Posts filed under ‘Ecuador’
Updates from the Field: Poverty Assessments, Bush Taxis + Meeting “My” Borrower
Last week the Fellows Blog gave us glimpses into life on the ground for Kiva fellows, Kiva borrowers, and that unique moment when those lives are brought together by a Kiva loan! Whether riding in Daniel’s bush taxi on the way to work in South Africa, exploring Bafut and crossing the threshold into borrowers’ homes with Faith in Cameroon, or sharing a meal with Megan and ‘her’ borrower Graciela in the market in Ecuador, these posts illustrate the world of actors brought together by Kiva.
Continue Reading 25 July 2011 at 08:00 Kate Bennett 5 comments
Meeting “My” Borrower
By Megan Bond, KF15, Ecuador
Kiva provides a new lens through which we can view global problems and solutions. Just contemplating a concept like “world poverty” seems like an insurmountable task. It is overwhelming. It is daunting. Kiva helps us focus our concerns for the problems presented by poverty on a global level by allowing us to connect with entrepreneurs in need of a hand up around the world on a more personal level. A loan through Kiva is an investment in an individual or group, a business, and a community. We could take it as far as saying that a loan through Kiva is also an investment in a country, a continent, and a global effort to alleviate poverty.
Kiva lenders make these loans over and over again, choosing the characteristics of the borrower they want to invest in. Perhaps it’s their name (Personally, I like to search for women named Carmelita), their country (I know there are some “Country Collectors” out there!), or the fact that they sell fried food but something (tangible or intangible) connects each lender with each borrower. Kiva Fellows have written about it beautifully in the past. It’s an incredible thing to feel that connection and to invest in someone you will never likely meet in person. But, what if you could meet the person on the other side of the profile? What would you do? What would you ask? I had to think about this as I got the opportunity to meet a borrower I had lent to before I came to Ecuador as a Kiva Fellow.
Continue Reading 21 July 2011 at 12:00 Megan Bond 5 comments
Update from the Field: Dangerous Streets, New Vocabulary + A Senegalese Spring
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo
This week, the Kiva fellows invite you to accompany them across Africa and South and Central America: Take a walk in the streets of San Salvador. Improve your language skills by adding a few words in three of South Africa’s most widely spoken languages to your vocabulary. Look poverty in the face in Cameroon. Continue by learning more about the latest riots in Senegal. Find out how money helps to provide dignity in Ecuador. And finish by learning about the importance of family unity in El Salvador.
Continue Reading 11 July 2011 at 02:00 Kathrin Gerner 5 comments
Mud Walls to Mechanical Looms: Borrowers’ Stories
By Megan Bond, KF15, Ecuador
Eight years ago, Manuel told me, their house was very different from the one I was standing in. The walls were made of compressed earth and the roof was constructed out of dried straw. Manuel, his wife Cristiana, and their six children struggled on a daily basis to make ends meet. Looking for a change, they sought their first loan from FODEMI. Eight years and eleven loans later, I stood in their new house/factory. The floors and walls were solidly constructed out of cement and the roof was metal. In the spacious rooms, family members and two hired employees worked at multiple looms weaving thread into cloth.
Update from the Field: Zulu Weddings, More Country-Specific Microfinance + Fighting Crime
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo
Learn about the tradition of Zulu weddings in South Africa. Find out how Kiva’s partners adapt the concept of microfinance to fit their country’s specific needs: from loans targeting borrowers affected by emigration in Ecuador, over a preference for group loans in El Salvador, to lending coupled with various training programs in Rwanda. Finish off your weekly reading by learning about crime-fighting Kivans in Nicaragua.
Continue Reading 4 July 2011 at 02:30 Kathrin Gerner 8 comments
Migration and Microloans
By Kate Bennett (KF15), Ecuador
On Monday morning, long before the sun rose on Quito, Fundación Alternativa’s Business Manager, two Loan Officers and I embarked on an all-day journey to remote Chunchi, Ecuador. After the promised “three-and-a-half hour drive, at the most,” we arrived at our final destination another five hours later: a mountaintop with an incredible view of the sun high in the sky and clouds rolling by beneath us.
