Posts filed under ‘Kiva Field Partners’
Ica’s Next Top Chef
The challenges of rural and agricultural microfinance are many: the least of which, in the case of Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren, is living in the middle of the Sechura Desert. But Caja Rural’s clients show the same impregnable determination I witnessed during my first fellowship in Ecuador. Against all odds (and weather patterns), they’re growing their businesses, investing in their lives, and laying the foundation for a thriving future.
This week I had the pleasure of getting to know Kiva borrowers Mirian Dora and María Victoria. Mirian and María have a lot in common- they’re in the same line of work, they support generations of family members, and they represent successful Kiva borrowers in Ica, Peru…
Continue Reading 5 November 2011 at 02:00 Kate Bennett 2 comments
If It Is Thursday, It Must Be Sakarya + What is Bohça?
By Kim Strathearn, KF16, Turkey
If It Is Thursday, It Must Be Sakarya and either Aylin or Asu from the Istanbul office will make the 2 ½ hour drive each way to visit potential loan clients and conduct the final interview for loan approvals. Since the office covers a large area, sometimes they both go. It depends on how many loan application approval visits they have to make and how far spread out the clients are. Click on Ayse, Mine, and Hayriye’s profiles to see some Kiva entrepreneurs from the Sakarya region.
Maya’s Sakarya branch office is located in Adapazarı and was established in 2005. Adapazari is the capital of the Sakarya province and this branch also provides services to clients in the neighboring province of Düzce. Maya Istanbul office has been providing loans to women entrepreneurs in Düzce since 2004 but assigned the area to the Sakayra office because it is easier to serve from Adapazari than from Istanbul.
Continue Reading 3 November 2011 at 05:00 act4impact 5 comments
Remembering Rizky: VisionFund Indonesia Loses One of Their Own
By Laurie Young, KF16, Indonesia
Monday, October 31st marked the end of Rizky’s three-month probationary period as a loan officer in VisionFund Indonesia’s (VFI) Cilincing office. This means on November 1st he would have become an employee of VisionFund Indonesia with full benefits. Sadly, he was not able to celebrate this milestone because on the evening of Friday, October 28th, he tragically passed away in a traffic accident while riding home on his motorbike from a soccer game with friends. He was 20 years old. Often times, as Kiva lenders, we feel such a connection to the borrowers we choose to lend to through the photos and stories that we neglect to think about all of the people who spend their days traveling by motorbike, foot, or public buses around places like Jakarta to make Kiva a reality.
Continue Reading 3 November 2011 at 03:00 laurie4485 6 comments
Visiting an HIV-Clinic in Guayaquil (Part I)
By Emmanuel M. von Arx, KF16, Ecuador
“Don’t be scared to shake the hand of a client with HIV or to drink out of his glass. You cannot get infected that way.” This was the message that Nahin Alvarado repeated over and over during a training session in September with a group of twelve new and somewhat incredulous loan officers of Banco D-MIRO, when I first met him. A loan officer himself, Nahin has been with Banco D-MIRO for over two years, focusing on two very special client groups who – not just in Ecuador – have long suffered from discrimination and lack of access to financial services: micro-entrepreneurs who are HIV-positive or disabled. The moment I heard Nahin so forcefully speak up on behalf of HIV-positive clients, I knew that I wanted to spend a day with him in the field.
Continue Reading 2 November 2011 at 08:00 Emmanuel von Arx 3 comments
Earthquake! (and Disaster Mitigation through Microfinance)
Last Friday morning my Fellows Blog post mentioned the devastation of the 2007 Peruvian Earthquake in Ica, Peru and the surrounding areas. At 2 PM local time later that day, another earthquake shook the city.
Kiva Fellow David Connelly, my predecessor here at Kiva Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren, has written before about the 2007 8.0 magnitude earthquake. The statistics are chilling: 519 people dead, 1366 injured, and some 76,000 homes collapsed. “After two and a half years,” he wrote in 2010, “Ica is still very much recovering.” Last week’s comparatively modest 6.9 magnitude earthquake made it clear as day that the wounds are fresh…
Continue Reading 1 November 2011 at 08:42 Kate Bennett 5 comments
“Fundación Paraguaya al Mundo”: 5K to Tanzania
By Alba Castillo, KF 16, Paraguay
Before this month, I had never ran an organized race. But when I heard of Fundación Paraguaya’s 5K to celebrate their new initiative in Tanzania, I was in! Yes, I said Tanzania – over 6,000 miles away from FP’s headquarters in Asunción.
Mysteries, Geoglyphs + too-good-to-be-true Kiva Borrowers
When I arrived in famous Nazca, Peru last week to complete some borrower visits, my mind was not on the celebrated and mysterious Nazca Lines but on the mystery of Caja Rural Señor de Luren borrower Gaby, who repaid her entire loan a mere month after disbursement.
I was checking in on Gaby’s loan as part of my borrower verification (BV) for Kiva Partner Caja Rural. The borrower verification item on a Kiva Fellow’s workplan always has us feeling anxious. One of the BV’s key objectives is to ensure transparency of loan repayment from Kiva Field Partners and potentially unearth any foul play within the Kiva partnership. Obviously, most of the time this is not the case; Kiva works with accredited and trustworthy microfinance institutions whose missions selflessly aid in the betterment of clients’ lives. But nevertheless, when I see something as rare as full repayment on the first repayment date, I can’t help but wonder…
Continue Reading 28 October 2011 at 04:00 Kate Bennett 1 comment
The Second Bottom Line and BRAC Uganda’s Gold
by Andrew Huelsenbeck, K16 Kiva Fellow, BRAC Uganda
The Second Bottom Line
One thing that’s gotten very popular with microfinance institutions (MFIs) lately is measuring success based on what is called a double bottom line. For a long time, the only bottom line for many MFIs was financials, but industry experts began to realize that looking good on paper did not amount to having any real social impact. This is why some MFIs have begun to use a second bottom line – social performance – as an additional metric for success.
