Posts tagged ‘Kiva’
Out of Cusco: Day in the life of a loan officer
By Carrie Nguyen, KF17, Peru
On Friday, I accompanied a loan officer to visit one of her 19 village banks. On this occasion, we were providing the eighth loan disbursement since the bank’s formation in 2008. Despite a long-standing relationship with Arariwa, the group still had many organizational issues to iron out. This became evident as our routine meeting, which should have taken one hour, stretched into an all-morning affair.
By the end of the day, I had a much greater appreciation for the hectic schedule that loan officers face, and the numerous risks and obstacles involved in performing their jobs.
Our meeting room was all set up, but where were the borrowers?
Karibu Kenya: Strathmore facilitates connections
Nessa E. French | KF 17 | Kenya
“I won the bet!” I exclaimed on Friday afternoon as I did a victorious ‘raising of the roof’ dance. The dance is better left to the imagination than any sort of visual. The bet in question was one that two other colleagues and I made on how long it would take for Strathmore University’s first partial tuition loan to fund once it went live on Kiva’s website.
Of course, we did not bet on anything material — only glory. One of the Strathmore Kiva Coordinators who lost said, “I lost but it’s good, I’m happy to lose because we all won.” She was right, Strathmore’s Kiva Coordinators had been working on making this a reality for many months now and it finally was. We were all ecstatic. What an exciting way to end my first week of work as a Kiva Fellow, and just another instance where I felt so happy to have been placed with field partner Strathmore University.
It was the last day of my first week of work at Strathmore University, and six partial tuition and laptop loans had just gone live on the site. The loans went live on Kiva.org at around 11:00 a.m. Nairobi time. The first partial tuition loan was funded by 12:40 p.m. My bet had been that the first loan would be funded by 1:00 p.m. My colleagues were a bit more modest in their estimates, going with 1:30p.m. and 2:00 p.m.
Connecting in New Orleans: Saints, Daiquiris & Mardi Gras
Charlotte Makoff | KF 16 | New Orleans
A terrible event
On January 14, the most horrible thing happened. The Saints lost to the 49ers. I have never cared about any football team, not even my high school and college teams. And really, if I did care about a team in this game it should have been the 49ers — after all I am from San Francisco — but, this time, I cared about the Saints.
It wasn’t for myself, it was for everyone else in this city — the ones who have 12-foot-high inflatable football players in their front yards, the ones who wouldn’t dare step out their front door without first putting on black and gold, the ones wearing football jerseys and black circles smeared below their eyes with SAINTS painted in white. The crowds at sidewalk cafes who suddenly start chanting:
“Who Dat? Who Dat? Who Dat team gonna beat them Saints?” – Saints Ice Bucket (more…)
An ordinary borrower visit: The reality of microfinance in Honduras
Santiago Cortes | KF 17 | Honduras
I’ve just arrived in Tegucigalpa after my first trip to one of Kiva field partner Prisma‘s branches. I left Prisma’s headquarters on Wednesday on the back of a pick-up and drove to Danli, home to the nearest branch. My main goal with this visit was to test some policies I want to implement across Prisma. I hope to change all the processes related with Kiva, so I used this branch as a sort of “pilot branch.”
I didn’t know what to expect, Honduras being one of the most dangerous countries in the world. After a couple of hours heading south with an entire family in the back of a pick-up Toyota, I arrived in Danli in southern Honduras late at night.
The pick-up that took me from Tegucigalpa to Danli. (more…)
First day as a Kiva Fellow in Cambodia
Jen Truong | KF17 | Cambodia
After experiencing my first day at work as a Kiva Fellow, I can tell you this much: One should always expect the unexpected! For me (and I feel incredibly fortunate for this), most of my unexpecteds so far have turned out to be only pleasant. Below, I have listed some details and thoughts of my first days being in Cambodia and at my MFI, MAXIMA, that I hope you will find at least entertaining.
The Expected:
1. Cambodia’s weather
Cambodia is humid! Granted, this is coming from someone who has lived in the Arizona desert pretty much her entire life, so I’m just being a bit more dramatic than I should be. Thankfully, my one-room apartment that I am renting from a family has air conditioning, which has helped the adjustment go much more smoothly. I am sweating less and less buckets as the days progress, and I’ve noticed that if I gradually wean myself off of the cool air, I will soon no longer need it at all! It doesn’t sound like something to be that proud of, but it’s funny how easily we take something like air conditioning for granted. Most people I’ve talked to don’t use or have air conditioning in their homes at all.
2. Homesickness
It would be a lie if I told you that I haven’t thought about being back home at all. I miss it. I miss conveniently knowing where everything is and who I’m going to see everyday. But, it is also for that reason that I am incredibly thankful for this opportunity to be in Cambodia. Each day I’ve seen something new–made new friend. I really can’t complain about that.
3. Street children
It is a known problem in Cambodia. Many people discourage giving money to these children as it only perpetuates the situation and puts them at even higher risk of getting into worse things in the future. Instead, I’ve been searching for local NGOs that aim to help protect street children and youth. I had dinner last night at Friends, the Restaurant (called Mith Samlanh in Cambodian). Friends is a training restaurant run by former street youth and their teachers. The food is delicious (a fusion of American and Cambodian cuisine) and the people are beyond hospitable here. (more…)
From one city to another: A New Yorker in Tagbilaran
This blog is about my experiences working in microfinance and living in the Philippines. This is my first week of work at Community Economic Ventures, so this post will capture my initial impressions of being in New York City one day, and Tagbilaran City the next (well, technically it was two days later with the time change and 26 hours of travel).
