run through a fire along a burning pole until he could leap the last 3 feet to the other side. I was coerced into making the leap over a much more manageable fire only to learn that once is not enough, three leaps is keeping with tradition. After four weeks of bonfires, and all the scrap wood has been burned, the Novruz holiday finally arrives with a full week of vacation for the entire country.
Novruz is also important for Azerbaijan’s small businesses. Many of the Kiva borrowers I visited were making business decisions based on their sales projections during the holiday. One client had pre-shorn three sheep with the hopes of selling them for butcher at a higher price during the holiday. All of the Kiva trading clients had stocked up on inventory for their shops. Some of the special items included small fireworks, nuts, and festive pots of wheat. This is a very enjoyable time to be in Azerbaijan.
English as a form of capital in Azerbaijan
On Sunday, I had the privilege of spending time with an Azeri woman over lunch and walking around Baku. For the record, I am female. I met Ulviyya on a bus a few days ago when I saw her reading English vocabulary from a dictionary that was falling apart to pieces and started talking to her. We parted shortly after but before doing so, Ulviyya jumped on the opportunity to practice her spoken English. She took down my mobile number and invited me to lunch on Sunday.
Throughout the few hours we spent together, I was incredible impressed at how diligent Ulviyya was at asking for definitions of words she didn’t understand, taking notes, and referring to what’s left of her Azerbaijani-English dictionary to express words she struggled with. I felt more and more embarrassed at how little effort I am putting into learning Azeri in comparison to her!
After lunch, Ulviyya took me to a place in the city where there were vendors selling English instruction books. We selected a few but the availability of affordable books was very scarce. She had already read almost all books at the level below her current ability. Ulviyya tells me that she would like to improve her English so that she can be confident of applying for and getting a job as a geologist at BP, where the salary is much higher but fluency in English is mandatory.
I am humbled upon realizing how hard Azerbaijanis at every level of society strive to better their lives. Some opt to borrow from microfinance organizations to expand their businesses while others increase their human capital by learning English.
Visiting clients in a small city in Azerbaijan
Greetings! My name is Ai Li Ang and I live in Chicago, Illinois, in the USA. I was born and grew up in Malaysia and am ethnically Chinese (this detail will be relevant later on). I arrived in Azerbaijan as a Kiva Fellow to work with one of Kiva’s partners, Norwegian Microcredit (Normicro). This is the second time that Normicro is hosting a Kiva Fellow. Since the previous Fellow, Liz Vallette, departed in fall of 2007, Normicro has continued to experience tremendous growth in number of clients served and loan portfolio. In less than a year, Normicro has added 2 branch offices to the 5 it had last year, improving access to microloans for many low-income and internally-displaced persons in Azerbaijan.
Last week, I ventured outside the capital city of Baku (where Normicro’s head office is located) to visit a branch office (where loans are administered) for the first time. My goal was to interview clients who received loans from Kiva lenders, write journals, and upload the journals to Kiva.org. Getting to Khachmaz, a city north of Baku, was relatively easy for someone who doesn’t speak Azeri or Russian. Minibuses, known as “mashrutkas”, line up outside one of Baku’s main bus stations with clearly labeled signs of their destinations. As far I know, the mashrutkas don’t follow schedules, but depart as soon as each vehicle fills up. For most low-income Azeris, mashrutkas are the most reliable and affordable means of traveling to other cities. However, the 3 manat (approx. 3.60 USD) one way, 2.5 hour bumpy journey is not for the faint-hearted. Many times the driver would pass slow trucks in spite of on-coming vehicles, swerving back to his own lane only at the very last minute. Sometimes, when the driver overestimated his mashrutka’s horsepower on a passing attempt, he would resort to creating an additional middle lane.
During my 3 days at Normicro’s Khachmaz branch office, the two loan officers, Vagif and Nafira, were quite busy meeting with clients at the office. Yet, they took some time off in the afternoons to take me to see borrowers of Kiva loans. I also received translation help from a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer, Adam. Most of the clients we visited operated retail (e.g., clothes, groceries, shoes, furniture) business. Very quickly I got consistent replies that the loans were used to purchase inventory in bulk to get lower prices. This implies that the additional profit margin from lower cost of goods was more than sufficient to offset the 3% monthly interest rate charged by Normicro. Access to loans essentially accelerates the rate at which these entrepreneurs accumulate profit and grow their businesses. Many of them also expressed the desire to take larger loans so that they can make one-time infrastructure investments or buy inventory in even larger quantities.