What is social performance exactly? It is how an MFI is translating its core mission into practice. The success of this can be gauged in basically two ways: (1) by examining the actual impact of services on clients and (2) by examining the systems an MFI is using to optimize its impact on clients.
Among MFIs, a very common means of measuring the social impact of services is the Grameen Foundation’s Progress out of Poverty Index (PPI). The way the PPI works is by measuring the poverty levels of groups and individuals based on certain country-specific criteria like access to water, medicine, shelter etc. By examining changes in the PPI over time, MFIs are able to better determine their clients’ needs, which programs are most effective, how quickly clients leave poverty, and what helps them to move out of poverty faster.
The other main way of assessing social performance focuses less on the actual impact of services and more on MFIs’ management of the systems that optimize impact. This kind of management is commonly called social performance management (SPM). The success of SPM is based on an MFI’s ability to do mainly three things: (1) set clear social objectives, (2) monitor the progress towards achieving those objectives, and (3) use the insights from monitoring to improve overall performance and impact.
One of the major organizations responsible for establishing assessments and best practice guidelines relating to how MFIs achieve these three things is called the Social Performance Task Force (SPTF). The SPTF was birthed in 2005 when the CGAP, the Argidius Foundation and the Ford Foundation brought together leaders from various social performance initiatives in the microfinance industry to come to a consensus on a common social performance framework and an action plan to implement it. The SPTF has worked very closely with CERISE (the creator of the social performance assessment tool Kiva uses for its partners), and has recently been doing a lot of work in Uganda.
BRAC Uganda’s Gold SPM Award
Many Ugandan MFIs are part of a larger organization called the Association of Microfinance Institutions of Uganda (AMFIU). In the past year or so, AMFIU has begun to seriously encourage social performance management among its constituents. With the guidance of the SPTF and with funding from the Ford Foundation, the organization has held training sessions, published instructional guides, and not too long ago, held its first ever Social Performance Management Awards here in Kampala.
The event was huge. All of the big players were there: PRIDE, Opportunity, Finance Trust, Habitat for Humanity, EMESCO and more. The Ugandan Commissioner of Microfinance and the president of AMFIU were also in attendance and helped to present the awards to the MFIs that have really excelled in SPM. Many bronzes and silvers were handed out, but BRAC Uganda, the main MFI I am working with, took home the only gold.
Mr. Ariful Islam, the (former) Country Representative of BRAC Uganda, displays BRAC's Gold SPM Award
BRAC Uganda is an incredible organization. In just six years, with the help of the MasterCard Foundation, Kiva, Unicef and other major partners, BRAC has become a microfinance titan in Uganda. It currently has over 1,800 employees working at 114 branches, has dispersed more than $71 million in loans, and has touched the lives of nearly 2 million of Uganda’s poor.
What’s more impressive, though, is BRAC’s dedication to the second bottom line. Its mission is clear and simple: to alleviate poverty by empowering the poor to bring about change in their own lives. BRAC has achieved this not only by bringing financial services to some of the remotest regions in Uganda, but also by starting and scaling up health, agriculture, education and adolescent empowerment programs.
Many systems at BRAC are set up to ensure that clients are actually benefiting from these programs. More than half of the time, program managers are out in the field interacting with clients; the 15-member Monitoring Department continually evaluates programs to prevent mismanagement and misappropriation of funds; and BRAC Uganda’s unique Research and Evaluation Unit regularly conducts studies on the relevance and effectiveness of BRAC’s operations.
The research unit at BRAC Uganda is also currently working with AMFIU and the Grameen Foundation to promote the use of the PPI among other major MFIs in Uganda. The poverty index (or scorecard) was originally developed by a lead BRAC International researcher using national household survey data in Uganda. The Grameen Foundation adopted the idea, and worked with BRAC to update the index using newer data from many different countries. Now, the two organizations are using the PPI to improve social performance in Uganda and all over the world.
Andrew Huelsenbeck is a Kiva Fellow currently working in Kampala with BRAC Uganda. To learn more about BRAC, please visit their Kiva Partner Page. If you are interested in helping to empower one or more of BRAC’s many wonderful entrepreneurs, you can join the Friends of BRAC Uganda lending team or check out new BRAC Uganda loans on Kiva.org. Happy lending!
This Is Urban Poverty in Tajikistan
By Chris Paci, KF16, Tajikistan
“Be careful,” called Rahim from somewhere above my head. It was pitch black, and I felt for each stair with the toe of my shoe, slowly working my way up to where Rahim stood. Shards of fallen concrete snapped beneath my boots.
Rahim was standing in front of a door and fiddling with his keys. “Sorry, we have no lightbulbs in the stairwell. It’s difficult to see,” he apologized, just as the lock snapped open with a crack that echoed down the dark stairwell. Without so much as a pause, he swept me inside his apartment and sat me down on a sagging armchair with a stained floral pattern. “Please, make yourself comfortable! I’ll be right back with some tea,” he said, disappearing abruptly.