Continue Reading 11 February 2012 at 16:58 jlgreenthal 7 comments
Preservation Hall
Charlotte Makoff | KF16 | New Orleans
It’s hard to imagine a dingier, more neglected looking space than Preservation Hall in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The tall windows facing the street are shuttered and have not been washed in years, maybe decades. Paint, in the areas that are or were painted, is blistered and peeling, but most of the walls are covered with ancient pegboard stained a myriad of browns and grays by an accumulation of dust and tobacco smoke. (more…)
Kiva Puts its 17th Class of Fellows on the Map!
By Jacob Schultz, Kiva Fellows Program Manager, and Eric Brandt, Kiva Fellows Program Coordinator
Kiva HQ was electric last month as the newest class of Kiva Fellows gathered for an intensive five-day training course. Over the next several weeks, they’ll split up among 21 countries where Kiva loans are made. While there, they’ll spend the next four months working closely with our field partners and meeting with borrowers to grow and strengthen the Kiva lending experience.
Prior to arriving for training, Kiva gets to know the KF17 trainees through their bios
Kiva received 165 applicants for the class’ 21 placements, and everyone at HQ was very excited to meet these exceptional people in person.
“It’s humbling to meet this talented group of individuals who are willing to do so much to support Kiva’s mission,” says Kiva President Premal Shah.
In one whirlwind week, a total of 29 Kiva staff delivered presentations on their areas of specialty and prepared the Fellows for the challenges they will face in the field. At the same time, each of the fellows got a crash course on the Kiva partner they will be working with to make lending even easier and more rewarding for lenders and borrowers alike.
As much as the Fellows are learning, this training week always ends up being a two-way street. As Premal notes, “Even before their time in the field, the fellows inspire and challenge us while they are training to continue to innovate and deepen Kiva’s impact.”
Matt Flannery, Co-founder and CEO, and Premal Shah, President of Kiva, speaking with the trainees
Following in the footsteps of 407 past Kiva Fellows, KF17 will play a critical role in expanding Kiva’s global reach and ensuring the integrity of the Kiva lending experience. Each individual in the class will serve with one or more of Kiva’s field partners in order to strengthen relationships, build capacity and gather insights, pictures and stories from the field.
KF17 trainees (from left) Jon Hiebert, Isabel Balderrama, Nessa French, and Micaela Browning prepare for the field
The Fellows will contribute their incredible energy and diverse professional skills to Kiva as self-funded volunteers. They will travel thousands of miles, immerse themselves in unfamiliar cultures, and overcome challenges for the opportunity to further Kiva’s work.
Members of KF17 take their place on the map
We’d like to congratulate the amazing 17th class of Kiva Fellows and wish them the best of luck in the field over the next several months. We can’t wait to learn even more from their experiences.
We proudly announce the 17th class of Kiva Fellows (KF17)!
- Adria Orr – South Pacific Business Development, Samoa
- Alex Connelly – Colfuturo, Colombia
- Ben Schelling – Arvand, Tajikistan
- Carrie Nguyen – Asociacion Arariwa, Peru
- David Gorgani – ASPIRE, Dominican Republic
- David Suk – CAURIE, Senegal
- Devon Fisher – Milango, Kenya
- Heather Sullivan – VisionFund Indonesia
- Isabel Balderrama – FODEMI, Ecuador
- Jamie Greenthal – CEVI, Philippines
- Jen Truong – MAXIMA, Cambodia
- Jon Hiebert – XacBank, Mongolia
- Kiyomi Beach – Huatusco, Mexico
- Micaela Browning – Hluvuku, Mozambique
- Mike Slattery – WAGES, Togo
- Natalie Sherman – ACEP, Cameroon
- Nessa French – KADET and Strathmore University, Kenya
- Philip Issa – Ryada, Palestine
- Rebecca Vo – SEDA. Vietnam
- Ryan Cummings – BRAC Liberia
- Santiago Cortes – Prisma, Honduras
And an extra special thanks to the following fellows who will be returning for a 2nd placement!
- Abhinab Basnyat – NUBL, Nepal
- Allison Moomey – Finadev, Benin
- Chris Paci – VisionFund AzerCredit, Azerbaijan
- Emmanuel von Arx – FRAC, Mexico
- Kim Strathearn – Maya, Turkey
- Whitney Webb – VFC, Rwanda
To learn more about the Kiva Fellows Program, please visit our information page . We are currently accepting applications for the 18th class of Kiva Fellows who will begin their fellowships in June 2012. Apply today!
Junk Food +1,300 Chefs + Edirne-Style Liver + Maya Food Entrepreneurs
By Kimberly Strathearn, KF 16
Although you will find many familiar fast food restaurants in Turkey, I have never understood why they are popular. Turkish food is just too darn good. When I first started living in Turkey in 1998, there was very little western fast food, very little packaged junk food, and very little prepared foods (i.e. bottled sauces, frozen vegetable, mixes and other packaged foods). I used to bring back lots of food items when I visited my family once a year. Now I only bring back chili powder for when I occasionally make tacos (don’t have to bring tortillas back anymore, Turkey now grows avocados, and I substitute fresh yogurt for sour cream).
