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Inlägg för Zainab (9e april 2013)

We wanted to let you know that Zainab has another loan posted on Kiva! Here's the description of their new loan:

Zainab is a 57-year-old housewife. Her husband sells fruits and vegetables while she works at home running a tailoring and sewing business. Most of her work concentrates on adding embroidery art to women’s dresses. Now Zainab has applied for a loan to buy more thread and new embroidery tools. She hopes that she can open her own workshop in the near future.

You can see Zainab 's new loan by visiting http://www.kiva.org/lend/546034?_te=rlnol.

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Inlägg för Aridza (25e mars 2013)

Merci d’avoir supporté Aridza avec votre prêt. Aridza vient de faire son dernier remboursement et voudrait vous mettre à jour du progrès de son activité principale.

Comme prévu, Aridza a utilisé son crédit afin d'acheter des articles de mercerie.
Aridza a réalisé une augmentation de ses bénéfices de 8.000 FCFA par mois. Le bénéfice lui a permis de bien nourrir ses enfants.
Aridza remercie de tout cœur les prêteurs de Kiva.


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Inlägg för Ulziibayar (26e november 2012)

Ulziibayar is grateful with Kiva and their lenders' help to her business. She runs business of grocery store with a special permission. The loan with an amount of MNT 2,000,000 was disbursed from XacBank branch "Songinohairhan" in Ulaanbaatar, Kiva's Mongolian partner MFI, on November 01, 2010. With the loan funding, she purchased goods and increased her working capital. Due to getting the loan, reduced deficit of goods and daily income and profit have been increased. Family atmosphere is warm. The standard of living is average. She bought family car for family use from her business profit.

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Inlägg för Sujey Johanna (19e november 2012)

We wanted to let you know that Sujey Johanna has another loan posted on Kiva! Here's the description of their new loan:

Sujey Johanna is 32 years old, a single mother of two children, and lives with her children in the city of Ventanas in the Los Rìos province.

She is a member of the communal bank JERUSALEN, which is located in the Caimito region, belonging to the Puerto Pechiche parrish, in the Pueblo Viejo canton. This solidarity group is dedicated to short cycle agricultural work such as corn, rice, and Gandul bean planting.

Sujey Johanna has made a living planting corn and rice for five years. She is requesting the loan to buy agricultural inputs, insecticides, urea, liquid herbicides, and fertilizers. With the help of the loan she can buy fertilizer for the crops. She will make these purchases in the city of Ventanas, in the province of Los Rìos. The challenges she faces are plagues and bad weather.

Her dream is to buy herself some property and a truck. In her free time she likes to play basketball and indoor soccer. She is very thankful for her former loan.


You can see Sujey Johanna 's new loan by visiting http://www.kiva.org/lend/498108?_te=rlnol.

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Inlägg för Neris Jacinta (17e oktober 2012)

We wanted to let you know that Neris Jacinta has another loan posted on Kiva! Here's the description of their new loan:

Neris Jacinta, 25, is single and has three children. She lives with her children in the city of Ventanas, Los Ríos Province. She’s a member of the “Caminando Hacia el Futuro” (Heading towards the Future) communal bank located in Recinto Jesús del Gran Poder belonging to Ventanas Canton; they work in agriculture.

Neris Jacinta works growing corn and is requesting the loan to buy insecticide, urea and liquid to combat weeds. With help from the loan she will be able to buy what’s needed for the crops. She will make the purchases in Ventanas.

Her dream is to buy land. In her free time she likes to work. She is very grateful for the previous loan.


You can see Neris Jacinta's new loan by visiting http://www.kiva.org/lend/485172?_te=rlnol.

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Inlägg för Nunufar (1a oktober 2012)

Greetings from Armenia!
Thank you for supporting Nunufar with retail. This loan helped her to increase product variety befory busy New Year season and significantly increase the business income. This allowed Nunufar to expand the booth and sell more products.
Development of the business is important for Nunufar to get additional income and pay for her children's education. She thanks all her lenders for support.

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Inlägg för Mary (31e augusti 2012)

Dear Kiva Community,

Thank you very much for your support of Faulu Kenya on Kiva.

Muskan Chopra recently spent 10 weeks working with the organization as a Kiva Fellow. During her time a Faulu, Muskan visited Josphat, a teacher, farmer, and Faulu borrower on Kiva. You can see his profile here: http://www.kiva.org/lend/353624

Muskan interviewed Josphat about his Kiva loan, and this is what he had to say. Your Kiva loans help entrepreneurs like Josphat reach their goals, support their families, and empower their communities.

You can read about more about Muskan's experiences on the Kiva Fellow's blog here: http://fellowsblog.kiva.org/author/muskanchopra/


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Inlägg för Julia (27e augusti 2012)

Julia used her loan to buy seeds and fertilizer. She increased her farm produce hence increasing her income. She used the additional income from her business to pay school fees for her children.
Julia hopes to grow her business in the future.

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Inlägg för Phylis (31e juli 2012)

Thank you for supporting Phylis. With the money, she purchased cooking fat and wheat flour to make food in the cafeteria. She is positive about the future and looks forward to becoming more financially stable.

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Inlägg för Rachael (28e maj 2012)

Thank you for your loan. Racheal used the loan to add stock of maize flour, cooking fat and salt. With the additional stock, she earned more profit from her business. She used the additional profits to pay school fees for her children. She also managed to repay her loan well. She hopes to grow her business in the future.

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Inlägg för Alexandra Elizabeth (11e maj 2012)

Alexandra Elizabeth tiene 33 años de edad es soltera vive con los hijos en el Cantón Ventanas Provincia de los Ríos. Los miembros de la VCR 28 de Enero se encuentra ubicada en el recinto El retorno, Parroquia Puerto Pechiche perteneciente al Cantón Pueblo Viejo, Esta Ventanilla se dedica a labores agrícolas de ciclo corto siembra de maíz, arroz. Alexandra se dedica a la agricultura a la siembra de maíz y arroz, Compra sus productos en el Comercial del Cantón Puerto Pechiche y las ventas en la misma localidad y en Ventanas. Solicita el crédito para la compra de semillas, insumos, fertilizantes para los cultivos. Con el apoyo del crédito le ayudaría económicamente para suplir necesidades. Enfrentar desafíos como las plagas y enfermedades. Su sueño es poder comprarse una casa para poder vivir con los hijos y no estar preocupada del arriendo. En los tiempos libres le gusta salir a pasear con la familia.

