Posts tagged ‘Vulnerable Group Focus’
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
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 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
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
Multi-faceted Borrowers Part 1
By Abhinab Basnyat, KF 16, Nepal
I had always been fascinated by the textbook stories in micro-finance: loans to buy cattle or to start a small tea-shop that supported income generating activities and had a tangible impact on people’s lives. When I met Kiva borrowers, Narayan Devi and Binu, and heard their stories I suddenly had the visceral confirmation that had been amiss in textbooks. Yes, micro-finance loans played an influential role to uplift livelihoods. But more importantly, it was the borrowers’ multi-faceted entrepreneurship that magnified the impact of micro-finance.
A Kiva loan helped Naryan Devi, a mother of two, buy supplies for her store, which she runs with her husband. Her small shop while profitable to repay her loans is not enough to sustain her family and send her children to school. Narayan Devi is a multi-faceted entrepreneur who is always looking to learn new skills and apply her business acumen to new opportunities.
Narayan Devi at store with her husband
Two years ago Narayan Devi took a training on making a traditional Nepal sweet – pustakari that is made up of khoa (a cheese like milk based product), peanut powder, sugar.
Narayan Devi making pustakari
She spent her spare time during the past six months experimenting and perfecting the sweet making process. For the last two months she has been producing batches enough to sell in her shop and the surrounding area. Sale of pustakaris have supplemented Narayan Devi’s income.
Packaged pustakari for sale
Unfortunately, some of the major sweet producers in the the Nepali were recently found to be producing sub-standard pustakaris. This resulted in an overall drop in demand for these sweets. In response, farmers in the upstream market have stopped converting their milk to khoa – an essential ingredient in the sweet making process. Since, Narayan Devi caters to her local market people still trust and purchase her sweets; however, she is facing difficulty in procuring the raw materials. Narayan Devi is hopeful that her small home enterprise will not be shuttered, and consumers will continue to love the traditional Nepali sweet.
As a multi-faceted entrepreneur, along with her shop and sweet making enterprise, Narayan Devi is an experienced carpet weaver. She learned this craft as a kid working during the school holidays, and occasionally takes on weaving projects for extra income.
Abhinab Basnyat is currently serving as a Kiva Fellow in Nepal with BPW-Patan. To learn more about BPW-Patan go to their Field Partner Page on the Kiva website. Check out the BPW Patan Lending Team and consider making a loan to a woman entrepreneur from Nepal.
Study Now, Pay Now: Funding Higher Education in the Philippines
by: Jill Hall, KF16, Philippines
The higher education loan was an exciting idea because it had the potential to provide access to financial backing to those who wanted to pursue further education but were often limited by the lack of availability of funding in their country. The higher education loans hold much potential but it also introduces a whole other set of potentially troubling issues.
It was a pleasure to sit down with Maricar Santiago, CCT with the Visions of Hope division, to discuss the the details of the “Study Now, Pay Now” education loan product.
Continue Reading 12 November 2011 at 18:08 The Musings of a Sponge 5 comments
Artisan Borrowers of BPW-Patan, Nepal
By Abhinab Basnyat, KF 16, Nepal
Kids playing on swings in Thecho village
Thecho village lies just six kilometers outside of Patan, a sub-municipality and headquarters of Lalitpur district. Thecho still has the charm of a village, albeit a rapidly changing one.
Corn being dried for planting next year
A main road under construction in Thecho
Thecho has a high concentration of the Newari artisan community. Laxmi, and Hera Devi are two female borrowers of BPW-Patan, who have been funded through Kiva in the past to support their woodcraft and artisan businesses.
Porcelain, wax, and metal materials used for deity cast
Besides metal and wooden crafts, Hera Devi has been busy making makhmali (globe amaranth) garlands with her mother for Tihar / Diwali (festival of lights). Tihar extends over five days, and on the last day – Bhai Tika, siblings exchange blessings and the makmali flower garlands. The makhmali flower signifies longevity since it colors do not fade.
Hera Devi weaving garlands with her mother
Hera Devi with her garlands
This is a seasonal undertaking for Hera Devi and she can prepare about twenty garlands in a day. She plants the flowers in her garden several months in advance to prepare for the festival demand. Once winter starts, she plans to sew sweaters as well.
Wooden stumps before carving
Laxmi carving wooden stumps
Completed carved masts
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!