Gigantic Lay's billboard
Fast food glore
Secrets of the ELA Sisterhood (Part I)
Life is not easy for a lot of young women in Uganda. Many girls in poorer urban areas and in rural villages are regularly confronted with sexual assault, unwanted or unintended pregnancies, HIV, and the list goes on. These girls are also commonly forced to drop out of school early because they can no longer pay fees or because they need to help support their families. With these kinds of hardships, young girls are often trapped in poverty with few, if any, opportunities to develop independence and improve their lives.
Enter BRAC. Four years ago, BRAC Uganda began to address some of these problems by implementing what they call the Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescence Program (ELA Program). The program is designed specifically “to improve the quality of the life of vulnerable adolescents by organizing them, creating spaces of their own and helping them develop a set of skills so that they can live and grow as confident, empowered and self reliant individuals contributing to change in their own families and communities.”
Because it is set up to achieve so many ambitious goals, the ELA program can seem fairly complex at first glance. In this blog post, I want to outline how the program is organized and talk a little bit about some of the social components of the ELA clubs. And in the next blog post, I’ll talk more about the finance components of the ELA program and about the impact of the program overall.
General Organization of ELA
Meet Barbara. She works extremely hard to train ELA staff and to develop materials for the program. She has also been with the ELA program from the beginning and has an excellent grasp on how the program functions and on how far it has come. In the video below, I asked her about what she’s currently working on and about some of the major changes she has seen in the program over the years. Check it out:
As Barbara said in the video, the ELA program has expanded significantly in the past few years and as a result, has become much more decentralized. A colleague at BRAC once joked with me: “anyone who says they understand everything that’s going on with the organization is crazy.” Yet somehow, the program functions with uncanny efficiency.
ELA Management
Each ELA girl is a member of a local club, which is organized and managed by a mentor. There are currently a total 785 clubs, which are located all across Uganda. In general, clusters of about 10-15 clubs are linked to Branch Offices based on proximity. Each branch office has a Project Assistant who is responsible for supervising all of the clubs associated with the branch and for helping the clubs to strengthen their relationships with surrounding communities. The Project Assistants report directly to the Area Coordinators, who are responsible for overseeing a handful of Branch Offices in a specific district. Area Coordinators report to Regional Coordinators, who then report to the Uganda Program Manager. The program manager is responsible for overseeing all big-picture aspects of the program and is stationed mainly at the BRAC Country Office in Kampala.
Microfinance Staff
The ELA microfinance, which is recent addition to the ELA program, requires some additional staff members. At the branch level, there are Credit Officers, who are tasked with overseeing all the financial components of the program. ELA microfinance also has its own set of Area Coordinators, who are responsible for managing microfinance at multiple branches and must be present at all loan disbursements. The microfinance Area Coordinators also report to the Regional Managers and to the Program Manager. Every month, all of the Area Coordinators meet with the Program Manager at the Country Office to review the performance of their clubs and to discuss how to improve the program.
Club Houses
The space used for the program consists mainly of extensions of community member’s houses, or of public buildings rented by BRAC from local governments. This is the main space where club members and mentors meet six afternoons per week. The clubs also use community sports fields for certain athletic activities.
How to Join
The requirements to join a club aren’t strict at all. Any girl between 13 and 21 years old, who is a permanent citizen of Uganda and who can pay the 2,000 UGX (~$0.80) admission fee can join. All she really has to do is approach the local club’s mentor and ask.
The Social Components of ELA Clubs
Community Participation
One thing that is emphasized over and over again when discussing the ELA program with BRAC management is community involvement. From what I was able to gather, this happens in mainly two ways. The first way is called a mothers forum. Once, every two weeks or so, the Project Assistant from the branch will get together with the mothers of club members to discuss the club programs and things that the mothers can do to help empower their daughters. Another way that the community is involved with ELA clubs is through community leaders’ workshops. These are events where prominent female figures from the community visit a club to talk to the girls about sexual health, life challenges or a host of other topics.
Life Skills Based Education
The ELA program also provides girls with resources to learn more about life challenges and how to overcome them. The clubs focus on a wide range of topics including reproductive health, menstruation, familial and community responsibility, leadership, bride price, early pregnancy, STIs, family planning and rape. Mentors will normally focus on one aspect of one of these topics every day, and occasionally guest speakers will come to the clubs to give presentations to the girls. BRAC has also published books on each of these topics consisting of general advice and collections of stories from the lives of ELA girls.
Just below is a kind of introductory story from BRAC’s book on family planning. It’s called “Tough Times,” and is mainly about a young, 20-year-old woman named Stella and her struggle through her second pregnancy. It emphasizes the importance of leaving time between births.
Last year, in 2009, I got married to Mike, a bicycle cyclist. I’m now five months pregnant. I was forced into marriage because my parents never wanted to stay with a pregnant woman. I had long stopped studying due to lack of finances at home.
Mike stayed in a remote village. Once in a while, when a vehicle passed, every one waited in anticipation of their relative. City people are claimed to be rich since they always carry with them so many gifts. In the village the main source of livelihood is agriculture and most of the farming done is for consumption.
As it was my first pregnancy, I lacked knowledge on how to care for myself. Friends, however, encouraged me to visit the health centre for checkups.
Throughout the pregnancy, I visited the health centre only once. The long distance discouraged me form frequenting the place. I also lacked the money to receive the medical attention I needed. As a result, a traditional birth attendant helped me to give birth to my first child. She was easily available and cheap.