We met with a group of five Fundación Alternativa borrowers who are taking out a group loan to build a tourism center above Chunchi. These borrowers have made a long voyage to this hilltop as well- these five men, like myself, are from none other than New Jersey! At least, they lived there for a time and have since immigrated back to Ecuador to build the center, which will include a hotel, restaurant, and maybe one day, a spa.
Before you say it: five dudes from New Jersey building a spa? This does not sound like your typical Kiva loan, I know…
Continue Reading 29 June 2011 at 09:15 Kate Bennett 2 comments
Update from the Field: New Partners, Country-Specific Microfinance + Stories of a Kiva Fellowship
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo
This week, fellows located on three different continents were busy writing blogs to share their experiences. Learn what it takes to become a new Kiva partner in Ecuador, experience family-style microfinance in Lebanon, find out about a unique pig loan product in Indonesia, and get the inside scoop about being a Kiva fellow in Senegal.
Continue Reading 20 June 2011 at 02:00 Kathrin Gerner 6 comments
New Partnerships in the Middle of the World, Part II
By Megan Bond, KF15 Ecuador
I arrived in Ecuador at night, took a two-and-a-half hour taxi ride to my hotel, and fell asleep in unfamiliar surroundings. It was dark and I saw nearly nothing of the country I would be living and working in for the next several months except for streetlights, headlights, and the many Chevron signs that guided the journey through the mountains. It was not until the next morning when I opened my hotel window in the strong daylight of 7 am along the equator that I caught my first real glimpse of Ecuador: the sunlit rooftops of the city of Ibarra and the Imbabura Volcano draped in smoky clouds rising to a dramatic point above the city. My first glimpse of Ecuador was more brilliant than I could have expected. In reality, I was not sure what to expect about this new country and this new role as a Kiva Fellow as I first arrived. My mental images of Ecuador and my conceptions of FODEMI, the new partner I would help initiate to Kiva, were cloudy at best, overcast with excited uncertainty. My true experience here in Ecuador as a Kiva Fellow began that morning I first saw Imbabura Volcano rising above the city and my real-life experiences continue to unfold in my everyday experiences as a Kiva Fellow in Ecuador.
Continue Reading 14 June 2011 at 10:00 Megan Bond 11 comments
What Does it Take to be Kiva Field Partner: New Partnerships in the Middle of the World, Part I
Of the seven-step process to becoming a Kiva Field Partner, the last step is easily the most exciting. It signifies a new opportunity for Kiva lenders and borrowers, a meaningful development for Kiva, and a promising culmination of work for a potential partner. Before I arrived in Quito, Ecuador two weeks ago, my in-country partner Fundación Alternativa had completed steps one through six of the process. And as I stepped off the plane at Mariscal Sucre International Airport on May 30th, Fundación Alternativa imperceptibly passed from step six to step seven: when Field Partners enter the Pilot Phase, and Kiva sends you a frighteningly enthusiastic Kiva Fellow to get you started.
Continue Reading 13 June 2011 at 15:50 Kate Bennett 3 comments
A Kiva Fellow’s Photo Album: Six Months Along The Equator
By Tara Capsuto, KF12 Ecuador / KF13 Kenya
I recently concluded my Kiva Fellowship that has spanned 6.5 months, 5 of Kiva’s MFI field partners, 2 continents, countless long haul buses, and roughly 12,000 miles of travel. As a member of Kiva Fellow’s 12th class (KF12) I headed to Ecuador in July, 2010 to work with two of Kiva’s field partners, Fundación Espoir and Fundación D-MIRO. I never would have guessed that when December rolled around I’d be summitting Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and trying to pick up Swahili. That’s because KF13 landed me in Nairobi, Kenya to work with Faulu Kenya, Juhudi Kilimo, and Kenya Agency for Development of Enterprise and Technology (KADET).