Microfinance by Land or by Sea
By Kate Bennett, KF16, Peru
I spent last week at the beach. But from my resiliently pasty skin, you wouldn’t have guessed it. For better or worse, I wasn’t in Camaná, Perú to suntan and lay by the ocean, but in fact to visit borrowers with Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren….
Continue Reading 27 October 2011 at 06:00 Kate Bennett 4 comments
More Than a Simple Find/Replace Operation: Changing CREDIT to Kredit
By Dave Weber, KF16 Cambodia
The CREDIT MFI in Cambodia is in the midst of rolling out their name and logo change to Kredit Microfinance. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as a Microsoft Word find/replace operation!
Continue Reading 26 October 2011 at 13:00 bluepotatokiva 2 comments
Pride & Poverty: A Photo Essay of Kiva Borrowers in Georgia
Ask any Kiva Fellow what the best part of their job is, and invariably you will hear, “Meeting Kiva Borrowers and hearing their stories.” It’s an incredible honor to be invited into borrowers homes and businesses to witness firsthand how a Kiva loan has helped to change and improve their lives. Spend a little time getting to know a borrower and you’ll be struck by two things- first, how amazingly hard they work and second, how proud they are to share the progress or product a Kiva loan has helped them to develop.
Continue Reading 26 October 2011 at 05:54 DJ Forza 12 comments
The Donut Hole Conundrum + Mamoud’s Story
By Tejal Desai, KF16, Sierra Leone
Earlier this year, a Kiva fellow in KF14, David McNeill, wrote about his interaction with a Sierra Leonean taxi driver, and addressed a hot issue in microfinance: the financial donut hole. The driver asked David what type of work he was doing in Sierra Leone, and after David mentioned he was involved with microcredit, the driver expressed, “Ah, that is for women.” In his post, David explains how the driver was mostly right: why the microfinance industry concentrates on lending mostly to women, although there are still a small percentage of men who are eligible to receive loans. He continues to explain that the microfinance industry generally targets the poorest of the poor, this “bottom of the pyramid,” but leaves out those who fall in between: the people that are financially overqualified for microcredit, but too poor to receive a bank loan — resulting in the donut hole conundrum. His post makes it clear that microfinance has a long way to go until it can reach all levels of poverty. During my fellowship at BRAC Sierra Leone, however, I have learned about a particular product that is proving to be a small but effective means to fill that rather large donut hole: the small enterprise loan.
Continue Reading 24 October 2011 at 13:00 Tejal Desai 3 comments
Loans Available Here –>
By Mariela Cedeño, KF16, Bolivia.
Every time I walk into one of CIDRE’s offices in Bolivia, I always stop and take a look at their street sign. I’m not sure why, it’s a weird habit that reminds me of where I am, who I am working with, and the amazing opportunity that has been afforded to me as a Kiva Fellow. This past week, however, when walking into one of CIDRE’s branch offices I thought to myself, “I see this sign and I know that it means ‘loans available here’, but how do entrepreneurs know that they can get access to tool at CIDRE that could help change their lives?” Microfinace, after all, has as much to do with access to credit as it has to with anything, so I started asking around….how do people find out about CIDRE?
CIDRE's Office in Colomi
Word of Mouth
In talking to one of the veteran loan officers, her first response and a response that has been echoed many times since was simply: word of mouth. For decades now, some of CIDRE’s loan officers have been working in specific neighborhoods, learning about various communities’ productive activities, and offering a way to help those businesses thrive. More than that, they have become trusted community members by getting to know their clients and their families, listening to their hardships, and celebrating in their triumphs. So once one community member becomes a CIDRE client, it is highly likely that they will spread the word….in comes Francisca.
Francisca With Her Cows
Francisca has been a CIDRE client for sometime, so when her community started thinking of a way to grow their dairy businesses, Francisca suggested CIDRE could help put their plans into action. A few weeks later, 15 had committed to the plan. Together, they each took out a loan to help purchase a refrigerated milk tank from which the group’s daily milk production could be picked up by Bolivia’s largest dairy company, Pil Andina. With this direct connection to Pil, they no longer have to piecemeal irregular sales together through family and neighbors but rather have a steady source of income.
But now you’re thinking, ok, but when those star clients aren’t around to get their neighbors to CIDRE, what happens? Well CIDRE goes to them.
Spreading the Gospel of CIDRE
In Colomi, the small branch office has 3 loan officers, 4,000 inhabitants, and a lot of productive territory to cover. In order to help grow CIDRE’s presence in the small town, loan officers from the central office and a nearby brach traveled to Colomi to spread the gospel of CIDRE. On Colomi’s Dia de Feria (main market day), 6 visiting loan officers set up a small booth in the midst of all the action and got to work.
Dia de Feria, Colomi
After setting up CIDRE’s “Loans Available Here” booth, ensuring that enticing cumbias were playing on the car stereo, and stapling copies of Colomi loan officer business cards to CIDRE flyers, we were ready to go.
The CIDRE Crew
One by one the loan officers approached market antendees and gave out flyers and cards.
Getting to Know CIDRE
Some were already familiar with credit and asked specific questions regarding interest rates and loans products.
Reviewing Loan Types, Terms, and Rates
Some looked very confused…
CIDRE, what?
In the end, the loan officers handed out a hundreds of flyers and gave a lot of credit talks. We don’t know how many will become CIDRE clients in the future, but we do know that some promised to at least stop by.
Mariela Cedeño is part of Kiva’s 16th Class of Fellows serving with CIDRE in Bolivia. Cows are her new favorite thing on earth. Please support CIDRE‘s hard-working entrepreneurs by making a loan today and join the Friends of CIDRE/Amigos de CIDRE lending team to stay involved!