Much as Mike tried so hard to meet every need of the family, the poor man failed. To make matters worse, I conceived again after ten months. This also affected our daughter so much. She was ever sick and crying. I also stopped breast feeding her since e I was down with morning sicknesses and the general discomfort that comes with pregnancy. Eating also became a problem since we could only afford one meal a day.
When it reached birth, Mike was able to gather some money to transport me to the health centre. I delivered with the help of the nurse, but I faced severe complications. I almost bled to death. I was weak and anemic. My baby looked so sick that I doubted his survival. My daughter was stunted. Having two children in a couple of years was too much for me and it also strained my husband a lot.
The nurse advised me to go back for postnatal care, with my husband. She later explained that child birth was the most risky incidence and a threat to the woman’s health and that of her baby. She emphasized the need for birth spacing if we were to take good care of our children’s health and needs.
When the nurse had finished talking, it surprised me that I was so ignorant about family planning methods and birth spacing. Use of contraceptives would give me enough time to properly heal and properly take care of myself and the children before getting unexpected pregnancy.
Since then, I have learned to use contraceptives. I plan on waiting for my two children to properly grow before I conceive again. It is also important that I get a job so that I can supplement on Mike’s income. This will help us to properly take care of our family and keep it happy.
Club Activities
To me, the club activities are in a big way the heart of the ELA program. They afford the ELA girls a daily opportunity to take a break from adversity, to talk about their experiences and to learn from one another.
Towards the end of my fellowship, I was lucky enough to visit the Kanyanya Club in the Zanna district in Kampala. Just before lunch one day, I hop on the back of a boda boda and speed just a few kilometers up the road to the main traffic hub in Zanna. I pick up two oily, floury pancakes called chapattis for lunch, then march off of the main road, back into the Zanna “slums” to find the Branch Office. I get a little lost on the winding backroads, but am only a few minutes late – Uganda style.
Once at the office, I am greeted warmly by the Project Assistant and an Area Manager I’ve met before. The three of us travel up about two kilometers of steep, dusty roads in the hot afternoon sun. It would have been much easier to take a boda boda, but the project assistant had recently been in an accident and really didn’t want to take any more chances. Just as I think I am running out of steam, we reach the top of a huge incline, descend down a short lane with lots of tree shade, and finally arrive at the club house.
It’s around two o’clock, and more and more girls filter in over the next hour. Many of the members aren’t around because they’ve gone to visit family in the villages for the holiday, and many of the girls that show up are also a bit drained from the intense heat of the sun. We still have a great time playing board games and dancing. Fortunately, I have my Flipcam and am able to grab some great footage of the club house and of the girls. Enjoy!
Andrew Huelsenbeck is a Kiva Fellow who worked 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!
To Connect People Through Lending To Entrepreneurs Across the Globe
“To Connect People Through Lending to Entrepreneurs Across the Globe” is one of Kiva’s best tag lines. Indeed, “Connecting” is key to Kiva, to microfinance loans and to repayment, especially in this high tech world of Twitter, Facebook, Groupon and the Worldwide Web. All of the Kiva borrowers in New Orleans are online, from the youngest in her twenties to the oldsters in their 60s. A lot have smart phones to check their email and Facebook pages. Unlike the Kiva borrowers in developing nations, there is no need to explain “the internet.” When I meet with a prospective client I walk them through the Kiva website. I go to Kiva.org and explain “crowd sourcing,” i.e. that their loan will actually be funded by around 250 people from different parts the world who want to loan and connect with them after reading their Kiva profile. The response is always positive and many of the borrowers want to make a connection to the lenders. One borrower, Renee, specifically asked me to write all of her lenders a thank you note and a progress report on her loan. The Kiva site is built so that the borrowers cannot directly write to the lenders. This is what I wrote on Renee’s behalf:
Continue Reading 2 February 2012 at 12:26 charlottemakoff Leave a comment
20 Years in 2012: A Celebration of Serving the Filipino Poor
The new year is already in full swing and resolutions are being met or failed as we speak. This New Year’s celebrations, for me, was a little different as I got to spend a full week with Center for Community Transformation staff as they celebrated 20 years of growth and successful service to the poor in the Philippines. President Ruth Callanta spent time reflecting on the past but also casting vision for the future as CCT hopes to transform more communities in the Philippines and reach more marginalized people groups.
Continue Reading 22 January 2012 at 04:51 The Musings of a Sponge 1 comment
Celebrating the Epiphany in New Orleans
I expected Christmas to be different in New Orleans and I was right. The people of New Orleans celebrate everything with flourish and style and of course Christmas is no different. So what’s so different about Christmas? Well, it’s the King Cake tradition. It involves a special cake, a tiny baby and a party. The tradition of having King Cake Parties has evolved through time, but no one in New Orleans ever remembers a time when there weren’t King Cake parties after Christmas. The tradition started in New Orleans, no doubt, with the French Catholics. It celebrates the twelfth night after Christmas, January 6th, the Day of the epiphany. The Epiphany is the revelation that the baby Jesus Christ is the son of God who was born as a human being.