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Inlägg för Aridza (3e maj 2012)

My name is Michael, and I am a Kiva Fellow. For the past three and a half months I have worked with Kiva's field partner, the microfinance institution Women and Associations for Gains both Economic and Social (WAGES). The Fellowship is an unpaid, volunteer, position, and our role is to verify the accuracy of information provided in Kiva profiles, provide technical assistance, and deepen the working relationship between Kiva and the field partner. As a web-based platform that does not have a day-to-day field presence, Kiva relies entirely on the ability of the field partner to select suitable clients, manage loan disbursements, and collect repayments.
As there was a previous fellow here with WAGES nine months ago, this field update will reflect a different aspect of the work undertaken here on your behalf. During my time with WAGES, I have had the pleasure of working intimately with back-office staff, front-line workers, and out in the field with clients. Visiting clients is a perennial delight, as you are allowed intimate access to the work and environment of professionals you would otherwise never meet.
My favourite has been visiting tailor shops, where a group of tailors usually sit close to one another in a small room before their sewing machines, reams of cloth about their feet, the men in open shirts or undershirts and the women in flowing short-sleeve shirts and long skirts. Given that the sewing machines are pushed right together, these workspaces have the feel of an elementary school classroom.
Irrespective of the individual shop, a radio tuned to a news broadcast or playing music is a constant feature, and the atmosphere is collegial and intimate, despite being wide open to the street scene beyond. The sewing machines chatter loudly and the spindles of thread turn on their axes, feeding the eyes of upraised wire holders forming an aerial path to the sewing machine and becoming, under easy guidance of experienced hands, embroidery, hem, and fold. It is, despite the machinery involved, a seemingly timeless activity.
The fact remains that this scene could only be witnessed because of the loan officer who brought me to it, introduced me to the shop owner—the borrower—and made sure that I was shown all that there is to see in such a place. This, rather than clients alone, is what I want to present to you: the story of loan officers.
Loan officers here are among the well-educated of Togo: they hold university degrees in economics, commerce, business marketing, accounting, and sometimes have even spent time studying law before, like students elsewhere, stepping away from the ivory tower to join the work force in order to earn a living. They are by majority men in their early twenties to early thirties, though women comprise close to forty percent of the officers and are of the same general age group.
The defining characteristics of the loan officers here is their strength of personality and volubility—they spend their entire day negotiating with clients, whether it be to accept a loan request, or to impress upon a client that a late repayment will have financial consequences that will be both felt immediately in terms of penalties and later, in terms of access to new credit. Clients apply pressure on them or ignore them, depending on circumstances; and their income depends on their performance, there being a bonus system in place for the amount of loans outstanding and adherence to repayment schedules. The larger the outstanding portfolio, the better the bonus, but only so long as the repayments are on time and of the required amount.
Though Kiva's borrowers comprise WAGES' smallest loan amounts, this MFI also lends to larger borrowers, merchants and businesspeople who have had success in their professional lives and who require access to greater amounts of credit. In this way, loan officers work with people of all sorts during the course of a day, demonstrating a personal ability to treat all with respect as well as the greater general social equality that marks Togolese society.
In a day spent shadowing a loan officer, I observed the following interactions. First thing in the morning, a man came in seeking a loan of $5,000 dollars for his internet café, here called a cyber, so he may purchase additional computers to increase revenue. The loan officer nodded, asked some questions—location, rent, monthly revenues—and agreed to visit the business later that day to verify these and other details in person.
Then a woman who sells fried fish at the local market dropped by to repay $50 as part of her monthly amount owing of a Kiva loan of $500. Once she deposited the money with the cashier, she talked with the loan officer for a while to explain that the next month's repayment would be late by two weeks, on account of a trip she must take to visit a sick relative outside of the city. The loan officer agreed to this, based on the client's solid history of repayments.
Next, another women came in , to finalize the paperwork on a loan for $80,000; her business is as a bulk seller of grains, supplying a significant percentage of small vendors in her neighborhood market. This loan is on the upper end of WAGES' credit offering and only a small percentage of their clients will be allowed such an amount of credit.
This series of interactions is typical, and once a loan officer has met them all, they'll also spend a good number of hours of the day out visiting clients at their businesses, their homes, their properties under development, or with guarantors. Loan officers will stop by the government land office to verify title deeds to property; they will also randomly speak with the businesses that neighbor their clients', just to verify if the client has a good reputation or even if the client is in fact the owner of the business as claimed.
As the lives of clients are diverse and busy, the working day of the loan officer is equally so; accordingly they often have no scheduled breaks in their day and will return to the office in the late afternoon sweaty and dusty to do paperwork. Often as they are about to step out the door to head home, a client who has evaded them the entire day will call them, and say that their repayment is in hand—can we meet? So the officer trundles off to meet the client, prolonging the day, and giving fact to why there is high turnover among loan officers.
It is a sometimes stressful job, physically tiring, and yet there a lulls in every day, when a meeting with a client is suddenly postponed or goes missing for reasons unknown, and the loan officer finds themselves at the office with nothing to do. In these moments of calm, a loan officer resembles the world-weary private detective passing time until the next case comes barging in through the door.
Warm regards from Lomé,
Michael Slattery
To find out more about WAGES, visit its Kiva partner page or the WAGES website. Or show your support by making another loan to one of its borrowers or joining the WAGES lending team.


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Inlägg för Isabel (29e mars 2012)

A Isabel el urgía limpiar sus terrenos de cultivos, para eso destinó el dinero en la compra de herramientas como machetes. Además pagó a los jornaleros que contrató para limpiar dichos cultivos. Así su cafetal está más fuerte para la cosecha.