Going Green? Overcoming Cultural Barriers to Promote Green Loans (Part 1)
By Claire Markham, KF16, Kenya
In the developed world, the recent increased attention to global warming and the importance of environmental preservation and restoration efforts is something that’s hard to ignore. In Kenya, I have found this is not necessarily the case in my experiences so far. When the borrowers that we work with so often have to worry about ensuring there is enough food on the table or money for school fees, adding the responsibility of being conscious of their environmental impact can be a hard notion to sell. How can an MFI break through these obstacles and implement a successful green and water loan program when so much of the population, including our borrowers, aren’t environmentally aware? This two-part blog post will attempt to answer this question.
Continue Reading 20 October 2011 at 10:15 clairemarkham 4 comments
What´s Easier Than Getting Robbed in Guayaquil?
By Emmanuel M. von Arx, KF 16, Ecuador
As much a therapy session as a blog entry, this is the narrative of a recent robbery incident in Guayaquil: It happened two hours ago and my co-workers and I can still feel the shock in our bones. This day had begun like a normal day: At 7.30am Rubi Chaca – the Kiva Coordinator of Banco D-MIRO -, her 16-year old intern Joel Kenny Matias, and I had met outside of the bank´s headquarters, where we were picked up by Roberto, the official driver of the bank. He drove us to the branch office of Guasmo where we gave a training session to the local loan officers, reminding them about Kiva and explaining to them why it is so important that they keep finding micro-entrepreneurs who agree to be listed with their name and photo on Kiva´s website.
Continue Reading 18 October 2011 at 16:00 Emmanuel von Arx 9 comments
Making Room for Charity: Gift Giving to the Poorest Clients at CREDIT
By Dave Weber, KF16 Cambodia
CREDIT does more than administer loans and savings products to help alleviate poverty. An initiative of theirs called VSU distributes gifts to their poorest clients. Read on and watch a video of the gift distribution.
Continue Reading 17 October 2011 at 09:00 bluepotatokiva 4 comments
Why micro loans; Why small business; and Why poverty
Eric Rindal – KF16 – La Paz, Bolivia
Another day, another dollar lost as a volunteer. The first part of my second Fellowship has gone by tremendously fast. I only have two more months left of what will be my seven months as a Kiva Fellow. No longer do I feel like a volunteer, this is now my way of life. At this juncture, after leaving Sierra Leone and entering Bolivia, I ask three questions: Why micro loans; Why small business; and Why poverty.
As a Fellow these questions encapsulate most of what I think about. In short, I want to know why things are the way they are. Always surrounded by questions of how to cultivate economic development, I am finding few answers but am still encouraged. Rather, I see a conglomerate of ideas that help make sense of volunteering within economic development.
Continue Reading 16 October 2011 at 02:00 erindal 3 comments
New Orleans: A Developing Country in America?
by Rebecca Corey, KF 9 & 16, New Orleans, USA
“This isn’t America. New Orleans is like a developing country.”
In the four weeks I’ve lived in New Orleans, I’ve heard this statement from nearly ten different people.
(…)
So if the United States is a developed country, then why does Kiva have a presence here? Once a country is considered “developed” (modernized, industrialized, democratized, capitalized), then people want to wipe their hands, pat each other on the back, and say the work is done. Institutionalized greed and inequality are given the leeway to exist, because we become convinced we have achieved development and reached an endpoint. The action is completed. Stasis reached. Shouldn’t we be satisfied? By bringing Kiva City to the United States, Kiva has made a brave statement about what development means and who can benefit from it.
Continue Reading 14 October 2011 at 15:42 Rebecca Corey 6 comments
High-tops in The Commercial Jungle: The Life of a Shoe Salesman
by Jim Burke, KF16, Nicaragua
Marcial Salvador selling high-tops
Mercado Oriental spans 60 city blocks and is the largest in Central America. The market is a jungle of stalls, pushcarts, alleyways and low hanging clothes, fruits, and shoes. It’s a full sensory experience that is almost numbing in its frenetic energy. Flies on meats next to sexy new hair products, car parts and phone calls from the same vendor, sweet smells of fresh baked bread and shoe polish, this is where Marcial Salvador sells shoes.
Marcial Salvador has been working in this market in varying capacities for the last 45 years. He is a model borrower at AFODENIC and is on his 4rth Kiva Loan! (more…)
Wrap your arms around me
By Marcus Berkowitz, KF16, Ecuador
Imagine yourself stepping outside of your tomato-colored house and onto a peaceful street, steeply hung over a mid-sized Ecuadorian town nestled in a lush valley. It’s nearly silent as you walk to the bus stop. You can see the center of town bustling below you. The giant Mt. Chimborazo in the distance and the smaller range just in front of it block the harshness of the early morning sun, casting a soft light on the quiet countryside.
This peace lasts no more than a couple of minutes before it is loudly shattered by the shouting of the fare official of the bright red bus screaming towards you with no intention to stop, loudly blaring from its many loudspeakers the same song as yesterday (indeed, as every day). So it begins!
Continue Reading 12 October 2011 at 08:12 marcusofulano 3 comments
Bank-O-Mat Under a Hot Tin Roof: Making Non-Profit Microfinance Sustainable
One of FUDECOSUR’s 45 Village Banks - Pueblo Nuevo, Región Brunca, Costa Rica
Bump-duh-duh-thump-thump, Bump-duh-duh-thump-thump, Bump-duh-duh-thump-thump WHUMP!!!