Originally, King Cakes were a simple ring of pastry dough (brioche to be exact) with a small amount of colored sugar as decoration. Inside the original King Cakes was a tiny porcelain or gold baby, representing Jesus. If a person received a piece of cake with the baby they were declared King for the day. Over time, people were choking or breaking teeth on the baby, so the baby has become a little larger and plastic, and instead of being baked inside, the baby is is inserted into the cake after baking. The top of the cake is then covered with sugar icing in traditional Mardi Gras colors: Green, purple and gold. In recent years, bakeries have been improvising and making different cream cheese flavors and fruit filled King Cakes. There’s one bakery in New Orleans, Antoine’s, that makes up to 3,500 cakes per day running their bakery 24 hours and hiring additional employees, during what they term as King Cake season. .
If you go to a King Cake party and get the piece of cake with the baby, beware! You are not just the King for the day, you are now required to bring the next King Cake to the next party. Because of this tradition, some offices and schools have King Cakes every day until Mardi Gras season ends. I first heard about King Cakes at an office meeting at Kiva’s Community partner, Good Work Network. Since I first heard I have been carefully watching the bakery section at Rouse’s and Winn Dixie. I have also been eyeing the cases at the local bakeries. I couldn’t wait until after Christmas to buy my first piece of King Cake, so I went to Antoine’s on Carrollton where they sell King Cakes all year round. They actually had pieces of King Cake for sale, so I dove in head first.
Okay, it tastes and smells like a really good cinnamon roll. In fact, the whole experience reminded me of the chain restaurant, Cinnabon. Am I wrong? Would someone from N’Awlins disagree with my assessment? I googled cinnamon rolls and King Cake and got a multiplicity of hits all of which indicated that somewhere along the way, the original brioche style King Cakes have morphed into a coffee cake similar to a Cinnamon roll. In fact, some easy recipes suggest using ready made cinnamon roll dough to make a King Cake.
Perks + Atatürk + My hero
Cookıe samples = Perks!
What’s next for KF16? (Part 2)
Compiled by Laurie Young, KF16, Indonesia
Last week you read about about what six of the fellows from KF16 were doing once their fellowships ended. Read on to see what adventures 2012 will bring to some more!
Continue Reading 8 January 2012 at 20:54 laurie4485 1 comment
Typical Day of this Kiva Fellow . . . in New Orleans
I interned at the Kiva Headquarters in San Francisco for six months. If you have six months to spare this is a very worthwhile experience. Never had I met so many great people working toward a common goal. And being an unpaid intern was one of the most satisfying things I have ever done. Kiva depends on teams of volunteers, and it is very appreciative of its teams and expresses it on a daily basis. Sure, I did some collating and copying, but I also was invited to brainstorming sessions, wrote country memos, wrote articles for the Kiva Fellows Alumni newsletter, vetted Fellows’ applications and had imput into the inner workings of Kiva.
Kiva is both technology driven and food oriented. When you work at Kiva, you get 20-30 emails a day, most of which are about some delectable treat on the table of wonders. The remainder of the emails are about happy hour, microfinance cafe, microfinance pub, or a party at a Kivan’s house on an upcoming weekend. I was a Kiva Intern with the Fellows Program. I helped Jacob, Eric and Dave with vetting, selecting and training the Kiva Fellows before they left for their varied posts around the globe. (Kiva is in over 60 countries). I love traveling and living in and experiencing new cultures. Working as a Kiva intern made me want to go into the field with the Kiva Fellows Program.
So here I am, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Not exactly a foreign country, but the most colorful city in the United States. This place is amazing, it’s one big party. On any random weekend I can be found sitting in a cafe or a club listening to live music. I attended the Oak Street Po-Boy Festival with at least 50,000 other revelers. Tomorrow night I am going to have dinner at a restaurant owned by a Kiva borrower and afterward I am going on a pub crawl on Tchoupitoulas (pronounced “Chop-A-Tool-ess”) Street in Uptown. Next week is a Rock ‘n Bowl party with live jazz and bowling with my “MFI.”
For this blog post, I am going to tell you about my typical day here in New Orleans. But first a little about the “typical day” topic. Every Kiva Fellow Applicant has to write what he or she thinks a typical day as a Kiva Fellow is going to be. It’s sort of a wild guess exercise because there really is no typical day. The point of making the applicant write it is to see how creative the applicant is, how well the applicant can write, whether the applicant did his (or her) homework and what his expectations are as a Kiva Fellow. As an intern for the Fellows program, I have read dozens. Some were so good I read them out loud to my colleagues at Kiva. Some were funny and some were like reading a calendar entry — 7:30 Wake up, take shower, 8:00 am Eat breakfast, 8:30 am Take bus to MFI . . .” Needless to say, the calendar entries weren’t the most interesting ones. Some were so unrealistic that it appeared the applicant hadn’t a clue as to what a Kiva Fellow does in the field. Not every Kiva Fellow has the same experience, and my situation, being in the United States, is unusual. If you are an applicant looking for ideas, you won’t find a lot here. Here goes my real typical day in Kiva City — New Orleans.