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Inlägg för Gladys Yolanda (21e mars 2012)

GLADYS YOLANDA tiene 40 años de edad, es casada, vive con el esposo y con los 5 hijos, vive en San Miguel en el Recinto Tangara perteneciente a la Provincia de Bolívar.

Esta Ventanillas se llama CAMPECINOS UNIDOS esta ubicada en el recinto Tangara y se encuentra a unos 15 minutos del Cantón San Miguel, los miembros de esta ventanilla se dedican a la agricultura y al comercio.

Gladys se a la agricultura a la siembra de maiz y trigo ademas vende electrodomesticos por medio de pedidos como fuente de ingresos para la failia.

El crédito lo solicito para la comprar de insumos agrícolas fertilizantes y semillas ademas comprar electrodomesticos para vender, el crédito apoyado en el negocio familiar ya que produce mas y se tiene que trabajar para pagar la deuda.

Su sueño es ampliar su negocio de venta de electrodomesticos. Los desafíos que se enfrento son plagas y enfermedades en los cultivos. Le gusta hacer deporte y trabajar en la tierra.

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Inlägg för Neris Jacinta (19e mars 2012)

Neris Jacinta tiene 25 años de edad vive en unión libre, vive con el esposo y con la hija de 3 años de edad en el en el Cantón Ventanas Provincia de los Ríos.

Pertenece a la VCR Caminando Hacia el Futuro, Se encuentra ubicada en el Recinto Jesús de gran Poder, pertenece al Cantón Ventanas se dedica a labores agrícolas de ciclo corto siembra de maíz, arroz.

Neris se dedica a la agricultura a la siembra de maíz y arroz.

Solicito el crédito para la compra de semillas, insumos, líquidos, urea y fertilizantes para los cultivos.

Con el apoyo del crédito le ayudado económicamente para suplir necesidades. En los tiempos libres le gusta salir a pasear y dedicar más tiempo al trabajo.

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Inlägg för Neris Jacinta (12e mars 2012)

We wanted to let you know that Neris Jacinta has another loan posted on Kiva! Many borrowers take out successive microfinance loans, meaning that after they have repaid one loan, they take out another loan to continue to grow their business. Some borrowers also take out simultaneous add-on loans along with their primary loan, and these loans are typically smaller and serve a different purpose than their primary loan.

If you're interested in lending to Neris Jacinta again, you can see Neris Jacinta's new loan at http://www.kiva.org/lend/400586?_te=rlnol.

Because of the way Kiva's billing system works, Neris Jacinta may have fully repaid the previous loan to the Field Partner, but you may not have received the final repayments on that loan yet. If you have any questions about this, please email Kiva Customer Service at contactus@kiva.org.

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Inlägg för Ruth (20e februari 2012)

Thank you for your loan Ruth used her entire loan amount to purchase more water for sale till she has opened another depot at Kitengela. She had had no difficulty in repaying her loan and in future she would like to borrow more funds and educate her children.

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Inlägg för Mujeres Del Exito Group (3e januari 2012)

Gracias al préstamo que se les otorgó han logrado la compra de productos para tienda, han comprado aguas gaseosas, jugos, golosinas, artículos de limpieza. Han obtenido beneficios con el prestamos y es el tener una tienda surtida y el aumento de sus ingresos gracias a la gran variedad de productos que ofrece. La dificultad que han enfrentado es la insuficiencia de capital, el éxitos alcanzado es tener un negocio con variedades. Van bien con sus pagos, les gusta trabajar con ASDIR por la atención personalizada que les brinda y esperan que se le siga apoyando, especialmente a las mujeres.

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Inlägg för Gladys Yolanda (27e december 2011)

Dear generous lenders to the Cooperativa San Jose,

It is with more than a little bit of sadness that I send you this thank you message, since it marks the end of four incredible months which were full of as many twists and turns as the precarious mountain roads that connect Kiva's field partner, Cooperativa San Jose (CSJ), with its enterprising rural borrowers in the western Andean state of Bolivar, in central Ecuador.

I realize in retrospect that my fellowship here had as much to do with advancing the partnership between CSJ and Kiva as it did with patching the hole left by the maternity leave of CSJ's Kiva Coordinator, Karina Mancero. Karina is the overwhelmingly warm and gracious CSJ employee responsible for uploading the photos and stories you browsed through before you made your loans, creating the updates many of you received a few months after lending, and reporting the repayments that keep your Kiva credit flowing back into your accounts and on to other borrowers. She is an amazing presence at CSJ, her enthusiasm, excitement, and generosity almost absurdly out of proportion to her tiny frame. You'll be happy to know that she has given birth to a beautiful baby boy, and has just finished enjoying her last couple of weeks with her family before resuming her close partnership with Kiva.

So a lot of my time here has been spent fine-tuning the training of Mrs. Mancero's replacement (confusingly, also named Karina, pictured above on the left with Mrs. Mancero and I), and making sure the project continued effectively in her absence. However, I have also had the opportunity, amid efforts to improve the method of collection of the information for Kiva as well as conduct Borrower Verifications (like a due diligence review, Kiva style), to visit a few of Kiva and CSJ's amazing borrowers. We met Angel Segundo, for example, at his temporary day job as an independent bricklaying contractor for the city of Guaranda, capital of Bolivar state. He even seems to be creating work for others; when we stopped by his worksite he had at least five other people working for him, helping to flatten out the base layer of earth before the bricks are laid. Angel lives far away from the Guaranda, in Recinto San Juan, and with his $800 loan he helped his family increase the stock of their small general store there. And as if that weren't enough for this enterprising man, he also manages to run a small corn, wheat, potato, chicken, and pig farm on the land near his house. Angel's is a great example of the multiple activities in which many of CSJ's hardworking borrowers invest their time so that they can successfully realize the loans' maximum potential to improve their lives. His picture is attached.