From witnessing political turmoil in Ecuador to surviving a matatu crash in rural Kenya, there were definitely some harrowing moments but it’s been a truly amazing journey, a journey, that like Kiva itself, has been all about people. I’ve been out of the field for several weeks and I haven’t come up with a great way to summarize my experiences as a Kiva Fellow. Each time someone asks, “So, how was it?!” I kind of stammer, generally respond that it was fantastic (it really was), and share an anecdote or two. The truth is, it was a life-changing experience, or rather, a series of experiences, and it’s hard to know where to begin. In lieu of even attempting to be exhaustive, here are some of my favorite images from my Kiva Fellowship.
Roller coaster bus rides in Guayaquil
By Ellen Willems, KF13, Ecuador
Riding a bus in Guayaquil can be pretty crazy, even scary sometimes. Cars, buses, motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians, everybody fights for his place in the street. And on top of that the buses fight for passengers.
The bus drivers don’t own the buses; they pay about $100/day to use them. The driver’s income depends on the number of passengers he picks up, so when two buses of the same line meet, the race is on and the already pretty crazy bus ride turns into a scary roller coaster ride.
Continue Reading 15 January 2011 at 12:00 gokiva 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!
No road too muddy for a dedicated loan officer.
By Ellen Willems, KF13, Ecuador.
Ecuador has only two seasons: summer or dry season and winter or wet season. Right now it is winter and it rains almost every day. For the loan officers at Cooperativa San José this rain equals mud and a lot of it. To meet the poorest and most remote borrowers these loan officers spend many challenging hours on their motorcycles navigating bad roads, and, on rainy days, getting wet and covered in mud.
They do this to meet with the members of the “Ventanillas Rurales” (Village Banks). This is a special loan product Cooperativa San José offers to the most remote rural communities. These Village Banks consist of 10 to 30 members and serve as solidarity groups. The loans they take out are relatively small, starting from $600. The loan terms are adjusted to the agricultural needs of the borrowers: the loan cycles vary from 9 to 14 months and the principal is due at the end of the loan term. This way the borrower can buy seeds and fertilizers today and pay back in one year after having sold his/her produce. The most common crops grown are cocoa, corn, yucca, rice, orange, passion fruit and pineapple.
Continue Reading 28 December 2010 at 12:00 gokiva 3 comments
Eruptions, flooding and Monopoly
By Ellen Willems, KF13, Ecuador
On November 22nd the Tungurahua volcano, located in the central mountains of Ecuador, started to expel ashes and on December 4th a major eruption forced the farmers living in the area to leave. The Tungurahua volcano (Tungurahua meaning “throat of fire” in Quichua) has been active since 1999. Aurélie Dagneaux, a previous Kiva Fellow working at Cooperativa San José, wrote an interesting blog entry on the consequences of this activity for the people living and working in the affected areas. Many of KIVA’s field partners combine the financial products they provide with non financial services in order to improve the general wellbeing of their clients.
Continue Reading 20 December 2010 at 12:00 gokiva Leave a comment
Prohibition during Ecuador’s census weekend.
By Ellen Willems, KF13, Ecuador
Ecuadorians who dare going out onto the public street this Sunday November 28th or who risk drinking alcoholic beverages between Saturday 27th and Monday 29th face sanctions ranging from two to four days in prison or fines from $7 to $15.
The reason for these measurements is the 7th Ecuadorian Census conducted by the Ecuadorian Institute for Statistics and Census (INEC) on Sunday November 28th between 7am and 5pm.
Continue Reading 27 November 2010 at 12:00 gokiva 2 comments
Hot Topics in Ecuador
Earlier this year, in April, MFTransparency.org, an international non-governmental organization committed to pricing transparency, launched its Transparent Pricing Initiative in Latin America. The data collected in Ecuador will be presented during a conference in Quito on November 30th. Awaiting this event, let us look at the laws and regulations currently in effect in Ecuador.