Girlie’s Peanut Butter: Borrower Verification in the Philippines
By: Jill Hall, Manila,Philippines
As I stepped out in the oppressive humidity of a Manila morning, my spirit was excited and ready to leave the protection of CCT head office’s wonderful air conditioning because this was the day I got to do another borrower verification.This day’s journey is particularly exciting because the reward at the end of the two-hour bus side in Metro Manila traffic, is Caloocan City, a place where nature begins to meet houses and instead of high rises and smog you plunge in to lush green hills and palm trees. It is there that I will find the lady that makes peanut butter.
Continue Reading 23 October 2011 at 21:54 The Musings of a Sponge 6 comments
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.
The Circle of Life; Filipino Style
The phrase “The Circle of Life”, for individuals of my age demographic, typically conjures up images of Timon and Pumba. Hopefully I did not pull you into this blog under false pretenses but unfortunately the title is the only relation to the famous Disney movie. My hope is that you will continue reading in order to find out what “The Circle of Life” has to do with microfinance and Kiva.
First off, let me introduce you to the place, which is not Africa. For this circle of life I will be showing you around the workings of my MFI placement in Manila, Philippines. My MFI placement is called Center for Community Transformation (CCT). I have been working with CCT for just a week and already had a whirlwind introduction to what was microcredit services at birth and has transformed into a diverse body of services to enhance the lives of their “partners” in Metro Manila and to the greater body of the Philippines.
Prior to starting my Kiva fellow duties associated with their microfinance activities, the staff at CCT wanted to introduce me to the breadth of services they offer so I can understand how my participation in their microcredit services is contributing to a much bigger picture. I am going to bring you along on the ride, so you can get a glimpse of this bigger picture as well.
- Microfinance services- My first two days here I got to travel to several field offices of CCT, in order to see individual lenders and community lending meetings. One of these areas is just outside of Manila and it is called Payatas. This place is home to Manila’s infamous trash mountain called “The Smokey Mountain” (please see links on bottom for more information). Here many of the entrepeneurs own junk shops to clean and re-sell the items that have been scavenged from the nearby infamous “Smokey Mountain”.
- Payatas, the infamous “Smokey Mountain” landfill
- Health services- In this same field office I was introduced to just a portion of the services offered by CCT in their field offices. Here the CCT staff look for individuals that show leadership and consistency in participation in order to recruit them to be health partners for individuals undergoing Tuberculosis treatment in their area. The reason this is important is because the treatment for TB is a daily, six month long treatment that requires much support to complete correctly. If left to themselves, TB patients will often not complete the treatment without support.
- Feedings for Kaibigans (Tagalog for friends) aka Street dwellers- Manila is home to a large community of street dwellers. CCT has developed a transitional program to help individuals, who desire to do so, get off of the streets and find housing, mentorship, job training and school services for their children.
- Trade/job training- for the Kaibigans in areas of trade that include construction, janitorial work, sewing and agriculture (rice farming).
- School services and job skills for Kaibigan children- CCT has constructed several schools (by Kaibigan construction workers) to provide boarding and school services to students of all ages. In addition to this, they provide trade and job skill training to the teenage students.
- Agricultural services- for those Kaibigans who choose this areas of speciality they get to move out of Manila to help manage the rice fields and agricultural areas that are a part of the CCT portfolio . Not only do they earn a wage and food for their home/community, the food goes to supply the on-going Kaibigan feeding program from which these individuals came.
- Jobs- CCT provides jobs to the Kaibigans that go through their training programs as well as increased leadership opportunities for the entrepeneurs that show potential in these areas. The janitorial staff work at all of the CCT field offices (spanning the Philippines), the construction workers help build the buildings going up for CCT’s growing programs and the agricultural workers get to help raise the crops for the feeding program.
- CCT provides job training for former street dweller which they call Kaibigan (Tagalog for friend)
- Support and create community water programs- CCT finds local spiritual communities to become partners in supply affordable and safe drinking waters to low income areas. Through the water program, CCT is able to offer more jobs to Kaibigan to run the water purification process and packaging. CCT also works with local microentrepeneurs so that they can sell the safe water products.
The aforementioned items are a part of the whirlwind orientation I received over the last four days. I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did. These programs grew out of what was initially just microcredit services. It became a circle where borrowers become health partners and community leaders and former street dwellers find homes, get jobs, supply their products and skills to enhance CCT’s day to day functions. A CCT field staff and I were talking over my time in orientation and she kept emphasizing to me this element of spiritual transformation, long term growth/vision and sustainability. Together we joked about this “circle of life” that CCT is trying to provide. At the end of four days, it is not so much a joke but a serious and inspiring vision to me.