So goes the rockin’ and rollin’ commute to remote villages along dirt roads – speckled with basketball-sized boulders, and craters large enough to swallow a small man (that’s where the “WHUMP!” comes in).
Maneuvering these roads with a grin and gusto are FUDECOSUR’s dedicated loan officers: Geiner Gonzáles Marín, Gerardo Barrantes and Danny Zuñiga. Our destination for each turbulent trip is one of FUDECOSUR’s 45 village banks – which provide the only source of much-needed credit most clients have ever had. THANK YOU to all Kiva lenders who help make this possible!
As we zig-zag along winding roads trying to avoid the mammoth “WHUMPS!”, we run into traffic. Blocking our path is a fearless bull unspooked by our roaring engine. He stares us down as if to say: “This is my road, buddy, and I refuse to moooooove”. As we inch forward, gently nudging his bum with the bumper, he finally decides to amble on. Then our ascent is blocked by a bulldozer shoveling landslide debris off of the road.
While we wait, I savor the warm sounds of humming insects, and whispering laughter from palm leaves rustling in the wind. I take in the views of lush, green valleys and farmland terraced along the hills and rising mountains. Coexisting with carefully planned crops of fire red coffee beans, sugar cane, corn, and legumes, are patches of wild, unclaimed land full of sweet lemon trees (yes – the lemons here are sweet), bright fuchsia bananas (which are mostly eaten by the birds) and miniature yellow bananas (which humans find sweet and delicious). Wild avocado and coconut trees can also be found, and like the sweet lemons and baby bananas, they are free to those who wish to indulge. Have I landed in Heaven??
Our vehicle lunges forward, and I’m whisked out of my glassy-eyed daydream of staying here forever. We pass pristine waterfalls tumbling down the mountain, across the road, and down into whitewater rivers which snake through the valley below. Aaah… slipping back into my daydream again… I’ve grown so accustomed to the rhythm of the roads that the “Bump-duh-duh-thump-thump” now serves as my lullaby.
WHUMP! We arrive at the village bank.
Perched on a verdant plot of land amidst pastures of feeding cattle, or rising food crops stretching toward the sun, are many of FUDECOSUR’s village banks. Some village banks are simple one-room structures with a burning tin roof shading us from the elements. Other village banks operate out of a farmhouse kitchen or living room. All village banks are a part of FUDECOSUR’s mission to bring financial support to the doorsteps of disenfranchised populations.
Due to the isolated nature of the farming communities we visit, most residents have never had a savings account. The absence of national banks in these remote areas has excluded much of the agricultural sector from financial savings and borrowing opportunities. In order to qualify for a loan, national banks often require costly cash deposits – which most farmers can’t pay, since they rarely have savings accounts. Without access to savings accounts, farmers often purchase a pig or a cow with remaining cash. These animals serve as the farmers’ insurance plan, and are sold when large sums of money are needed for emergencies (such as unexpected medical expenses). While farmers are able to subsist without access to credit, it is extremely difficult, at best, to increase living standards or to recover from natural disasters (such as floods or blight) or major health emergencies.
Filling this vast credit void is FUDECOSUR (Foundation for the Development of Southern Communities) – A non-profit microcredit provider, dedicated to empowering Southern Costa Rica’s agricultural sector.
Besides providing loans for expansion of crops and livestock, FUDECOSUR also provides Family Well-Being loans, which cover medical, educational and home renovation expenses. Such loan diversification ensures that struggling farmers are not forced to sacrifice one essential need (such as money to purchase seed and fertilizer) for another (such as money to pay for life-saving medical treatment).
To facilitate easy repayment based on agricultural development and sales cycles, FUDECOSUR offers loan terms of up to 3 years, with annual rather than monthly principal repayment terms. Loan terms are also restructured to help borrowers overcome crop and cattle losses from natural disasters (such as floods and blight), and financial losses due to health emergencies.
To ensure credit services are easily accessible, affordable and sustainable, FUDECOSUR literally brings banks to remote villages in need. Leveraging dedicated volunteer networks, existing social infrastructure and building facilities, FUDECOSUR maintains low operational and servicing costs, and minimal environmental impact, while building community cohesion, and opportunities for community members to thrive.
How The Village Banks Operate: Volunteer Power!
Village Bank operations in action: Santa Elena, Región Brunca, Costa Rica. Tables to the left serve clients repaying interest, while tables to the right serve clients soliciting or receiving money for new loans.
FUDECOSUR’s Village Banks (also known as Credit Committees) are run by 5-7 dedicated volunteers, who are elected every 2 years by members of their community. Partnering with FUDECOSUR’s loan officers, Credit Committees are responsible for disbursing loans to borrowers and collecting loan payments.
As farmers with intimate knowledge of the land, and personal experience with members of their community, Credit Committees are also charged with deciding which business proposals are most apt to thrive from a micro-loan. If an unprofitable business proposal is presented (such as planting crops in areas not conducive to successful crop production), the hands-on farming expertise of Credit Committees is leveraged, to help prospective borrowers come up with alternative proposals, which will generate positive growth, and help borrowers thrive.
Where The Village Banks Operate: Mi Casa Es Tu Casa!
Village Bank in Cedral de Cajón, Región Brunca, Costa Rica
To ensure zero resources are spent on office construction, rent or maintenance, Village Banks operate out of existing community structures, such as a tin-roofed central market shelter, or the homes of Village Bank (Credit Committee) members.