Angel also encompasses all three of the most common types of businesses that CSJ's unique "Ventanillas Rurales" (Window to the Countryside) group loan product caters to; mobile contracting businesses (often consisting of tasks like soldering or bricklaying), small retail businesses (selling everything from jewelry to phone cards to household goods), and agricultural enterprises (anything from standard crop cultivation to farms that specialize in raising guinea pigs). The product was originally created with agriculturalists as its target borrowers, and the vast majority of CSJ's current borrowers still use the loans to expand their farm operations. The "Ventanillas Rurales" loan product is being constantly adjusted and improved to better meet the changing needs of borrowers' increasingly diverse enterprises.

Thank you so much for supporting the good work of Kiva's field partner, the Cooperativa de Ahorro y Credito San Jose de Chimbo Ltda. (to use its full name), and its remarkably entrepreneurial borrowers. Keep up the good work!

Marcus Berkowitz,
Kiva Fellow, KF16


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Inlägg för Munhtsog (22e juli 2011)

Munhtsog happy about Kiva and their lenders' help to her business. She received 1,200,000 MNT loan from Xacbank, Kiva's Mongolian partner MFI, in April 2011. She requested this loan to purchase goods, lingeries, children's toys. Her income and customer number have increased. She relocated her selling place to north of the bazaar. The compete has increased because administrators relocated the sellers, who sells same things, in one place. No changes occurred in her family. Her business is running well and with her income she bought more goods. rn rn rn rn rn rn rn rn

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Inlägg för Djiguitougou Group (11e juli 2011)

Les quatre femmes du groupe Djiguitougou se sont approvisionnées avec le prêt en poissons et en habillement. Ce prêt les a permis d'augmenter leurs fonds de commerce et de mener pendant toute l'année leurs activités génératrices de revenu. Les perspectives sont bonnes car les membres du groupe sont entrain de prendre en charge les soins de santé de leurs enfants et d'épargner afin d'avoir un lot à usage d'habitation.

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Inlägg för Andrea Paola (8e juni 2011)

Fuimos a visitar a la señora Andrea, ella pertenece al banco comunal Las Orquídeas y vive la ciudadela Los Tamarindos del Cantón Portoviejo conocido por el nombre de la ciudad de los Reales Tamarindos. Ella se dedica a la venta de ropa de todo tipo. Con el crédito que recibió viajo a Quito para recibir mercadería que le llego desde Colombia. Nos cuenta que con el nuevo local vendió mucho sobre todo en la época de Navidad y Año Nuevo que fue cuando inauguro su local en asa fecha vendió mucho y que desde allí se ha mantenido ya que sus productos son de muy buena calidad y eso le gusta a los clientes, con su nuevo local aumentaron sus ventas y tuvo mejores ganancias. En lo que se refiere a los pagos nos cuenta que tuvo dos atrasos y en ambos casos fue que se encontraba de viaje en el momento de los pagos estaba comprando mercadería pero al dia siguiente en la reunión se ponía al dia. En cuanto a su salud nos cuenta que gracias a dios están muy bien. Sus sueños son tener su propio local y así no pagar mas arriendos. Fue un placer pasar el tiempo con Andrea. Gracias por apoyarla y apoyar a Fundación Espoir.rnrn

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Inlägg för Olimpia (20e maj 2011)

I'm a Pittsburgh native and a public health nut that recently quit her job working in a non profit in Boston, Massachusetts to serve as a Kiva Fellow. And I was fortunate to be placed with Microfinanzas Prisma (MFP) in Lima, Peru at a very exciting moment. This year marks Prisma's 25th anniversary. Founded in 1986, Prisma is celebrating 25 years of providing social and financial services to clients in Peru. MFP, the credit department of the non-profit Prisma, was formed in 1994 "to provide integrated financial and non-financial services to disadvantaged communities to strengthen their capacities and promote sustainable social and economic development." They target the most vulnerable populations living in rural and per-urban areas and close to 30% of MFP's clients are living below Peru's national poverty line. MFP works to help clients increase their income by providing comprehensive services, which include not only financial services, but also non-financial ones, mainly education and training activities.

You are receiving this update because you have loaned money to a client of Microfinanzas Prisma. Kiva works with field partners, or microfinance organizations, around the world. Once a partnership is established, this organization can then post client profiles to the Kiva.org site and then you can carefully read through and select which client you want to lend to. MFP has had a successful relationship with Kiva for almost 4 years, making it one of the longest running partnerships on Kiva.org. During this time MFP has uploaded $5,948,250 worth of loans to Kiva with a 1.41% delinquency rate and a 0% default rate.

Kiva Fellows are paired with microfinance organizations for three to four months to fulfill a variety of tasks, all of which help to promote transparency between the field partner, Kiva, and you, the lender. During my fellowship I worked to complete a borrower verification (BV) for MFP. A borrower verification is like a mini audit that happens twice to once a year depending on the length of the relationship with Kiva and the default/delinquency rates. Kiva selects a random sample of ten clients that represents an organization's portfolio and sends it to us fellows. We, in turn, visit each and every client on the list to verify that they are who they say they are, that they indeed received a loan for the amount posted on Kiva's website, and to talk to them about their business and loan use.

Unlike your traditional auditor, I have not been passing my days sitting in offices shuffling through paperwork. Instead, I have spent my three months been traveling deep into the Andes and the jungles of Peru to find the clients. I rode my first motorcycle to travel two and a half hours into the Andes, I took shared taxis that drove through rivers in the jungle and spent my days and nights traveling by bus between the headquarters in Lima and the branch offices that do the ground work of vetting and interviewing clients to appear on the website, take their photo, and write up their story.

I have met a number of amazing MFP clients during my time as a fellow, but I will never forget meeting MFP client, Rosa Vargas, in Lima my first week as a Kiva Fellow.

Rosa is 56 years old and preparing to open her own restaurant in her house in the next year. How many of you would embark on a new business in your 50's? I don't know that I would. But as Rosa explained, she had been washing clothes for neighbors. The job was physically demanding on her and not very profitable. And she believed she had great recipes to share with everyone, "recetas muy ricas" [very tasty recipes] as she described. So, she did what anyone wanting to start her own business would do. She asked around about where she could get some start up money. And she got connected with PRISMA.

