Posts filed under ‘Bolivia’
The world of Kiva and my first experiences with borrowers in Bolivia
By Clara Vreeken, KF 14, Bolivia
Blog 1: My name is Clara and I have started my Kiva Fellowship last week at the field partner IMPRO in Bolivia. IMPRO is a small non-profit organization that has been offering micro credit to the working poor in the cities of La Paz and El Alto in Bolivia since 1995. In this first blog I describe how Kiva works by using the example of IMPRO in Bolivia.
Continue Reading 4 February 2011 at 12:00 claravisser 1 comment
Borrower Visits: Inspirational Stories and Important Lessons
By Julie Shea, KF13, Bolivia
Kiva strives to connect microfinance borrowers and lenders from all corners of the globe – and one medium through which it is able to accomplish this is the Kiva Fellows blog. I would therefore like to dedicate this post to telling the story of Javier Aguilar Soto, what I learned from meeting with him, and some broader lessons I gained, through the meeting, about the field of microfinance.
Continue Reading 25 January 2011 at 21:00 julieshea Leave a comment
Kiva Fellows: Kicking off 2011 Around the World
By Kiva Fellows, Various corners of the globe
Around the world, Kiva Fellows are kicking off 2011 in all sorts of different ways. Here’s what a handful of KF13-ers are doing to ring in the New Year. Enjoy and Happy 2011!
Participating in the Dialogue: The Role of Microfinance Critics (Part 1)
By Julie Shea, KF13, Bolivia
As a Kiva Fellow and ardent believer in the poverty alleviating potential of microfinance, I make an effort to keep abreast the developments and discussions within the industry, both from the practical and academic side. While I find myself frustrated over negative articles or comments that oppose much what I am witnessing as a fellow on the ground, I must remind myself that this criticism can lead to constructive debates, and ultimately to advancements and improvements within the field.
Continue Reading 18 December 2010 at 08:00 julieshea 2 comments
Should Financial Institutions Offer Healthcare Services?
By Julie Shea, KF13, Bolivia
Upon starting my fellowship at ProMujer Bolivia in La Paz, I became quickly aware of the fact that this microfinance institution (MFI) offers its customers one thing that the other MFI’s I’ve worked with and observed don’t, namely healthcare services. In a country where national health data show high infant and maternal mortality, and the lowest life expectancy in Latin America*, the value of these services offered by ProMujer is obvious. However, a part of me questions the notion that a person’s access to healthcare and health services should be so intricately linked to his or her business loan.
Continue Reading 1 December 2010 at 12:00 julieshea 1 comment
Client Waiver Implementation: Not as Boring as it Sounds!
By Julie Shea, KF13, Bolivia
For me, one of the most interesting and potentially controversial challenges for Kiva’s lending model revolves around the concept of posting photographs and stories about real people, their lives, and their financial activities – and the privacy issues this entails. There are undoubtedly millions of microfinance clients that live in such remote areas that they don’t know what the internet is, or even if they do, lack knowledge and understanding about the speed and extent to which information can travel. How do we explain to these people how the Kiva model works and how their information will be used?
Continue Reading 13 November 2010 at 12:00 julieshea 2 comments
¡Chau Bolivia!
It is hard to believe that three months are coming to a close. In two days, I return to the United States. For my last blogpost, I would like to thank everyone who made my experience memorable and worthwhile.
Continue Reading 29 July 2010 at 10:58 alexisguild 1 comment
Embracing Ignorance: One Fellow’s Struggle to Understand Bolivia
I thought at one point that I would write a blogpost comparing my experiences in Guatemala, where I served as a Peace Corps volunteer, to my experiences in Bolivia, where I am currently serving as a Kiva fellow. Two and a half months into my fellowship, I realize that I cannot do that. Therefore, I decided to write a blogpost about the importance of embracing ignorance instead.