And, since Village Banks operate in villages where borrowers reside, clients avoid costly money and time expenditures, required for travel to distant towns or cities (where national banks reside). In short, the proximity of the village banks to clients ensures unprecedentedly easy and consistent access to credit services.
When The Village Banks Operate: After The Cows Come Home!
Kiva borrower traversing the farmland he works: Administración, Región Brunca, Costa Rica
To accommodate the demanding work schedules of agricultural borrowers, Village Banks meet every 2 weeks, on recurring set dates (i.e.: every first and third Tuesday of each month). Bank meeting times start in the late afternoon (2pm, 3pm or 4pm) to allow borrowers to meet essential crop cultivation and livestock care demands. As such, borrowers are able to access credit services without sacrificing critical production tasks and wages.
At each meeting, debt principal and interest payments for existing loans are collected, while money for new loans is solicited and disbursed.
Homeward Bound:
Road to Cedral de Cajón, Región Brunca, Costa Rica
After the 3-4 hour bank meeting ends, we bid warm farewells, with new loan profiles and hopes for better futures in hand (thanks to the generosity of Kiva lenders).
By the time the loan officer and I reach home (FUDECOSUR headquarters in San Isidro), a 10-13 hour day will have passed.
Once I reach my cozy, tin-roofed apartment, echoes of “Bump-duh-duh-thump-thump WHUMP!!!” serenades will lull me to sleep, and ring out again at the start of my next adventure.
Other Blogs:
- Village Banks BY Farmers FOR Farmers: A Micro Credit Labor of Love
Upcoming Blogs:
- Jungle Journals – Adventures in the Wilds of Región Brunca
- More Than Microfinance – FUDECOSUR’s Free Community Development Courses
How YOU Can Help:
Tough Crowd; Pitfalls and Progress in Agriculture Loans
By Marcus Berkowitz, KF16, Ecuador
Farmers are tough cookies. As it turns out, they’re even tougher to finance effectively. Those who work in agriculture are faced with a unique set of conditions that make most traditional microfinance methods unfeasible for them. This post examines some of the reasons why farmers stand apart from other borrowers, and explores the clever efforts of an Ecuadorian Kiva partner to craft a loan product that is appropriate to their needs.
Continue Reading 4 October 2011 at 14:01 marcusofulano 2 comments
Trust But Verify
By DJ Forza, KF16, Georgia
It was a gorgeous autumnal morning in Tbilisi, when we set out for Rustavi; Georgia’s third largest city. As we drove east towards Azerbaijan, I was struck by the dramatic change in scenery during our short 30 minute drive to deliver a Kiva training at one of Credo’s newest branch offices. Not only did we leave behind the verdant landscape, there were no charming cobblestone streets or European architecture to be found. Instead, we entered an urban desert and what seemed like hundreds of crumbling soviet-style cement apartment blocks and abandoned factories. The difference was shocking (and a bit depressing) to me. Georgia, of course, has many apartment blocks in every city, but Rustavi seemed to have little else, other than a used car lot and prision to complete the bleak picture.
Continue Reading 4 October 2011 at 08:22 DJ Forza 12 comments
Loan Use: Not As Simple As You Might Think
By Chris Paci, KF16, Tajikistan
For many Kiva lenders, loan use – or what an entrepreneur plans to do with the funds he or she receives – is their most important consideration in deciding which entrepreneurs to support. On the Kiva website, it’s the single most prominent piece of information supplied about any featured entrepreneur. As it turns out, though, predicting what borrowers will use their loans to do is more complicated than you’d think.
Work is cancelled: Typhoon Day
“To Luzon (Head office, NCR, C.Luzon, Rizal, Laguna-Cavite, Batangas) staff: Due to heavy rains and strong winds brought by Storm Pedring, management advised to stay at home. Work is suspended today. Kindly monitor our communities if help is needed. Ingat mga kapatid. God’s protection be upon us all!”
The view from my window. Manila Bay is typically completely stagnant water which is why the waves crashing over the break wall were alarming.
This was the text message I received at 6:24 am on Tuesday, September27th, 2011. I had already been up about an hour due to the sleepy realization that my room was distinctly more humid than my wonderful air conditioner allows for during my hours of sleep. Puzzled, I got out of bed to turn on my lights and identify the problem but the lights did not turn on. This information, in combination with a few other factors, helped me put the pieces of the puzzle together. There was heavy rain as I fell asleep, there were screaming winds outside my window and small puddles on the floor of my apartment. Monday’s rumors were true, Typhoon Pedring (international name Nesat) had come to visit Manila and the island of Luzon.
I had already seen what a few hours of rain in Manila could do to the streets and traffic here, so needless to say I was relieved when I got the text message cancelling work. Just the day before, a colleague had been telling me how his normal two hour commute (due to traffic and not physical distance) had become four hours due a minor rain shower, Monday morning. Knowing this, I could only imagine what havoc a typhoon could bring to the arteries and veins that feed into the heart of Manila and it’s surrounding areas.
So what does one do with a “Typhoon Day” from work? Having had snow days growing up with cold and snowy winters in Wisconsin (USA), I reviewed the activities I did then. Sledding? No, there were floods outside. Drink hot chocolate? No, I had no heat or power. Watch movies or work on Kiva tasks? No, my computer was dead and the Internet lab has no power. Obviously, I was new at this typhoon thing and the day unfolded with the following activities: sleeping, sopping up flooding in my 34th story apartment, releasing the foot of water on my balcony over the edge, walking the 34 flights of stairs twice to retrieve non-refrigerated food from the candlelit 7 11, and reading an entire 100 page book. At one point I did leave the building to attempt an escape to Starbucks two blocks away but quickly realized that between the thigh high flooding and massive winds, that a.Starbucks was probably closed, like all other establishments for blocks and b. this escape plan had some major flaws like the road being covered in water up to my hips.