I talked to Rosa in the kitchen of another building because her house was under construction. The walls were being painted and she hoped to put in tiling and tables and chairs for her customers to sit and enjoy their meal. She invited me back to her kitchen as we continued to talk. And I snapped a few shots and showed her the photos I took. She laughed and grabbed my arm as she covered her mouth with her hand. Her happiness was overwhelming for me.

I will never forget my meeting with Rosa. Part of what drew me to KIVA was the idea of female empowerment that Rosa embodies. That women, with the help of MFIs like PRISMA, can realize their dreams of owning their own business at any stage in their life and attain the financial independence to care for themselves and their children. After meeting Rosa this idea I had became a reality.

Thank you all for supporting the hardworking clients and staff of MFP. To get more involved join MFP's lending team "Friends of Microfinanzas Prisma" to receive more updates from the field.

Noreen Giga, KF14 Peru

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Inlägg för Mujeres Del Exito Group (16e maj 2011)

Life runs at a completely different pace in the Guatemalan highlands. Meetings times are fuzzy, and both heavy rain and soccer games seem to be able to bring a town to a standstill. The people live with tremendous Faith and immeasurable pride for their community. Gang violence and tragedies during the Civil War have paralyzed the development of much of the country which is now starting to work its way up. Institutions like Asociación ASDIR are helping this process move along. Guatemala ranks as one of the 10 poorest countries in Latin America, and this is especially visible in the highlands where trash fires double as the home heater and cooking fire.

I made the decision to transition from Kiva lender to Kiva Fellow early last year. I left my life behind in the Bay Area to fly wherever Kiva needed an extra pair of eyes and ears in the field. As a Fellow, I have spent many hours on the back of a motorbike with loan officers to visit clients and also help maintain Kiva's relationship with their field partner, Asociación ASDIR. I have also spent many long days in ASDIR headquarters working with the company's information systems and chatting with management about their relationship with Kiva. As a field partner, ASDIR is the organization that actually finds the borrowers who end up on Kiva.org.

ASDIR (Asociacion de Desarrollo Integral Rural - Association for the Development of Rural Communities) is a community-based organization that works to promote development in the rural villages of the region. As you can imagine, a focus on rural communities makes travel an important part of a loan officer's job. Hours on a motorbike on a dirt road has made me appreciate my previous urban commutes. I can't stress enough how hard loan officers work just to find their clients. This is a cost which ASDIR is prepared to cover in order to provide access to these rural communities. On one particular visit a member of the Comango Group explained to me that she feels blessed to have an association like ASDIR to bring the convenience of financial services to her doorstep. She would not otherwise have the opportunity to take out a loan for her vegetable and cattle raising businesses. Doña Catarina explained this to us in a mix of Spanish and K'iche, which is a major indigenous language in the region of Totonicapán. ASDIR provides their services in both languages since Spanish is usually only spoken in the larger towns of the region.

Guatemala's community cohesiveness cannot be overstated. Crime is limited by the community watch groups which were formed as a reaction to the lack of a police force in the region. Local institutions like ASDIR have also reacted to the growing trash problem by sponsoring a youth entrepreneurs group which placed trash bins throughout the town and implemented a collection system. This community cohesiveness translates into ASDIRs community banking program. Groups of 10-25 women form communal banks which make up a large portion of ASDIRs loans on Kiva. For most of these women, their participation in these groups is their first exposure to any sort of financial product.

As a city boy it has been a challenge living in the Guatemalan highlands. Nevertheless, I made it through water rationing and extreme cold and have adapted to this new lifestyle. I got used to being served pasta with a side of tortillas and French fries (although my metabolism may not have). In my final week, I admire all of my coworkers for continuing to provide a professional service in such difficult conditions. Power outages and torrential rainstorms do not stop loan officers from heading out on their motorbikes for routine client visits.

As lenders you are the fuel which keeps this entrepreneurial fire going. The support that ASDIR receives from yourself and Kiva helps them expand their portfolio and provide more loans to their rural clients. Doña Maria Erlinda specifically would like to thank each of the lenders who financed her loan. She values the opportunity to provide a better life for her children, and her Kiva loan has helped create just that.
As this rainstorm continues, I can tell you that I am warmed by the thought that all of you have taken on the risk to help these entrepreneurs and for that ASDIR and I thank you.

Gustavo Visalli
KF14 Guatemala


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Inlägg för Morm (3e maj 2011)

Over the past 3 months, I have had been able to spend time in this warm and welcoming country, and met with a number of CREDIT entrepreneurs while performing a routine borrower verification, a Kiva requirement of its field partners.

What is a borrower verification, and why does Kiva require it?
A borrower verification is a process Kiva relies on to maintain strong partnerships with microfinance institutions like CREDIT. With a sample of ten randomly-selected clients, a Kiva Fellow or staff member will go to the field and visit each entrepreneur, making sure that all of their information matches what is on the borrower's page on Kiva.

Kiva requires a borrower verification from new partners, to ensure honesty and accuracy in their information, which benefits both the borrowers and lenders like you. This way, you can trust that the money you so generously lend goes to a real person with a real business. Longtime partners such as CREDIT go through several borrower verifications over the course of the partnership, mainly so that Kiva is able to get a sense of how effectively things are run in the field.

That sounds good, so what happened?
Some of the most dynamic, incredible borrowers that I've met in Cambodia were CREDIT clients! Some highlights:

Lun Sino, who took out a loan with her husband Sourn Chay to start a business selling mangoes and meatballs. Her business has done so well that she has passed the meatball business on to her daughter to run, and has started a new venture: selling mango jam! She had such a vibrant personality that Kiva and TakePart featured her on International Women's Day, so she's now a mini-celebrity!

I also met with Um Lart, a basket weaver from Takeo province. Pictured are the baskets she worked tirelessly to create, which are sturdy and popular among members of her village who rely on them to carry vegetables and fruit from their farms to the markets in the morning. Since she works alone, Um can create one basket per day. After she's done with her Kiva loan, she is looking forward to expanding her operations, hopefully taking on additional employees to create more baskets in less time.