This morning I woke up in my little rented house in Uptown. Because it’s a Thursday, I have to decide which office I am going to work in today. In New Orleans, Kiva works with ASI Federal Credit Union, ASII, a non-profit arm and organization of ASI called “A Shared Initiative,” and the Good Work Network, another non-profit organization that works within New Orleans assisting microbusinesses. I have a choice of three offices, the ASI headquarters in Harahan, the ASII office in the upper Ninth Ward, or the Good Work Network office on OC Haley Boulevard. Luckily, ASI has given me a car, a blue Toyota Corolla, to use while I am here. I usually gravitate to the Good Work Network office. It has the best internet, and prospective Kiva borrowers come into the Good Work Network office for intial intake. I even have my own, desk, cubicle and computer. I decided this morning to start at Good Work Network. I drive down St. Charles St., a tree lined boulevard with trolley cars running down the center. It’s another beautiful day. I say out loud, to myself, “I love this city.” There are yard signs up inviting me to a street fair, a pub crawl, a block party. There are old faded Mardi Gras beads hanging from the trees. I pass beautiful pristine antebellum mansions and boarded up houses with the large Katrina X’s spray painted on them. I park my car across from the Franz Building where the GoodWork Network is. I park right next to house that hasn’t been touched since Katrina. Plants grow from the roof. It’s missing walls, windows, a roof, occupants, but somehow in all of its wrecked glory, it still looks beautiful. I photograph it and my car. I hope nothing falls over from it onto the car.
At noon, a couple comes in to apply for a Kiva loan. I have to ask them a lot of personal financial questions. I hope they pass muster. My inclination is to give everyone who comes in a loan, but underwriting thinks otherwise. The Kiva Coordinator and/or the Kiva Fellow separates the improbable applicants from the probable applicants. There are guidelines: a borrower cannot have charge-offs on their credit report, and must be current on their existing debts with no 60 day past due notices within the last year. The actual credit score isn’t looked at, but it helps if it’s good and hurts if it’s really bad. If a loan applicant is denied, he or she can work with a business counselor at Good Work Network for credit counseling and business advice. If they can fix their issues they can return and reapply for a Kiva loan. This is just the initial intake for preliminary approval. Once we get to the next stage there is a mountain of paperwork involved and the borrowers need to be shepherded through the system. The Kiva Fellow works closely with the Kiva Coordinator, Leslie, the head of Good Work Network, Phyllis, and Lang, the Business Lending Program Manager at ASII, to make sure all of the paperwork is in order for each and every applicant. Once a loan is approved, a photo is taken, waivers and releases are signed and the Kiva profiles are written. So far, I have written three of them.
After meeting with the clients, I drive 20 minutes to the Lebanon Cafe on Carrollton Ave. to meet with Sarah, the Executive Director of ASII. She’s the head honcho for the Kiva program and she wants to check in on the progress of Kiva. Sarah is wonderful and looks like she could have been Miss Louisiana, but it turns out she’s really from Mississippi. (So, maybe she was Miss Mississippi.) Her goal is to get Kiva New Orleans from pilot to active. We discuss this during a delicious lunch with hummus, pita bread and eggplant sandwiches (that look suspiciously like Po’ Boys). Its a very productive lunch. I learn that ASII has some really innovative loan products — including grocery store loans and education loans. We bounce around some other ideas.
After lunch, I drive to the upper Ninth Ward to work out of the ASII office. At that office is Lang, a dynamic woman who knows her loans, borrowers, practices and procedures backward, forward and sideways. She has a very high energy level and is filled with information about New Orleans and the Vietnamese immigrant community. There’s always lots to learn form Lang. We discuss repayment reporting, underwriting, corporate best practices and loan delinquencies, if any.
I check my work plan. The internet connection is “iffy” there so I work offline on my laptop. I do whatever I can to get my work done. Afterwork, I go straight home to clean up my house. I have guests coming from out of town. When you live in New Orleans, you suddenly become popular. Everyone wants to visit. It’s a fun city, what can I say?
Charlotte is a Kiva Fellow in KF-16, the 16th Kiva Fellows Class, with ASI Federal Credit Union and is now living in New Orleans. Charlotte has lived in India, Japan, and has built houses with Habitat For Humanity in Ethiopia, Zambia and India.
For more information about Kiva, click here. Kiva.orgTo read about ASI Federal Credit Union, click here. asifcu.orgYou can also follow Kiva New Orleans on facebook, facebook.com/kivaNOLAjoin the Kiva New Orleans lending team.
A Fellowship in Photos (Part 2)
By Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador / KF16 Perú
After my first placement in Ecuador, I thought I knew living and working in South America- three months in Ica, Perú proved me wrong. New (and delicious) food, a drastically different (and drier) climate, and wonderful new friends, coworkers, and chicha-vending Kiva borrowers showed me another side of South America’s many amazing countries and cultures. As I phase out of my second fellowship back into the real world, I want to share these photos, and photos from my first placement in Ecuador, with you lenders and give thanks to KFP and Perú for an amazing fellowship experience! Click the photos to see them enlarged!
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- My first week in Ica, Perú. If you thought Perú didn’t do desert, guess again.
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- With my coworkers on my last day at Kiva Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren
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- Kiva Borrower Marisela shows off her Christmas wares, including dolls, shawls and hats. She crochets all the fabrics herself and makes the dolls by hand.
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- If you find yourself locked out of your room on a Thursday during lunch hour, as I did during my first month in Ica, Perú, look to Paredes to help you get back in.
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- Isabel Paula was my favorite neighborhood chicha morada vendor (chicha morada is a delicious, traditional corn-based juice with pineapple, cloves and cinnamon) in Ica, Perú. Turns out she’s a successful Kiva borrower, too!
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- Kiva borrower Lilia runs a successful book store- but she also sells pick-me-ups like Inca Cola, Perú’s most popular beverage (though it’s possibly tied with chicha)
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- Choza houses outside of Camaná, Perú- choza, or reed, houses last up to five years in Camaná’s arid climate, but by no means are they permanent. We visited two Kiva borrowers living in homes like these.