The shallow end of the flooding on my street
The exciting conclusion to my story with the typhoon happened late on Tuesday night. Not only had the strong winds and rain subsided, but the power came back on. I had also managed to drain most of the water out of my apartment and I was reconnected to the world via the Internet. The only problem is that with all natural disasters, the story does not end there for a large portion of the people of Luzon. I came to the office on Wednesday to discover much of the city was still without power, much of the large street dwelling population here had been displaced to aid centers and that 400 of CCT’s borrowers had suffered great damage or loss to their homes and businesses. (For more information on the typhoon, you can check out this article from BBC News.)
So with this, or any natural disaster, what is the role of microfinance or our local NGO’s or MFI’s? My first hand experience that I can share with you is through the benefits that I have seen through my placement at CCT. Microfinance institutions have a unique relationship as they have access to borrowers in low income and remote areas. As the Philippines is a highly developed microfinance market, many of the MFI’s have begun to offer comprehensive services to their borrowers that can include aid and relief during natural disasters. Also CCT’s portfolio includes borrowers with small businesses and agricultural business, which could be severely affected by the typhoon if their inventory was washed away, or crops destroyed. Already, two days later, I just received a report on the status of CCT’s partners and the ways in which those affected received aid. CCT staff was ready and on call to assist their region of borrowers. The following quote was from a 2010 report given by CCT President, Ruth Callanta about their response and plan for other disasters.
“D. Responding to Disasters.During Typhoon Ondoy, CCT set in motion a disaster response effort that included relief, medical missions, and rehabilitation of the shelter and businesses of affected community partners and staff. This response, begun within 24 hours of the flood’s arrival, was possible because of a ready infrastructure of staff and volunteers at the community, barangay, municipal, provincial, regional, andnational levels.”
The small business owners in the area that I like have appeared to bounce back fairly quickly as the small pedi-cab (bicycle cabs) are transporting people through puddles and the street food cellars were out as soon as the flooding had diminished. Others, though, will need to take more time to recover as homes and business were lost. Luckily CCT is there to help them identify their losses and get reconnected to the services to help them recover.
Pedi-cab driver offering his services during the typhoon. The street was so flooded he had to walk the cab through the flooding.
This week Kiva started sharing the stories of lenders worldwide who talk about “Why I Kiva”. As I have listened to the stories of Kiva borrowers in the field and now heard from numerous Kiva lenders about why they are involved with Kiva. I have also been reflecting on the same question and in light of the events of this week, I just realized how much I like being a part of the movement to level the playing field. When a tornado, snowstorm, or flood hits us in the developed world, we do not worry if our money is safe in our savings or if our bank will provide us access to the capital to work on restoring our business or livelihoods. We also assume that we have the right to services that will come for us, if the community is destroyed and we are not safe. It is inspiring to be on the ground working with an organization that is providing capital and resources to the local microfinance institutions who have relationships established with these borrowers as well as the access to assist them through these uncontrollable disasters. Join us in this movement and share with us why you Kiva?.
Jill Hall is part of Kiva Fellows 16th class, working with Center for Community Transformation (CCT) in the Philippines. Please support CCT borrowers by reading about their stories and making a loan today. Be a part of the movement of Kiva and join CCT’s lending team.
A New Look at Need: Microfinance From Tanzania to New Orleans
by Rebecca Corey, KF16, New Orleans, USA
In 2009 when I told friends and family I was moving to Tanzania to study international development and to work for Kiva in the field of microfinance, or the furnishing of small loans to the working poor, we all had certain pre-formed ideas about how impactful and necessary my work was sure to be. We understood that in terms of GDP, literacy, infant mortality, and other common measures, Tanzania is a “developing” country, Third World, periphery. In another word: poor. As a recent college graduate, I had established ideas about poverty. It is there as opposed to here, it happens to the Other or them, not to me or mine, and so on. Therefore, a $200 loan for the purchase of a few goats to a thin, ebony-skinned woman with a brightly patterned cloth turbaned around her head made sense; it fit into my worldview, my idea of the face of poverty. The same held true for the fishmongers, the roadside bicycle repair men, and the juice vendors whose loans I helped process and post to the Kiva website. Oh yes, I knew there was poverty in the United States, but a part of me believed that for Americans, it was different. Better. Safer. More comfortable. And who in the U.S. didn’t have access to credit? I was sure that an entrepreneur with a solid business plan would find it relatively easy to acquire working capital.
But already, Kiva was challenging preconceived notions about poverty and microfinance. At training in San Francisco in 2009, I learned that the leaders of the young organization had decided to start funding loans in the United States. There was immediate backlash. A lending group was formed protesting the decision. Articles were written denouncing the move. But Kiva posted the first U.S. loans, and they were funded almost immediately.
Continue Reading 1 October 2011 at 08:00 Rebecca Corey 5 comments
Holy Cowllateral!
By Mariela Cedeño, KF16, Bolivia.
“Banking the unbankable“ has always been my favorite nomenclature attached to the microcredit movement that has gained such strong momentum in recent years. When feeling more long-winded, I like to describe microcredit as a useful poverty alleviation tool (a piece of the pie) by which those that have been traditionally left out of the formal banking sector can access capital to help grow their enterprises. Though it’s difficult to measure exactly how many people in the world are unbanked, my overzealous use of cellular technology has made one statistic stick with me: there are twice as many people in the world with cellphones as there are with access to financial services. But why? Well there are many, many reasons and I [un/fortunately] am not a seasoned economist, however, beckoning my finite knowledge I can say that one marginalizing factor that keeps the poor from access to credit is formal collateral – no collateral, no money. Here’s where CIDRE comes in….