Lastly, I met with Norn Phirom, an ethnic Vietnamese borrower living in Cambodia. Having started out as a housewife, Norn ventured out of her village to the busy markets of Phnom Penh to purchase snacks and other convenience goods to sell out of her home. In running this business, she's able to spend time with her baby, earn money to support her family, and also learn the importance of building relationships with her clients (she told me that she and some of her clients have become very good friends).

CREDIT's staff was extremely professional and some of the friendliest people I have ever met. CREDIT also cares immensely about its borrowers, which was one of the first things I noticed. Thanks for reading, and more importantly, thank you for your loan to a CREDIT borrower!

Cheers,
Stephanie Sibal, Kiva Fellow, KF14 Cambodia
CREDIT, a partner of World Relief


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Inlägg för Dinar Isakova's Group (27e april 2011)

Mol Bulak Finance would like to provide you with an update on your group of borrowers. For your convenience, we have prepared an interview with the leader of the group, along with an English translation of their responses. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to respond to this update. Your comments are welcomed and are regularly reviewed by our staff.

To learn more about Mol Bulak and view a Video presentation about the organization, please visit: http://www.kiva.org/about/aboutPartner?id=135. If you would like to support and learn more about Kyrgyzstan and micro-finance in Central Asia, please join our Lending Team - Supporters of Kyrgyzstan - at http://kiva.org/team/kyrgyzstan


Interviewer: What exactly did you use the loan for?
Borrower: With money received from the loan I purchased 500kg of potatoes, 500kg of onions and 500kg of carrots

Interviewer: Do you think that the loan helped you?
Borrower: The loan helped me to increase the turnover of my business up to 20000 soms. With the profits gained from selling vegetables I purchased building materials for house construction

Interviewer: What plans do you have for the future?
Borrower: In the future I want to expand my business and purchase a container for trade


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Inlägg för Faridahan Mamatova's Group (25e april 2011)

Mol Bulak Finance would like to provide you with an update on your group of borrowers. For your convenience, we have prepared an interview with the leader of the group, along with an English translation of their responses. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to respond to this update. Your comments are welcomed and are regularly reviewed by our staff.

To learn more about Mol Bulak and view a Video presentation about the organization, please visit: http://www.kiva.org/about/aboutPartner?id=135. If you would like to support and learn more about Kyrgyzstan and micro-finance in Central Asia, please join our Lending Team - Supporters of Kyrgyzstan - at http://kiva.org/team/kyrgyzstan


Interviewer: What exactly did you use the loan for?
Borrower: With money received from the loan I purchase four sheep for 14 000 soms

Interviewer: Do you think that the loan helped you?
Borrower: The loan helped me to increase the number of livestock

Interviewer: What plans do you have for the future?
Borrower: In the future I want to expand my business and start repairing the house


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Inlägg för Otgonsuren (20e april 2011)

Otgonsuren is happy about Kiva and their lenders for helping her business. She received 2,500,000 MNT loan from Xacbank, Kiva's Mongolian partner MFI, in December 2010. She requested the loan to purchase livestock. With the livestock she provides Tavan-Erdene restaurant's needs. She bought the livestock during they were cheap and her income has increased. No changes occurred in her family.






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Inlägg för Pamela (19e april 2011)

Thank you for supporting entrepreneurs in Bolivia

My name is Clara Vreeken. From January to April I have had the privilege of volunteering at Kiva's field partner IMPRO in Bolivia. This small micro finance institution contributes to the well-being of Bolivian entrepreneurs by loaning to them with reasonable interest rates (on average 1.4% monthly, which is very low compared to other banking institutions in Bolivia). Kiva has been working with IMPRO for four years.

IMPRO provides different kinds of loans to the Kiva borrowers: the 'Housing and Improving of Living Conditions Program', providing loans for construction or repair of the borrower's house; the 'Rural Loan Program' - providing loans to farmers who want to buy a milking cow; and the 'Productive Loan Program' for loans to micro entrepreneurs and loans for education and health.

I have visited various borrowers and all of them have different stories. For the three kinds of loans IMPRO provides I will tell the story of the following borrowers: Pascuala and Santos (see Santos at the picture with his cow), Rosa (on the picture with her son) and Miriam.

Rural: Pascuala and Santos eat better thanks to their dairy cow
Pascuala is a milk producer and on market days she sells tracksuits that her husband Santos makes. She used her loan money to increase her dairy herd, buying a good-quality dairy cow. When Santos came to the office of IMPRO to get a Kiva loan, he was so kind as to take me to his farm and guide me around. Have a look at the video where Santos shows the farm by clicking here.

Santos and Pascuala live with Santos' father and sister and their eight year old daughter. Santos has studied to be a teacher. He would like to become a teacher, while Pascuala watches the animals at the farm. While traveling to his farm he tells me that with the earned money from the extra dairy cow they will be able to pay for extra food that does not grow at their farm (such as fruits and vegetables), unforeseen costs (such as medicines) and for their daughter's education. In the future they would like to buy their own house and live there with their daughter. Santos' dream is to study more, perhaps medicine.

Micro enterprise: Rosa became stronger by having her own shoe business
Rosa used a Kiva loan to buy the materials needed to manufacture women's shoes. When Rodrigo, the loan officer, and I visited her just after Carnival, she told me that she had sold a lot during the Carnival period. Normally she makes 36 pairs of shoes in a week and sells 24 pairs. During the week of Carnival she sold 625 pairs!

Rosa is a single mother of three children aged 7, 9 and 11. Her ex-husband used to beat her. When she got her own shoe business, she felt stronger and decided to get a divorce. Rosa and her children are now living in one big rented room and Rosa makes her shoes in a tent outside her house. She was able to buy a sewing machine, which makes the work easier. Her wish is to get her own house where she can have her shoe business. Rosa's dream is to export her shoes to Peru or Argentina.

Have a look at the tent where she makes the shoes and at her room where she has her sewing machine, by clicking here.

Education: Miriam's children can go to school and play chess
When she was at IMPRO's office Miriam told me that she is a single mother of three children aged 16, 15 and 12. She works as administrative assistant at an institution that does community work in health and education, and she works as a secretary at a school. She used Kiva's loans for the education of her children. She paid for school tuition, computer lessons and the contribution to the chess club for her children and bought them uniforms and books.