Continue Reading 19 November 2010 at 15:00 gokiva 6 comments
Who says loan officer training can’t be fun?!
by Tara Capsuto, Kiva Fellow, Ecuador
Armed with training materials and a couple of motivational video messages from staff members at Fundación D-MIRO Misión Alianza, D-MIRO’s Kiva Coordinator, Rubi, and I left behind the bustling commercial hub of Guayaquil for the coastal city of General Villamil Playas. Our mission: train loan officers for Kiva responsibilities, from understanding how the website works, to conducting interviews and journaling so D-MIRO can post more borrowers to Kiva. Here’s a short description and a video chronicle of our journey, which included some delicious ceviche and inspiring borrower visits.
The Challenge(s) to Getting a Great Borrower Picture
By Tara Capsuto, KF12, Ecuador
Taking a picture of a Kiva borrower sounds easy enough, right? Snap a picture at his or her business, shrink the photo size, upload to Kiva with the borrower profile. Three easy steps. That´s what I thought before I had the chance to see how very challenging this seemingly simple task can be. As many Kiva Fellows can attest, there are actually lots of challenges to snapping that coveted profile picture, you know that one with the borrower doing their soon-to-be-Kiva-funded work, with good lighting and a big smile? It`s that picture makes you want to make a loan before you even get to the borrower description. I’d like to describe one particular challenge to taking borrower pictures and end with a call for suggestions.
Continue Reading 28 September 2010 at 07:00 tcapsuto 10 comments
How Microfinance Helps Cacao Farmers
By Kelsey Quam, KF12 Ecuador
The agricultural work of cacao farmers of the rural loan group ¨Progreso Comunitario¨(¨Community Progress¨) in the subtropical region of Ecuador is not easy. They laugh when asked how they spend their free-time– agriculture is a full time job. Lately, farmers have been griping about pests called “mal de machete” and ¨escoba bruja¨ that have destroyed a large part of the cacao harvest this year.
Continue Reading 20 September 2010 at 06:39 kelseyquam 1 comment
Microfinance and Education
By Tara Capsuto, KF12, Ecuador
Since it’s back to school month at Kiva I thought I’d take the opportunity to spotlight the role of education in microfinance. Microfinance alone is not a silver bullet to eradicate poverty. To be most effective, microfinance must be part of a broader schema of social and economic development. Providing education to microfinance clients on topics ranging from marketing to reproductive health is one of the key ways in which microfinance institutions (MFIs) can serve the broader needs of their clients. Let`s take a look at microfinance with education at Fundación Espoir, where I spent the past 6 weeks, and then take a higher level view.
Continue Reading 11 September 2010 at 08:45 tcapsuto 9 comments
Food Month at Kiva: Humitas from Ecuador
Since today is the last day of ¨Food Month¨ at Kiva, I´d like to share a recipe for humitas, corn-cheese tamales that are common throughout the highlands of Ecuador. Humitas are often made during the months of the corn harvest (August and September) when corn is abundant. They are often enjoyed in the evenings as a light snack accompanied by a hot cup of coffee.
By Kelsey Quam, KF12 Ecuador
Continue Reading 31 August 2010 at 07:34 kelseyquam 1 comment
Lenders Push Kiva Connections
By Kelsey Quam, KF12 Ecuador
Kiva is about connections. In a rural Ecuadorian community, I tested a new way to strengthen the dialogue between lenders and borrowers.
Continue Reading 25 August 2010 at 07:00 kelseyquam 5 comments
Loans for Gold and Fierce Competition
Tara Capsuto, KF12 Ecuador
Gold was not one of the topics I would have guessed I´d be immersed in as a Kiva Fellow. But last week I found myself in a tiny backroom at Fundacion Espoir in Cuenca, Ecuador learning the details of what is perhaps their most innovative product: loans for gold.