For more information on Manila’s “Smoky Mountain”:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/world/asia/21iht-city7.1790859.html?pagewanted
Jill is a Kiva Fellow (KF16) currently serving with the microfinance institution CCT in Manila, Philippines. In addition to seeing micro-finance work first hand, she’s looking forward to personally assisting food vendor micro-entrepreneurs across the Philippines to increase their revenue. Please be a part of this movement and check out more about the stories of CCT, the Philippines and Kiva. Visit Kiva.org and CCT’s partner page (http://www.kiva.org/partners/1440).
9 September 2011 at 05:08 The Musings of a Sponge 8 comments
“What do I do here in Lebanon?” you ask
“What do I do here in Lebanon?” people ask me all the time. I usually struggle a bit; I take a deep breath and I start explaining what micro-credit and micro-finance is. I tend to throw in words like: “lack of access to the banking system”, “Mohamed Yunus” and “giving the poor financial stability”. But even after a little bit of explaining, I still don’t know if I’m getting the point across. And I often find that when I say “loan” people immediately ask “How can I get one for my business?” So, I turned to Al Majmoua to see how local Microfinance Institution (MFI) in Lebanon is addressing this on a daily basis?
Continue Reading 3 August 2011 at 10:00 Heba Gamal 3 comments
To the Ends of the Earth
By Eric Rindal – Sierra Leone – KF15
I am writing this blog by hand today as I sit at my desk in Makeni, Sierra Leone. There is no power for the whole office. When I ask, “isn’t there National Power from the grid?” people just laugh (it only comes on at night for a few hours). When I ask, “What about the generator?” people just shrug (it runs on petrol). The town is actually out of petrol on this cloud-tumbling Monday morning.
With finicky fuel costs, scarcity of fuel, and an inflation rate of 17.7% there are many reasons for days like this. The MFI (Microfinance Institution) staff is fidgeting to power up their computers and begin working on the ebb and flow of loans, clients, and monthly reports. Such is life in rural Sierra Leone, where verdant tropical forests blanket the region and scattered mountains are sleeping like behemoth tortoises.
Bafut by Foot
At GHAPE, new borrower centers are established only in areas identified as mostly poor. Individual borrowers are also screened using a tool called the Basic Needs Test to determine whether they qualify as potential GHAPE borrowers – very poor based on a variety of measurable factors. Recently I had the opportunity to accompany GHAPE’s Chief of Administration and Finance and the Assistant Field Manager to conduct a Basic Needs Test for a new borrower center in Bafut, outside Bamenda. The Basic Needs Test is a survey developed by GHAPE staff to first assess the overall poverty level of an area and then to screen potential borrowers to learn their economic status. GHAPE administers micro-loans, beginning as small as $10, to the poorest of the poor. In order to assess whether new clients qualify as very poor, GHAPE visits their home and asks detailed questions. The questions focus on 5 main areas: food consumption (number and quality of meals per day), clothes, cleanliness, house structure, and health. type of toilet, number of school age children in school, and whether or not children under age 6 receive milk every day.
Continue Reading 19 July 2011 at 23:00 faithgarlington 9 comments
Faces of Poverty?
Do these disciplined happy high school students match our common image of poverty in places like Cameroon? Not really. But do their mothers, fathers, grandparents, or other guardian live on more than $2/day, the international marker for poverty? Probably not. Many live on their own, with extended family, or family friends, and earn money outside of school to pay for books and other fees. Furthermore, do these teens have easy access to potable water? Hardly. They most likely carry it in buckets from a public tap that may be shared among the entire village. Do these students have mosquito nets for nightly protection from the risk of malaria? Probably not.
Continue Reading 5 July 2011 at 11:08 faithgarlington 1 comment
The Pros and Cons of Microfinance – A View From The Field (Part 1)
The article will be published in 3 parts. The first will concentrate on the pros of microfinance, the second on the cons, and the third on what I perceive to be the best conditions for successful microfinance.
Continue Reading 23 May 2011 at 07:29 nickhamiltonkiva 5 comments
Faces: How We Connect.
By Eric Rindal, KF15, Sierra Leone
“To touch a person’s heart, you must see a person’s face.” (quote from My Name is Asher Lev – Chaim Potok)
Lending on Kiva.org is a very personal experience. Reading a borrower’s profile, understanding a glimpse of their life, and seeing their picture, kindles, in one way or another, a sincere interest in their potential and forms a connection with the uniqueness of that borrower. Beyond the loan, lenders affirm a strong and inherent hope within the borrower and encourage their entrepreneurial spirit. How awesome for global lenders to see a borrower’s face, take a $25 risk to make a loan, and possibly change that borrower’s life.