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- A Caja Rural Señor de Luren out post in a small town in Perú. Caja Luren shares offices with one of the more traditional national financial institutions in Perú, which allows it to expand access to microfinance to many previously under-served populations
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- A Kiva borrower smiles for her photo in Parcona, Perú
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- During a trip to Cusco, a shot of some of the incredible, traditional textiles of highland Perú
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- Kiva borrower María Victoria in Ica, Perú takes a break from cooking (she’s making ceviche for a dinner party of 100!) to talk to me during a borrower verification
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- Kiva takes Machu Picchu by storm
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- My “host-grandma” Bertha in Ica, Perú. Apart from being a constant source of support, warmth and humor in a new country, Bertha taught me all kinds of important phrases in Spanish, like “picaflores” (womanizer) and “¿qué es este tono que estás empleando?” (what’s that tone you’re taking with me?!)
Kate Bennett (KF16) is thrilled to be working in Ica, Peru with Kiva Field Partner Caja Rural Señor de Luren. For more on Kate’s experiences with Caja Rural Señor de Luren or life in Peru, follow her work here.
Cooperative Karaoke; Celebrating 47 Years of Savings and Loans
By Marcus Berkowitz, KF16, Ecuador
Institutional birthdays in the US can be fairly stuffy affairs. Seating is often arranged to maximize contact with those in the institution with whom one has never spoken (perhaps for good reason, argue some guests) and they tend to be remembered more for inappropriate comments inserted into otherwise boring speeches rather than for the celebrations that they hope to be but rarely are.
Not so at the Cooperativa San Jose de Chimbo (CSJ). Instead of standing around awkwardly, everyone secretly wishing they were somewhere else, the 47th birthday of CSJ (conveniently combined with the office Xmas party) was a chaotic and energetic no-holds-barred inter-office Karaoke war. This post includes video evidence…
Continue Reading 23 December 2011 at 05:18 marcusofulano Leave a comment
Mr. Cool: Layla’s Story (Video Blog)
By Laurie Young, KF16
Awhile ago I attended a Kiva loan disbursement for VisionFund Indonesia with my Kiva Coordinator, Valentine. She and I were both intrigued by a product called Mr. Cool that Layla, the leader of the group, has a business turning into ice cream pops. Often times the borrowers we met during field visits were quiet and reserved. However, Layla was extremely excited to have us in her home and show us all about her business making Mr. Cool pops. She was the most outgoing and charismatic borrower I met during my time in Jakarta and, because of this, I wanted to share our visit with you.
Continue Reading 21 December 2011 at 20:00 laurie4485 1 comment
Producto Creer: How for a Bank Doing the Right Thing Can Pay Off
By Emmanuel M. von Arx, KF16, Guayaquil (Ecuador)
My host and Kiva´s partner organization Banco D-MIRO provides over ten different types of microloans to borrowers in and around Guayaquil: among them loans to finance housing improvements, school expenses, medication, and loans awarded specifically to employees, young clients with a business idea but no experience, and – as Ecuador´s only microfinance institution – discount loans for HIV-positive micro-entrepreneurs. Yet, one borrower group beats all other borrowers in their dedication and commitment to paying back their loans on time: the well over 400 disabled borrowers of Banco D-MIRO, whose payment discipline has turned “their” loan – “Producto Creer” (“Product Believe”) – into the most successful and inspirational product of D-MIRO´s extensive spectrum. The delinquency rate of Producto Creer is by far lower than that of any other major micro-loan type of Banco D-MIRO, which means that borrowers of Producto Creer are better at paying back their monthly rates than any other client group! In these times of economic and social turmoil, Banco D-MIRO´s Producto Creer may be a much needed reminder that it may pay off for banks to do the morally right thing.
Continue Reading 20 December 2011 at 04:00 Emmanuel von Arx 1 comment
All Loans Lead to Home; When an Agricultural Loan is also a Housing (or Student) Loan
By Marcus Berkowitz, KF16, Ecuador
“We built a little house” she replied happily, when I asked how she had used the loan. I looked down at my sheet. Oops. This loan, according to its Kiva description, was for corn seeds and fertilizers.
Of course, we have no right to insist on any particular loan use. That’s not the point. But of the first three borrowers with whom I had spoken as part of Kiva’s Borrower Verification process, not a single one had used the loan for the purpose listed on Kiva. And two of three had built houses with their loans. What gives?
Continue Reading 15 December 2011 at 05:38 marcusofulano 3 comments
And the Winner Is…………
By Jill Hall, KF16, Philippines
“And the winner is……..ppprrrrrmmmmmmm” (drum roll). Now, if you are anything like me, the image in your head is of some famous actress or actor fumbling with a large envelope, complaining about how is it hard to open. Luckily, for this post, we are going skip the envelope and talk about a winner who is a little closer to home for this Kiva Fellow. The winner I am talking about is CCT’s very own, Andresa Javines, who is Citi Bank’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” (MOTY) for Mindanao, Philippines.
Continue Reading 14 December 2011 at 07:00 The Musings of a Sponge 3 comments
Mali in Color (Part 2): Impressions from the Road
By Kathrin Gerner, KF16, Rwanda
In the first part of this blog series, I shared pictures of Malian borrowers. But even on my way to those borrowers, I was not able to put down my camera. Here are my favorite shots from the road.
