Posts tagged ‘risk ratings’
Team Kiva: World Police?
Lauren Barra, KF16 Kenya/Tanzania
Last month I had the privilege of attending the African Microfinance Pricing Transparency Leadership Forum in Nairobi. Hosted by MicroFinance Transparency, the conference gathered policymakers and regulators to exchange ideas about client protection and pricing disclosure in microfinance. Although their views varied greatly, these policymakers and consumer advocates could all agree on one point. Regulators should not be fully responsible for promoting transparency – donors and investors must also play an active role.
With $255MM disbursed to over 600,000 borrowers, Kiva is one of the largest microfinance donors in the world. So what should Kiva’s role be in promoting a healthy, transparent microfinance industry? In this blog post, I examine two critical questions:
1.) Does Kiva have a responsibility to promote microfinance transparency?
2.) What must Kiva do to meet this responsibility?
Continue Reading 11 November 2011 at 08:02 Lauren Barra 4 comments
Risky Business: Evaluating Kiva Field Partner Ratings
Lauren Barra, KF16, Kenya
News of hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires bringing you down? Tired of hearing about how the world economy is in the toilet and the U.S. outlook is grimmer than ever? Want to explore a corner of the world where risk profiles are actually improving? Welcome to Yehu Microfinance Trust in Mombasa, Kenya.
Starting today, Yehu will now proudly display a three star Field Partner risk rating on Kiva. In their communication with Yehu, Kiva highlighted its main justifications for the change.
Continue Reading 6 September 2011 at 08:00 Lauren Barra 7 comments