Continue Reading 8 July 2010 at 10:49 alexisguild 4 comments
World Cup Reports from Kiva Fellows Around the World
Kiva Fellows share their World Cup experiences from Mongolia, Rwanda, Mexico, Bolivia, Togo, Sri Lanka, Chile and Kyrgyzstan
Continue Reading 29 June 2010 at 22:56 Kevin Henderson 3 comments
Celebrating the Aymara New Year
Reflections after celebrating the Aymara New Year in El Alto, Bolivia on June 21.
Continue Reading 25 June 2010 at 05:22 alexisguild 3 comments
What we can learn from La Paz’s zebras: A guide for future Kiva fellows
How the characteristics possessed by La Paz’s zebras can serve as a guide for future Kiva fellows.
Continue Reading 9 June 2010 at 10:06 alexisguild 6 comments
Loan vs. Donation: The Importance of Semantics
As Kiva lenders, we play a powerful role. We are able to provide people access to capital that may not otherwise be available. Yet we must remember that no matter how philanthropic we may be, when it comes to Kiva we are lenders NOT donors.
Continue Reading 26 May 2010 at 04:24 alexisguild 7 comments
From Peace Corps to Kiva
Before Kiva and graduate school, I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala. From 2007-2009, I lived in a rural municipality in the western highlands of Guatemala in the department of Totonicapán. While I have only been in Bolivia for 9 days, I can definitely say that being a Kiva fellow, like being a Peace Corps volunteer, is an adventure.
Continue Reading 11 May 2010 at 13:38 alexisguild 2 comments
Transportation, Microfinance and the Environment
Transportation has been an integral part of my travels in South America. I have been in cars, vans, buses, scooters, motorcycles, trains, boats, planes, even a bus transported by a boat and of course I have walked.
Mini Carga desde 1 Boliviano (Mini-Recharge from 1 Boliviano)
Everywhere I go in Bolivia I see huge billboards that advertise “Mini Carga desde 1 Bs” (Mini recharge from 1 Boliviano) with a picture of a guy holding a 1 Boliviano coin and a cellphone.
Mini Carga desde 1 Boliviano (Mini-Recharge from 1 Boliviano)
Mini Carga desde 1 Boliviano
After having my Bolivian cellphone for only a day, I couldn’t for the life of me understand why companies were advertising such a small sum of money to recharge your pre-paid phone. Especially since a phone call of a few seconds would eat that 1 Boliviano before you could say “hola” (although text messages are much cheaper, around 20 Bolivian cents each depending on the company – Entel, Tigo or Viva). It seemed so inefficient. But then I talked to a friend who has lived in Bolivia longer than I have, after which I couldn’t help but think of the similarities between mini carga and microfinance.
So here’s the scoop…
Continue Reading 28 March 2010 at 05:30 lethalsheethal 2 comments
Why you should support group loans on Kiva
I met some Dutch Kiva lenders during a trip to Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca in Bolivia who don’t like to loan to groups on Kiva.
Both the MFIs I have worked with as a Kiva Fellow, Asociación Arariwa and Emprender offer both group and individual credit products, however, the majority of Arariwa’s clients and 40% of Emprender’s clients work within a banco communal (village bank). A banco communal basically acts like a mini financial institution. The MFI gives each member credit based on the amount they have requested and their ability to pay. Each member saves part of their loan and in some cases, can relend this money within the group and collect interest on this internal loan.
Here are some reasons why group loans work well in microfinance…
Continue Reading 5 March 2010 at 09:26 lethalsheethal 7 comments
Governments in microfinance: good or bad?
Since Evo Morales and the Movement Towards Socialism came to power in 2006, Bolivian microfinance institutions (MFIs) have worried that the government will intervene in the industry, to the detriment of private sector providers. Indeed such concerns have become a common theme across the region, with increased government involvement in microfinance in Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia.
Continue Reading 26 February 2010 at 09:12 adamkb 2 comments
Falso! Parte Dos – How to Tell If Your Money is Fake in Bolivia
Since beginning to work in La Paz, Bolivia with microfinance institution and Kiva partner Emprender, one of the first things I wanted to learn was how to tell a fake Bolivian bill from a real one.