How does this really play out? Does the borrower get to look through this window, called the Internet, and see their lenders’ faces?
Kiva Fellows have the opportunity to open that window and make the Person-to-Person connection tangible. Allowing not only the borrower’s financial life to be changed, but also possibly their heart. It’s one thing to know a loan is funded by Kiva…but another to know who Kiva is. A person? A group? Or just another organization? Certainly this does not happen with every borrower, but the previous Sierra Leon based Fellow, David McNeill, and I used my computer to show Kiva borrower, Muhammad, the Kiva webpage of his 38 (and counting) global lenders. 
In his true smile and kind eyes it was clear he recognized the significance of a loan funded by Kiva. He understood his loan was facilitated by the local microfinance institution BRAC and was funded by 38 lenders around the world. (more…)
Farewell from the Field
By Claudine Emeott, KF14, Nepal
To sign off from my post as a Kiva Fellow with BPW Patan in Nepal, I thought that I would take a cue from Alexis Ditkowsky, who wrapped up her Fellows Blog contribution by leaving readers with a note that she wrote to lenders who have funneled loans to WDB in South Africa. Below is my own note to BPW Patan lenders, but the gratitude from the Kiva borrower featured below should be enjoyed by all.
Dear BPW Patan lenders,
As I wrap up my three-month Kiva Fellowship with BPW Patan in Nepal, I want to share a few highlights with you and thank you for your support of this great organization.
I am very grateful for the opportunity to volunteer on behalf of Kiva and to learn about the experiences of both BPW staff and borrowers with Kiva. First and foremost, I want to convey how much BPW values Kiva funding. When BPW became a Kiva partner in 2007, Kiva provided crucial funding during a particularly challenging time for the organization. As BPW has continued to grow and flourish during the last four years, Kiva loans continue to supply the organization with important 0% interest funding to do its amazing work with women borrowers in Nepal. BPW staff members proudly talk about how quickly their loans get funded on the www.kiva.org website – as you lenders likely know, within just two or three hours.
As for my interactions with Kiva borrowers, I have been fortunate to take many productive and rewarding trips to the field. For some of these visits, I conducted borrower verifications, and during this process I brought along printed copies of the borrowers’ profiles. When sharing the profiles with the borrowers, I always pointed to the photos and names of their Kiva lenders at the top of the page. Borrowers – and their fellow group members for that matter – invariably studied their profiles intently, particularly focusing on the lenders from around the world who helped make their business dreams a reality.
One of these borrowers, Sarswati Thapa, is pictured in the photo below.
Sarswati Thapa, BPW Patan Borrower
Like 90% of BPW’s borrowers, Sarswati works in agriculture. Here she is chopping down a papaya, one of the crops that she grows on her small family farm adjacent to her home. In addition to papaya, Sarswati also grows green onions, cauliflower, and a plant that provides the foundation for garam masala spice. Farming in Nepal can be challenging, given the long stretches of dry weather and water shortages from October through April. Sarswati mentioned that she had already lost some crops to drought, and the Kiva loan – her first – helped her pay for additional seeds that she would not have been otherwise able to afford this growing season. At the moment, she and her family manage the farm on their own, supplying produce to their local village. But with additional land surrounding her home, she hopes to eventually expand her business and employ people on her farm.
From all of us at BPW Patan, thank you for lending to women in Nepal. With your loans, you not only provide BPW borrowers with the ability to purchase inputs for their businesses, but also empower them to dream about the future.
Sincerely,
Claudine Emeott
Claudine Emeott has been honored to work with the women of BPW Patan in Nepal. Although she is wrapping up her fellowship, she looks forward to remaining in close touch with her new friends at BPW Patan because she is staying in Nepal to work in the development sector. Check out the BPW Patan Lending Team and consider making a loan to a woman entrepreneur from Nepal.
Previous posts by Claudine Emeott:
Giving Women a Voice: Local Governance in BPW Patan
Women Working for Women: Staff + Client Collaboration in Nepal
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Landscape of Microfinance in Nepal
Small if Beautiful: Microcredit Fair in Nepal
Salam əleyküm from Azerbaijan
By Yelena Shuster, K11, Azerbaijan
Last week I arrived in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan to begin my three-month fellowship at Komak credit union. For me, Baku is a special place because like the country of my birth (Ukraine) it was one of the 15 republics that made up the former Soviet Union.
So you may wonder, where is Azerbaijan?click on the map below for details