CIDRE is one of Kiva’s Field Partners in Bolivia, and though day-to-day they largely look like a typical bank, they have atypical clients, and those atypical clients and CIDRE’s own roots as a research and rural development think tank are the driving engines behind CIDRE’s push to continue to look for ways to provide loans under alternative collateral models.
One of their pioneer alternative credit projects involved providing loans based on community ownership of forested land. In conjunction with the Department of Forestry, CIDRE developed a forested land appraisal system and began granting loans for agricultural production based on the value of the trees on the community owned land. Interestingly enough, this alternative collateral system also furthered the mission of CIDRE’s Habitat and Environment Division, as the loans came with training regarding the importance of protecting natural resources and lessening the use of agrochemicals. Furthermore, because the trees were being used as collateral and every tree, the value of that tree, and the years of life left for that tree were registered with the Forestry Department, it was imperative that the lenders that chose to cut their trees for profit engage in sustainable forestry to replace the value of the trees.
Though in its inception the alternative forestry collateral model worked well, it seems to have somewhat eroded over the years due to evolving loan use. The initial purpose of the forestry collateral loans was for agricultural production, however, as the program expanded lenders began using these loans for lumber ventures as well. Infighting began over how the communal land was divided for the sale of lumber, individual lenders were dissatisfied with trees located on their plot, equipment couldn’t access certain areas, and those with ‘skinny’ trees were not being paid enough to repay their loans and replant. CIDRE continues to work with these borrowers to alleviate the issues that have arisen in hopes of circling back to where things started.
Nevertheless, as CIDRE’s focus has always been on production, we have finally arrived at the type of collateral to which this post owes its name, my recent nearest and dearest friend, the cow.
CIDRE’s lenders are primarily located in the rural areas of Bolivia, as such the vast majority of CIDRE’s loans fund dairy and/or agriculture businesses. In order to ensure that these lenders can access the kind of capital necessary to start or grow their businesses, CIDRE has created an internal policy by which cows become the collateral guarantee. Each cow owned by the lender is assigned a value (according to their breed, size, state, and milk production) and 80% of the cow’s value is then given as a collateral guarantee against which lenders can draw loans. The loans are almost always used to reinvest in their dairy business: to purchase more cattle (most often when a cow is pregnant, nursing, or has fallen to mastitis), for feed, to invest in ‘stock’ for their communal dairy cooperatives, milking machines, to rent land for the cows to pasture, or to buy refrigerated milk holding tanks. By all accounts these cows are in fact the most precious thing that a dairy farmer owns as they are a single source of income, sustenance, and now collateral, so it seems fitting that CIDRE has so readily acknowledged the value of their most popular clients’ trade.
As I sit around the office or head out to make field visits it seems strange that the cowllateral guarantee has become such commonplace in this organization’s day-to-day work, in fact, it’s become a regular part of my own microfinance vernacular. Just as impressive, is the wealth of ‘cow-knowledge’ that the loan officers acquire throughout their tenure with CIDRE — equipped to answer questions and analyze information regarding cows, the dairy business, and the way that community groups operate. To not hog all the cow-knowledge, here are some gems that I’ve acquired in my time with CIDRE:
- Dutch, Jersey, Holstein, and recently Creole cows populate Cochabamba’s dairy farms.
- Cows eat all the time, literally all day. Their feed consists of a balanced mix of Chacla (chopped up corn plants) , minerals, oats, pasture, alfalfa, and soya bean shells. A truck load of feed which will last 6-8 months can run up to $8,000 U.S.
- Due to pachamama (mother eart)h, her pastures, and the way that cows are raised, Cochabamba produces the best quality milk of any department in the country. This could be biased information, but I have tried the milk and cheese that comes from these bovines, and it’s pretty spectacular.
- Last, but not least, this is what a cow milking professional looks like:
Mariela Cedeño is part of Kiva Fellows 16th Class, serving with CIDRE in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Cows have become her new favorite thing on earth. Please support CIDRE‘s hard-working entrepreneurs by making a loan today and join the Friends of CIDRE/Amigos de CIDRE lending team to stay involved!
Motorcycle Madness
By Marcus Berkowitz, KF16, Ecuador
“Do you know how to ride a motorcycle?” asked the stranger seated directly in front of me, his voice muffled by his helmet.
I thought it a little late to ask, seeing as I was currently gripping his belly from behind as we flew, several mph faster than strict necessity would dictate, around a precipitously tight corner on the edge of the western cordillera of the Andes.
“No,” I said, “I’m supposed to put my hands over your eyes, right?”
Continue Reading 30 September 2011 at 08:36 marcusofulano 3 comments
Home to a New Adventure: Hoş Geldiniz Maya!
Unlike some of my KF 16 fellows classmates, I did not have to rush to the bookstore to read up on the country where I was about to be posted, figure out if my cell phone would work overseas, or learn about internet capabilities because Istanbul has been my home for about the last 12 years. I am lucky that I already have an apartment, know how to get around, know how to order what I want to eat and even knew where my MFI was located. No panic attacks about my new location but lots of panic about blogging and about what my first blog should be on.
Continue Reading 30 September 2011 at 05:00 act4impact 1 comment