Every Emprender office has a caja (cashier) where clients get their loan disbursement and pay their loan payments. Each cashier has a sign that says “Every fake bill will be perforated” with a sample fake bill stuck on the window.
The institution is vigilant about fake bills. When a client pays their loan payment, their initials are marked on the bill and the cashier examines it to determine its authenticity. In the case it is deemed to be false, the bill is returned to its owner and the payment must be made again.
Here are some ways to tell the difference between real and fake bills in Bolivia from the cashier at the Emprender Pampahasi branch…
Continue Reading 26 February 2010 at 05:36 lethalsheethal 8 comments
Celebrating Carnaval in South America, Kiva Fellows Style!
Carnaval! The excitement summoned up by uttering those words: Carnaval!
Carnaval is a very interesting holiday for all sorts of reasons, and is celebrated in a variety of forms all across South America, most of which involve colorful costumes, thumpingly loud music, crazy line dancing and (if you’re lucky) some kind of substance rubbed into your head, ranging from shaving cream to flour. Kiva Fellows currently stationed across South America took a break from their workloads in order to scope out the scene …
What´s the difference between microcredit and subprime lending?
It´s a loan for someone who was unable to get a loan from a mainstream bank because they didn´t have the necessary paperwork or their income was too low or too volatile. The borrower is likely from a marginalized group, perhaps a migrant family. The loan costs more than a bank loan would cost, but the alternatives for this borrower are even more costly. The lending institution might hold these loans on their balance sheets, or they might sell them on to someone else…
So what are we talking about here, a typical Kiva loan or a subprime mortgage? Is there anything inherently different between the two?
Continue Reading 19 February 2010 at 06:00 adamkb 3 comments
Cusco on My Mind
If you haven’t heard, there have been terrible floods in Cusco, Peru in the past week. Since we are in the thick of La Epoca de la Lluvia (the rainy season), rain is expected but the level of destruction seen in the area is unimaginable.
Tourism is the main industry in Cusco, and the damage produced by the rain does substantial damage on the Cusco economy. From the February 3rd warden message from the U.S. Embassy in Peru, I read that Machu Picchu is closed and the rail line between Ollantaytambo and Aguas Calientes is closed due to landslides until possibly March. I also read that tourists were stranded in Aguas Calientes (the town closest to Incan archeological site Machu Picchu) and that the conditions were excruciating. Luckily, helicopters eventually evacuated all the tourists from the town.
Unfortunately, my Kiva clients in Cusco don’t have that luxury.
Kiva Animal Kingdom
At microfinance institution Asociación Arariwa in Cusco, Peru, and now working with Emprender in La Paz, Bolivia, I have met a ton of animals. Being an animal lover and from New York where I rarely see live animals walking around (unless the occasional stray cat or rat or cockroach counts), seeing animals as part of my daily life is a pleasure.
Continue Reading 2 February 2010 at 06:07 lethalsheethal 6 comments
Climate Change hits Kiva Borrowers in Bolivia
By Suzy Price Marinkovich, KF9 Bolivia
“In a world that is hot—a world that is more and more affected by global warming—guess who is going to suffer the most? It will be the people who caused it the least—the poorest people in the world, who have no electricity, no cars, no power plants, and virtually no factories to emit CO2 into the atmosphere. Many of the 2.4 billion people who live on $2 a day or less reside in rural areas and depend directly on the soil, forests, and plants in their immediate vicinity for subsistence.” –Thomas Friedman, “Hot, Flat, & Crowded” (Pg. 158)
What I have learned the most since I arrived in South America as a Kiva Fellow seven months ago is that, not only is climate change real – it is making the poor poorer faster than we can create infrastructure to accommodate it. Bolivia has been devastated by heightened temperatures melting glaciers around La Paz, for example, which have in turn dried up rivers that irrigated entire mountainous communities who are now going from poor to extremely poor—and dangerously fast. In Cochabamba, the drying up of rivers can not only be felt but it can be seen nearly everywhere, in old riverbeds now littered with trucks filling up with gravel. Even worse, these trucks are loading up gravel in the middle of “la epoca de lluvia,” or the rainy season, which now feels very much a misnomer for Cochabambinos.