In a small city such as Khachmaz, when two foreigners walk through the bazaar and talk to people, all buying and selling activities are paused because everyone gathers around to listen to our interviews! Each one of us also draws attention for different reasons: Vagif and Nafira, the loan officers, were constantly approached by current and potential clients with inquiries; Adam, a caucasian, was considered the rich investor who would provide the loan capital; I, on the other hand, was asked directly or indirectly what I was selling! (Chinese in Azerbaijan are typically seen selling toys and misc. items on sidewalks and on the streets.)
Busy Streets of Baku
Stepping out onto the streets of Azerbaijan’s capital city is a quick way to gain insight on the local economic situation. The streets of Baku, much like other large cities, are plagued with traffic and drivers who use their horns more than they obey any sort of traffic laws. The mixture of vehicles that fill the roads is telling of the wealth disparity. Public transport is accomplished by aging mini-buses called marshrutkas plying the streets in all directions. Larger city buses are mostly absent so these marshrutkas provide the most comprehensive city transport in Baku. Although bus stops do exist, they are rarely used so one can wave down a passing bus at any time. Boxy, Russian made Ladas are most prevalent passenger car because they are cheap, easy to fix, and will last for hundreds of thousands of miles. However, with their 13” wheels and a manual choke lever, Ladas have less style than your back yard lawnmower. The final component of Baku’s streets is luxury cars. In stark contrast to the rest of the 4-wheeled street machines, BMWs, Mercedes, Land Rovers, Hummers and other high value vehicles by anyone’s standards are surprisingly common, clearly the spoils of the rich Azerbaijan oil deposits. Although watching these mismatched cars interact can be amusing (until you need to cross the street) one of the most enjoyable things to do in Baku is walk through the walls of the old city. The cobblestone streets, thankfully too narrow for cars, quickly dampen the noise of the busy modern city leaving you to enjoy the ancient architectural beauty in peace. The winding maze of alleys helps to prolong the peaceful experience before you inevitably exit the gates and face the modern world again – wishing that car horns wore out as frequently as brake lights.
Kiva Training in Baku!
On Friday, with the help of the NorMicro staff, I held a “Kiva Training Session” for the employees of the Azerbaijani Kiva Field Partners. There were seventeen of us total, representing NorMicro, Komak, and AqroInvest. Bahman (NorMicro’s Director) suggested that I hold the training, while Tasaduf (NorMicro’s Human Resources Manager) worked really hard to get us a very nice briefing room in Baku’s fancy Caspian Business Plaza. For over three hours we discussed (in English and Azerbaijani, with translation by Tasaduf!) pertinent Field Partner topics, such as writing Kiva business descriptions, taking good client photos, how to post business profiles, and writing journal entries. The attendees had lots and lots of good questions and are obviously committed to further enhancing their Kiva efforts!
I made sure we had an internet connection and a projector so everyone could experience Kiva.org — some of the attendees have not yet worked with Kiva, while others do not have consistent internet access in their offices. During the presentation I surfed through the website, highlighting important points and answering questions about lenders and clients. (I even impressed them with the fact that almost 12% of all Kiva funds, thus far, have gone to Azerbaijani clients!) One thing I really focused in on was that Kiva lenders are individuals – I think it’s easy for the uninitiated loan officer to assume that Kiva is just some faceless American corporation throwing big money at international projects. I pulled up Hajibaba’s business profile and used Mrs. Diba’s Class as an example of Kiva’s lenders. The mental image of six-year-olds collecting pennies for Hajibaba really helps illustrate the Kiva spirit!!
To train the newbies and reinforce Kiva’s processes to the experienced loan officers, we used a “real” client as an example. We tested out the new Kiva Form created by Adam (Peace Corps Volunteer assigned to NorMicro) as a means of systematically improving information flow between loan officers and the individuals who post the Kiva listings. Next, we all worked together to develop a concise, but detailed business description. Finally, Behbud (NorMicro’s Beylagan Branch Kiva Coordinator) walked us through posting a profile – keep an eye out for Rafig’s profile!