Continue Reading 24 August 2010 at 01:30 tcapsuto 14 comments
First Week as a Fellow…Off to a Running Start!
After attending an exciting week of training in San Francisco, a wave of 37 new Kiva Fellows have been pouring into new places across the globe. The emails we exchange as we transition into the field reflect both excitement and hesitation. What am I forgetting on my packing list? Am I prepared to work in microfinance? How will my MFI receive me?
Continue Reading 6 August 2010 at 15:02 kelseyquam 1 comment
Being a Kiva Fellow – My week with 5 LO and 100 Kiva borrowers – Part 2
Have you ever wondered what Kiva Fellows really do on a daily basis?
Second and last episode of my week
On the menu of the end of this week: new profiles, client waiver, training. Working with loan officers and Kiva Coordinators.
Continue Reading 23 July 2010 at 16:42 thefrenchlily Leave a comment
What is it like being a Kiva Fellow? My week with 5 Loan officers and 100 Kiva Borrowers – Part 1
Have you ever wondered what Kiva Fellows really do on a daily basis?
Let me share with you one of my Kiva Fellow week.
On the menu of this week: new profiles, journals, client waiver, training, Cerise, blog, borrower verification and much more. Working with loan officers, Kiva Coordinator, and MFI management.
Every morning since I have been a KF, I always start with the same first 2 things: 1. Check fundraising status of my MFI to see whether we will hit the monthly target and 2. Check the average 5 emails I have received overnight from the other 28 KF around the world
Those are the only 2 predictable things in my KF assignment. For the rest, everyday is different and comes with a surprise…
Continue Reading 21 July 2010 at 15:16 thefrenchlily Leave a comment
$240
What’s that? The price of the new iPhone 4? Starbucks profits (in millions) in 2009? The investment (in millions) Microsoft made in FB 3 years ago?
Find out here…
Continue Reading 1 July 2010 at 07:01 thefrenchlily 1 comment
When volcanoes take control…/ Quand les volcans prennent le pouvoir
3 weeks ago, on May 28th, “Mother Tungurahua” (“fire throat” in quichua) entered into eruption again…
Il y a 3 semaines, le 28 Mai, « Maman Tungurahua » («gorge de feu» en quechua) est entrée a nouveau en éruption…
Continue Reading 21 June 2010 at 07:35 thefrenchlily 3 comments
Do the poor have dreams?/ A quoi rêvent les pauvres?
By Aurélie Dagneaux, KF11, Ecuador
One of my favorite questions when interviewing borrowers for new loans and journals (update on a loan), is: “What are your dreams and hopes for the future?”
Tough question, but on this one I always get an answer.
They all have dreams. YOU can help fulfill them.
Ma question préférée, lorsque j’interviewe des clients pour des nouveaux prêts ou pour des suivis de crédits existants, est : « Quels sont vos rêves pour le futur ? »
Question difficile, mais j’obtiens toujours une réponse.
lls ont tous des rêves. Et VOUS pouvez aider à les réaliser.
Continue Reading 10 June 2010 at 11:01 thefrenchlily 4 comments
Bringing the French flavour to Kiva in Ecuador/ Un petit goût de France pour Kiva en Equateur
I have just joined Cooperativa San Jose, a new partner of Kiva since January 2010, in the Andes mountains. My job will be to help them graduate from pilot phase to “adult” or active phase.
Kiva’s reputation has crossed the Ocean, there are indeed tons of Kiva fans across the Atlantic, not just in France…
Je serai votre relais terrain en Equateur de Mai à Aout. Je viens de rejoindre la Coopérative San José, un nouveau partenaire de Kiva depuis Janvier 2010, dans les montagnes andines. J’ai pour mission de les aider à passer de la phase pilote à la phase « adulte » ou « active ».
La notoriété de Kiva a traversé l’océan Atlantique…Il y a en réalité une myriade de fans de Kiva en Europe, et pas seulement en France…
Continue Reading 26 May 2010 at 15:27 thefrenchlily Leave a comment