Kiva’s newest partner in Bolivia, CIDRE, is by far most proud of its potable water and irrigation projects – and once you hear what they are up to, you will understand why.
CIDRE approaches agricultural communities with recently dried-up river beds or nonexistent irrigation systems and arranges a community-style loan at very low interest. I say “community” and not “group” loan because the loan is taken out for one purpose, to build a well, and then is repaid by each household as part of the larger sum. I had the opportunity to attend the 6-year anniversary party of a CIDRE-funded community well in the rural area and was astonished at the overwhelming pride the community had for the well. CIDRE’s veteran loan officer Juan and I were treated like the guests of honor; we were even asked to bless the well, give speeches, and shake hands with every single member of the community. It was extraordinarily humbling. I particularly loved Juan’s speech, as he introduced me by explaining Kiva to the community, and telling them how it will help CIDRE bring more wells to dry Cochabamba farming communities. Seeing the joy in their faces at the potential impact this could have for their neighbors was my absolute proudest moment as a Kiva Fellow and it brought tears to my eyes.
Rigoberto, the president of the community’s agricultural cooperative, took me on a tour to tell me why exactly they were so proud about this well. (more…)
A day in the life of a Kiva Roamer Fellow
By Adam Kemmis Betty, KF9, Bolivia
With this latest batch of volunteers, Kiva thought they’d try out something new: dedicate two Kiva Fellows to borrower verification (checking that the information posted on Kiva is correct for a random sample of borrowers) at a handful of different institutions. While my fellow roamer Bryan Goldfinger has been charging around Peru, eating guinea pigs and tearing up the dance floor wherever he goes, I’ve been making my way (in a far more understated manner) across central Bolivia.
To give you a taste of this glamorous lifestyle, I thought I would share my latest bus journey, from bustling, tropical lowland Santa Cruz to the laid back and refreshingly temperate city of Cochabamba. (more…)
Cocaine and Microfinance
By Suzy Marinkovich, KF9
“Coca is green, not white like cocaine.” – Evo Morales
The Chapare, the Yungas, the DEA, USAID, cocaine, drug trafficking, alternative crops, forced eradication, Evo Morales.
These are the buzz words constantly attached to Bolivian articles on the both domestic and foreign-aided drug war against cocaine production. While tough to get the facts on cocaine production by country, suffice it to say Bolivia is one of the world’s biggest cocaine producers along with the likes of Peru and Colombia. To put it in perspective, Bolivian police discovered one cocaine lab this year that, by itself, was capable of producing 220 pounds of cocaine a day. In the US, the street value of that amount equals approximately five million dollars.
The welcome sign in Villa Tunari, Chapare, which translates to read: "Land Free of USAID."
When I arrived at my first Kiva placement in Ayacucho, Peru, the region where the vast majority of Peruvian cocaine is produced, I learned about the ancient cultural ties between the Andean people and the coca leaf. It’s a part of everyday Andean life and the leaf itself is considered sacred; it is most often chewed and used in tea. There is something so strange about juxtaposing the image of an elderly Ayacuchan beggar chewing coca leaves against the image of a rich 20-something snorting lines of cocaine inside a VIP section in a Los Angeles club. I realize that sentence is very blunt, but it helps to highlight the reality that coca and cocaine are definitively worlds apart despite being of the same root. (more…)
How Kiva helps the poor deal with life’s uncertainties
By Adam Kemmis Betty, KF9 Bolivia
Those frustrated with the health-and-safety of Europe and North America often celebrate the apparent appetite for risk in countries such as Bolivia, where you carry your machete into the local bar or cram a dozen people into the back of your car without fear of reprimand.