Continue Reading 13 December 2011 at 02:00 Kathrin Gerner 1 comment
Mali in Color (Part 1): Impressions of Kiva Borrowers
By Kathrin Gerner, KF16, Rwanda
When I boarded a plane to Mali last week, I was not exactly enthusiastic. One reason may have been the unpleasant 2 AM take-off from Kigali, another the recent Al-Qaida kidnappings in the North, which meant that all relevant tourist spots were off limits. And six months into my career as a Kiva fellow, a routine task such as a borrower visit was not enough to get me excited.
I was in for a surprise.
The borrowers of Kiva’s Malian field partner Soro Yiriwaso and their incredible hospitality, made my trip unforgettable. I came to check borrowers’ identities and look at loan papers. I left with a mountain of presents, a full stomach and a serious caffeine high after the countless cups of sweat tea offered to me everywhere I went.
But I was most excited about finally being in a country where people love to be photographed. Below are my favorite shots from my meetings with Malian borrowers.
Continue Reading 12 December 2011 at 03:00 Kathrin Gerner 6 comments
The Do-Gooder’s 2011 Guide to Responsible Giving: Kiva Cards
In the United States, it was ushered in on Friday the 25th of November in the wee hours of the morning. Here in Ica, Perú, it is manifested in the towering polyethylene Christmas tree and tinsel-adorned telephone booths in the Plaza del Sol shopping mall. Around the world, in many forms, it’s upon us: the season of giving.
And every year in the Bennett family, we duke it out to see just who can give the most responsibly: we exchange goats through Heifer International, carbon credits through Carbon Fund, and donations to NPR and Wikipedia. That is, until several years ago when we discovered the apogee of responsible giving: the Kiva Card
Continue Reading 8 December 2011 at 04:00 Kate Bennett 5 comments
Swit Salone: A Journey in Photos
By Tejal Desai, KF16, Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone boasts lush, tumultuous landscapes, postcard-worthy beaches, delectable home cooking, inspiring stories, and some of the friendliest people you’ll meet. I was fortunate to have been placed in Freetown, Sierra Leone for my Kiva Fellowship at BRAC Sierra Leone. Follow my journey through this beautiful country and its capital city, Freetown. Hope you enjoy the photos!
Continue Reading 6 December 2011 at 13:00 Tejal Desai 4 comments
A Typical Day in the Life of a Kiva Fellow: Loan Officer Training (Video Blog Post)
By Emmanuel M. von Arx, KF 16, Guayaquil (Ecuador)
Video posts on a “typical day” in the life of a Kiva Fellow are a time-honored tradition on the Fellows Blog. Without any more words, here is my contribution to the video series of documenting a typical day in the life of a Kiva fellow. Like all previous contributors to the series, I am keenly aware that there is no “typical day” for Kiva Fellows. But taken together, the growing number of “typical day”-videos may at least convey something of the diversity, unpredictability, spontaneity, and joy that a typical untypical day of a Kiva Fellowship entails. Enjoy!
Continue Reading 6 December 2011 at 04:00 Emmanuel von Arx 1 comment
Malaria Dreams: The True Kiva Fellowship Experience
By Tejal Desai, KF16, Sierra Leone
As my Kiva fellowship winds down, I reflect on the memorable journey I’ve been privileged to experience through the Kiva Fellows Program as a member of its 16th class. Through personal revelations and humbling lessons in adaptation, microfinance work, cultural differences (and a unique incidence of malaria), I’ve grown attached to beautiful Sierra Leone. Throughout the fellowship, I’ve found my journey paralleling that of a character in a humorous novel, Malaria Dreams by Stuart Stevens, in which a man travels through the Central African Republic in one mission in mind: to find a friend’s Land Rover and drive it back to Europe — only to find that his 3-month journey has a lot more in store for him than he anticipated, and nothing goes exactly as planned. My fellowship similarly followed suit with its own surprises, bumps in the road, and memorable moments.
Continue Reading 1 December 2011 at 16:00 Tejal Desai 6 comments
Kiva Love Tour: Honduras 2011
By Sandra Pina, KF16, Honduras
The Kiva Love Tour wrapped up about a month ago here in Honduras. I headlined the 3-week tour which was co-sponsored by Kiva and ODEF Financiera. Each of the 26 venues (read: branches) were sold out and I dazzled (yes, I dazzled) concert-goers. I’m relieved to write that the reviews were mostly positive. Keep reading for the full recap.
Continue Reading 30 November 2011 at 14:46 pinayprestamos 3 comments
Update from the Field: Adapting for Borrowers by Borrowers, Microinsurance +SKFL
Compiled by Jim Burke, KF16, Nicaragua
A Warm Welcome! Manana offers the best from her garden. By DJ Forza, Georgia
This week’s Fellows Blog focuses on adaptability: Adapting microinsurance to poor households in Indonesia, an MFI in Turkey adapts to the needs of women entrepreneurs, a multifaceted borrower in Nepal adapts to market pressures, and a Kiva Fellow adapts to changing expectations. In a continuation of The Stuff Kiva Fellows Like series we hear how different fellows have adapted to their lives abroad by ‘crashing parties’ and ‘going to the Bazaar’. We hear about how practitioners are adapting finance and microinsurance products to their borrowers. Equally nimble we hear from a few borrowers and how they have expertly adapted to market pressures and changing circumstance. Microfinance is a dynamic industry by nature and like DJ or Binu or Maya Enterprise for Micro Finance, ensuring success means staying flexible and welcoming new opportunities born out of challenges. (more…)