The Kiva Training attendees:
The response to the training was very encouraging and I expect that the Azerbaijani Kiva listings will soon be even better! The training was a little bittersweet for me – I leave in just one week! Time has flown! I am sad to go, but I guess I do need to get back home and finish up my degree at some point 
I hope to post some links to pictures before I leave!
Lost in Azerbaijan
OK, I’m not really lost, but I have been traveling like crazy the past two or so weeks and have not been able to keep up with journals or blogs! I apologize for the length of this, but I’ll try to recap:
14 – 16 July: I jumped on a mashrutka (a fancy name for a really old, unsafe, run-down mini-bus) and headed two hours north of Baku to NorMicro’s branch office in Khachmaz. I spent Saturday hanging out with Azerbaijani friends I have made on previous visits to Khachmaz this summer. On Sunday I went to the modest seaside resort town of Nabran, but unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate much and the water was really cold. On Monday I visited eight Kiva clients in Khachmaz with translation help from Adam, the U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer assigned to NorMicro in Khachmaz. We walked all over Khachmaz locating clients – at least I’m getting exercise to offset the amount of food I’ve been eating! I’ve been to Khachmaz often enough now that I know a lot of people there – it’s fun to spot clients I’ve visited on previous trips and see that things are still going well for them. While I was in Khachmaz, I spent my nights with two different host families. Azerbaijanis rank near the top of the list of the most hospitable people of the planet…but I do have to admit, all the attention and food and cousins and tea and wedding videos and more tea and photo albums does get a bit exhausting! I definitely did not have a chance to write-up any of my Kiva journals while I was the guest of those families!! (Photo: People and cows enjoying the beach at Nabran.)
17 July: I caught an early mashrutka to the small town of Devechi and met up with Adam and Nafira, a loan officer at NorMicro’s Khachmaz branch. We visited fourteen clients in the Devechi bazaar – nearly every vendor in the bazaar is a NorMicro client! Nafira is very efficient and is well-liked by her clients, so our visits went smoothly and quickly. After a late lunch of mutton kebabs, I returned to Baku.
19 – 20 July: The next morning I took yet another early mashrutka to the central Azerbaijani town of Agsu. In the two days I spent there, I visited twenty Kiva clients with the help of the branch manager, Namik, and his friendly staff. The talk of the town in Agsu that week was the municipality’s new mandate that all street-front shops conform to a specific architectural design. The idea is that Agsu will look much more appealing once all the ramshackle shops are torn down. The downside for shop owners is that the municipality is not helping out at all with the costs of remodeling. They are, however, providing the demolition free of charge. Khilgat’s rented shop had been torn down 2 days before my visit, and Terlan’s shop was scheduled for demolition later in the week. Despite the bad news, the clients were in relatively good humor and showed me the color blueprints for the approved Agsu storefronts, so kindly provided by the municipality. Following these two days of visits I experienced my most exciting taxi ride in Azerbaijan thus far (and that’s saying something…!) – me, two other women, and three children in the backseat of a Lada, with me holding onto a stranger’s baby. Many high-speed hairpin turns and two hours later, we arrived – safely – in Baku. (Photo: Me with NorMicro’s Agsu Branch staff)
21-21 July: Saturday was devoted to spending quality time with my host family – we visited three different aunts in Baku, and, of course, ate and drank tea with all of them. I finally got time Sunday to head to a coffee shop I had found recently that has free wi-fi – it’s geared towards upper crust Bakuvians and expats, so the food and drink prices keep me from hanging out too long! I did manage to get some work done, though!
23 July: I have had so much success in visiting clients with Nafira that I returned to her region to visit six more Kiva clients that live in a small village outside Devechi. Adam and Vagif, another loan officer, helped us out. I was eager to visit agricultural businesses after so much time visiting retail and trading businesses. It was a very, very, very warm afternoon, but the clients were friendly and the visits were rewarding.