Bolivia's famous "Death Road" has even become a tourist attraction
In fact, this tolerance for risk is largely borne out necessity rather than any deep-seated cultural predilection. The Bolivian poor spend a great deal of energy trying to minimise the risks and uncertainties in the lives. (more…)
Why Me?: A Post about Bolivian Women
By Suzy Marinkovich, KF8 Peru & KF9 Bolivia
Twisted twining vining metal unrhythmic untamed unkempt and in comes the dust sweat and sticking to me tires thumping each rock unsettled plastic bag squeezed empty tossed out the window just a drop of papaya juice leaps back clings to the dirty car door parting from the white stretch of plastic mangling on wire scraps whose posture, never organized (more…)
Why We Should Debate Loan Expiration
By Suzy Marinkovich, KF 8/9
As you may have seen, over the past couple of months Kiva has seen its first loans expire on the site. Currently, I am in my eighth week of working with a brand-new Kiva partner, CIDRE, an MFI specializing in agriculture and livestock loans in Bolivia. I mention this because I’ve noticed a significant portion of the loans that have expired or are close to expiration are from MFIs in Bolivia. I realize my opinion is skewed by having spent only a handful of days at Kiva headquarters followed by 5 months at two Kiva partners in South America. As a result, I don’t have really have a great vision from the top – I don’t understand all the organizational elements in place to keep Kiva sustainably rolling. I am just going to call it like I see it now, sun-drained from a long day spent on grueling rural roads, visiting incredibly inspiring Kiva borrowers and successful social projects CIDRE has had a hand in.
My understanding of the premise behind loan expiration is that it allows for Kiva to be more of a marketplace – where instead of making decisions on the end of Kiva, they are made on the end of the MFI and the funding choice is up to the lenders. Thus, the website itself is designed to be like an Ebay for microloans, an intermediary between funders and the funded.
Here is my reasoning for why I personally believe the expiration of loans on Kiva could be detrimental:
1(a). To make an analogy with the child-sponsorship model (please bear with me as it’s stretch): imagine a marketplace for sponsoring children’s school loans, with the exact same design as Kiva. At this hypothetical site, lenders like us could lend to cover school fees for children that would pay for middle or high school (in many countries, attending said schools requires paying school fees). Children’s photos and biographies are thus posted to this hypothetical site, and we treat it like a marketplace. Then, as the site expands and more loans are posted, certain kids aren’t being funded – their loans expire on this site. Then, you pull up the pages of all the children whose loans expired, and they are all kids who aren’t cute or aren’t fitting our notion of how a needy child should look. As you can see, this is unfairly discriminant.
In search of Kiva’s highest microloan
By Adam Kemmis Betty, KF9, Bolivia
Kiva’s website provides a wealth of statistics for curious lenders, but one unfortunate and disappointingly uncontroversial omission is the altitude at which the loan was disbursed. With the average borrower living at 4,150 m (13,615 ft) above sea level, I’d be willing to bet that Pro Mujer Bolivia would be a good place to start in any search for Kiva’s highest microloan (any challenges from Peru or Kyrgyzstan?).
On top of the world: El Alto, Bolivia
No Time For Romance
By Suzy Marinkovich, KF9
“Gender-based violence … is ubiquitous in much of the developing world, inflicting far more casualties than any war. Surveys suggest that about one third of all women world-wide face beatings in the home. Women aged fifteen through forty-four are more likely to be maimed or die from male violence than from cancer, malaria, traffic accidents, and war combined. A major study by the World Health Organization has found that in most countries, between 30 and 60 percent of women experience physical or sexual violence by a husband or boyfriend.” – Nicholas Kristof
When my husband and I were making our way overland to Bolivia, we took a ferry across a small part of Lake Titicaca. On the other side, we stood around some market stalls waiting for our bus to come off the ferry, and all of a sudden we heard yelling behind us escalate to screaming. We spun around to see two female market vendors arguing about one encroaching on the other’s selling space. The words quickly turned to blows, and in a matter of seconds the women were in the dirt, punching each other and ripping each other’s hair out. People just stood around, even smiling as if being entertained. Before long, I screamed for someone to break them up. A foreign traveler next to me whispered in English one of those sentences that rings in your ears for a long time because, at the time, you are so stunned you can’t think of a genius rebuttal fast enough. He said, “let them fight, that’s just how it is down here.” (more…)