Miriam's children are fond of playing chess, which they learned at school. With their school they have competitions against other schools. With a twinkling in her eyes she told me that they won three times.

Miriam could improve their standard of living a lot. Every year she has been able to cover the educational expenses of her three children. In addition she was able to buy a computer for her children and two desks. One year ago she also got internet at home, which is quiet exceptional in Bolivia. She has also used an amount from a previous loan to repair her house.

Thank you!
You have made a huge impact on the borrower's lives by loaning to IMPRO's clients via Kiva! On behalf of all IMPRO's clients I thank you very much!

More IMPRO
If you like IMPRO's clients as much as I do, you can loan to them by clicking here

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Inlägg för Josefa (5e april 2011)

Dear Lender,

Thank you very much for your support of borrowers in the Philippines.

As a Kiva Fellow, I recently had the opportunity to work with Kiva partner, the Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF) in Bacolod City, the city of smiles. NWTF's main microfinance arm, Project Dungganon (meaning honorable), from which all Kiva loans are administered, serves ~80,000 clients through 42 branch offices - predominantly in the Visayas region of the Philippines.

While working there, I visited 13 of Project Dungganon's branch offices, and spoke with numerous borrowers. What stood out to me most in my conversations with these women is the drive they possess to improve their businesses and their lives. Guerlita, a borrower whom I met in Negros Occidental operates four different businesses – a donut vending business, a sari sari (general) store, a trisikad business (a trisikad is a bicycle with a sidecar attached to it, and is a common mode of transportation in the Philippines), and a charcoal briquette business. When I asked Guerlita about her hopes for the future, she didn't hesitate to tell me about her dream of setting up a vinegar business. When she has more time and more capital, Guerlita hopes to establish this venture – in which she would ferment coconut water to make vinegar, and then sell it to wholesalers. Her entrepreneurial spirit and hard-working nature captured me. Guerlita is a woman full of ideas, and working her absolute hardest to improve her family's life. Hers is a story that confirms to me that microfinance can make a big difference.

Working at NWTF, the organization itself also inspired me in its approach in serving the poor. While I could write pages about its many client-centered activities, I want to highlight specifically two of the initiatives that have stood out to me.

First, there is the notion of the income-generating survival skill, or more commonly referred to as 'the IGSS'. Regardless of how poor one is, a person has acquired skills in their lifetime that can help them successfully run a business. With this belief, NWTF has all clients complete an IGSS assessment when applying for a loan – where they, together with their loan officer, identify their skills and generate potential business ideas, empowering the member from the get-go. This is perhaps most effective for prospective clients who do not have businesses, a segment of the poor population that can often be overlooked by lending institutions.

Second, NWTF is committed to helping its members in their most vulnerable times. This is perhaps best illustrated in my meeting with Kiva borrower, Lucy. When I met Lucy, she appeared happy and healthy, belying the fact that her and her two sons had recently been hospitalized due to a severe stomach illness. While many in her situation may have been unable to pay for medical care, or forced to borrow from friends and relatives, Lucy was not indebted to anyone when she left the hospital. To pay the hospital costs upfront, Lucy withdrew money from her individual compulsory fund (a type of savings account that can only be withdrawn under emergency circumstances), while she waited for her insurance claim to be processed. Both the savings fund and insurance are services provided by NWTF in its effort to help clients in their greatest times of need.

NWTF is an institution that continually strives to better serve its clients throughout the Philippines. I have been honored to work alongside the organization's dedicated staff, and with NWTF's clients, who continually strive to improve their lives.

Below is a picture I took while visiting Kiva borrower, Florentina, in Negros Occidental. Androw (a member of the special projects team at NWTF), Florentina, and myself are pictured standing in front of the crates that Florentina uses in her pepsi wholesale venture.

Thank you again for your support of borrowers in the Philippines like Florentina, Lucy, and Guerlita.

Best wishes,

Joanne Gan
Kiva Fellow, NWTF, Philippines

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Inlägg för Twikuremubukene Group (15e mars 2011)

Thank you for your contribution to this group's loan. We recently had the opportunity to speak with the leader of this group, who told us a bit about how she and the other group members are doing. The group leader used her share of the loan to buy women's clothing and other clothing items to sell in her shop, and also bus tickets to transport her goods. She says he state of affairs is good, and she told us that she expects that she and her other group members will be able to repay their loan early. She says that, as a result of her loan, her business has become more well-known, and she has increased her capital. With the profits from her business, she was able to pay her child's school fees, and provide for the well-being of her family.

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Inlägg för Sophea Say (14e mars 2011)

Mrs. Sophea Say is a silk weaver, while her husband is a farmer. In November 2010, she requested a loan of US $300 to purchase weaving materials for her business.

Sophea buys raw silk from the middleman in the village and sells her finished products back to them. The price of raw materials is now high and her income is low, but she will still continue her business because it is her traditional profession business. However, Sopheap had no problem for paying back the loan; she already paid off her monthly installment as well.



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Inlägg för Ulziibayar (16e februari 2011)

Thank you for your ongoing support of Kiva and its entrepreneurs at XacBank, a field partner in Mongolia. Just recently, XacBank marked the two year anniversary of its partnership with Kiva. Over this time, you and other lenders have assisted over 2,950 entrepreneurs with $3,400,000 USD in loans. As a Kiva Fellow, I've been working at XacBank over the past six months and want to share a few of their interesting programs – the creation of green loans, the spread of mobile banking, and the promotion of organic products.

Did you know that Ulaanbaatar is ranked the world's 5th worst city for air pollution? The World Bank estimates that 60% of the air pollution comes from household heating systems and the fuel used to keep families warm in the winter. XacBank has partnered with Micro Energy Credits to develop green loans for items such as fuel efficient stoves, solar panels, warm housing covers, and energy efficient fuels.