24 July: ACDI|VOCA and AMFA class on success stories and business descriptions.
25 July: After reviewing the materials from the business descriptions class, Bahman, the director of NorMicro suggested that I prepare formal Kiva training for his staff. I spent most of the day developing a training plan and trying to locate a venue to hold the training in. My plan is get a projector and an internet connection and walk the staff through everything – understanding how Kiva works, posting business descriptions, journals, etc. I think that seeing the website and understanding who the lenders are will be highly beneficial, especially for those loan officers and branch managers who rarely use the internet and may not yet fully understand the person-to-person connection that Kiva fosters. I expect that this training will enhance the Kiva listings coming from Azerbaijan! Hopefully, we will conduct the training next week…I’ll post an update!
26 – 27 July: I spent two days visiting Kiva clients in the industrial town of Sumgayit. As we pulled into Sumgayit, thick black smoke was billowing out of some sort of plant and was hovering over the town. This town was once the center of the Soviet chemical industry and held the dubious distinction of being one of the world’s most polluted cities. The demise of the Soviet Union resulted in bankrupt factories (but cleaner air), unemployment, plus an influx of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict. I visited eighteen clients here with help from NorMicro staff members Tasaduf, Ahmed, Bahram, and Board Member, Adalat. (Photo: Sumgayit’s Martyr’s Monument on the Caspian Sea.)
29 July – 1 August (already!?): I spent several days in the southern Azerbaijani town of Beylagan. With the help of NorMicro branch staff members Behbud, Eldaniz, and Arif, and U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer, Carlo, I visited sixteen Kiva clients. I also managed to get some kind of food poisoning that made me fully appreciate the plumbing and toilet situation I have in my place back in Houston! Nonetheless, the client visits went well and I have fully recovered.
2 August: The staff of AqroInvest, another Kiva Field Partner in Azerbaijan, invited me to spend the day traveling to their branch offices in the towns of Imishli, Saatli, Sabirabad, and Bilasuvar. We visited three different IDP villages – I’ll try to post a separate blog about these villages…
3 August: Finally back in the NorMicro head office in Baku – internet access!!
Thanks for reading this far!! I leave Azerbaijan in two weeks, after having spent three months here. I’m starting to get sad. 
But now I gotta get busy finishing up journals!
Training in Azerbaijan!
Yesterday in Baku, sixteen Azerbaijanis from seven MFIs filled a small conference room for a class on writing business descriptions and success stories. They were craving training, not only on these critical elements of promoting their organizations, but also on writing in the English language. Among the attendees, employees from Kiva’s three Azerbaijani field partners were present: Murad and Jeyhun from NorMicro, Ulviyya from Komak, and Tamilla from AqroInvest.
The class was organized by Paul at ACDI|VOCA through the Azerbaijan Micro-Finance Association (AMFA) after he detected a high demand from the Azerbaijani MFIs for such training. Paul spent about an hour teaching methods for writing success stories. He touched on basics like length, structure, and formatting. The importance of considering the audience that will read the story was stressed. He also spent time discussing the importance of well-composed photos – a topic that was well-received by the attendees.
I spent about an hour discussing the elements of a quality (interesting!) business description. I tried to impress upon the attendees that they have the opportunity through these business descriptions to educate international lenders about Azerbaijan, the local industries, and living conditions for the entrepreneurs. I used actual Kiva examples and the attendees rewrote the business descriptions using a Kiva-based format I provided. Paul had a projector set-up to his computer, so we were able to project Kiva.org on the wall and click through listings to reinforce the importance of quality business descriptions. Hopefully, having a pre-made template and seeing some English-language examples will aid these MFIs in bulking up their business descriptions.
As the class was wrapping up, Paul mentioned a follow-on class covering English-language emails and PowerPoint training – everyone received those topics enthusiastically. They were also interested in a class on photo composition and photo editing (cropping, straightening, brightening). Additionally, a couple of the Kiva partners here have asked me to help them create systems for more efficient posting and one partner is interested in learning how to post videos! Looks like I’ll be teaching a couple more classes! I’m really hoping that the training and interest will be translated into high quality Azerbaijani postings that more accurately represent the great entrepreneurs here!