Oyunchimeg, one of XacBank's eco loan clients, began sewing sheets from her ger, a traditional Mongolian felt tent, in 2009. Running her small business from her home means that she must simultaneously keep a fire going in order to stay warm. At the beginning of winter, Oyunchimeg took a microloan from XacBank in order to buy more environmentally-friendly fuel in bulk. Oyunchimeg said that the new fuel helped her save money on fuel costs in the long run and also helped her run her business from home.

As well as in the environmental sector, XacBank has been innovative in the mobile banking area. XacBank created a mobile banking service named AMAR, which is available in some of the most remote areas of Mongolia. Clients no longer have to travel to one of XacBank's physical branches; Clients can use a combination of cell phones and over 3,000 cash-handling agents, such as remote grocery stores and trusted individuals, to make a variety of transactions such as depositing, withdrawing, and transferring money.

Click here to watch a short video of XacBank's AMAR mobile banking service.

Altantsetseg is both a Kiva entrepreneur and AMAR mobile banking user. She operates a small business selling meat in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. Altantsetseg says that she's a very busy woman running her small business, and normally doesn't have too much time to go to the bank office. Since becoming a user of the AMAR mobile banking service, Altantsetseg says it has really saved her time and made her business more efficient. She can take payments and send payments to and from her partners through AMAR.

XacBank has partnered with many organizations such as the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce, large energy businesses and national media organizations to promote a project named Organic Mongolia. This project promotes organic goods grown and produced locally in Mongolia. It supports micro-businesses by providing low interest rate loans with no collateral requirements.

In addition to the loans, the project has many activities such as mass media advertising for the organic goods, training for entrepreneurs by professionals, certification of organic goods, and large scale trade fairs. So far, Organic Mongolia has assisted a wide variety of businesses like bee farms, greenhouses, soy bean production, and animal nutrition products. Click here to watch a video of some of Organic Mongolia's activities.

Recently, all of the Organic Mongolia partners volunteered one day to assist a local greenhouse in bringing in their harvest. The XacBank team cleared the greenhouse of cucumber vines and roots, and then planted a batch of lettuce. While the team members worked in the greenhouse, the media sponsors produced a small segment to promote organic farming and organic businesses to the Mongolian public.

The staff at XacBank are committed to reducing poverty in Mongolia through innovative activities like the ones I've shared with you. Thank you again for your continued support of Kiva entrepreneurs, and, in turn, the Kiva field partners that disburse the loans in Mongolia. Please feel free to join the XacBank lending team on Kiva.

Thank you,

Amber Barger, KF14 Mongolia


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Inlägg för Andrea Paola (10e februari 2011)

Dear Kiva Lenders,

I just returned from a fun and interesting three month Kiva Fellowship in Ecuador. During this fellowship I had the opportunity to work with Kiva field partner Fundación ESPOIR (ESPOIR). Since you have previously supported Kiva borrowers through this field partner, I thought you might be interested to learn more about my experiences working for ESPOIR and meeting some of their borrowers.

ESPOIR has been a Kiva field partner for 19 months. Thanks to you and many other lenders, during this period 3,418 loans were funded, adding up to a total of $1,672,400!

Thanks to your help, ESPOIR continues its efforts to fulfill its mission, which is "to contribute to the economic, social, and healthy development of poor small business women entrepreneurs in Ecuador, and to provide them with micro-credit and education so that they might strengthen their capacity to generate income, in search of the well-being of women, children and their families."

I first worked at ESPOIR's administrative headquarters in Quito. Here I learned about their products and services, and the philosophy behind their program. Even though their individual loan business is growing, ESPOIR's main product is village bank loans combined with education. The loan officers provide this education during the monthly village bank meetings. The combination of credit and education differentiates ESPOIR from other microfinance institutions, and the impact is huge, particularly for those borrowers who are able to fully implement their business training. As an additional benefit to their borrowers, ESPOIR also offers health services and education.

My favorite aspect of the Kiva Fellowship was meeting the borrowers. When I visited the field office in Portoviejo, I saw how the theory I had learned at ESPOIR's headquarters was put into practice. Yadira Graciela and Rosa Melida are two Kiva borrowers I met who put their loans and business training to good use. In addition to lifting themselves out of poverty, their businesses create jobs, and thus contribute to the development of their community.

Yadira Graciela Villamar Pinargote is a 31 year old clothing designer and mother of two. She has been a member of the "Nueva Portoviejo" village bank for over 4 years. With the help of the loans and education from ESPOIR, she has grown her business and now employs another person. In 2010 she participated in a provincial haute couture contest and took first prize!

54 year old Rosa Melida Aguirre Espinoza is the president of the "New Generation" village bank, and has been a member of ESPOIR for 18 years. Rosa Melida raises chickens and grows melons, rice and corn. Thanks to the trainings and her loans she has purchased additional farmland, expanded her business, and now employs two people.

The success stories of entrepreneurs like Yadira and Rosa show the power of microfinance to transform people's lives and communities. That is why I want to thank you for supporting Kiva borrowers through Fundación ESPOIR; without your funding these stories would not be possible. To find the loans that are currently fundraising, and enable more entrepreneurs to create successful stories, click here now.

Ellen Willems, KF13 Ecuador

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Inlägg för Sophea Say (24e januari 2011)

Dear Kiva Lenders,

I was recently a Kiva Fellow at MAXIMA for 13 weeks in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. During this time I had the chance to meet dozens of borrowers, hear their stories and learn more about how microfinance works on the ground and what sets MAXIMA apart from other MFIs. Since you've made a loan through MAXIMA in the past, I'd like to share with you some of what I learned about the organization during my time there.


Lending to women
In Cambodia women manage the money in every family. Even when men run the business, the women manage the finances. We joke that when payday comes men must give their paycheck to their wives with the envelope still sealed. We call this "thonikea bropon" or "wife bank." It's easy to make deposits but much more difficult to make withdrawals! This is because women are seen as more responsible with money in Cambodia.

MAXIMA make loans to both men and women but believe that loans to women can often benefit the family more. When a family's income is not sufficient to meet their needs, often their only option is to send the women of the family to the city to work in the garment factories. Many of these families are located in the provinces far from the city so they are often forced to travel long distances in unsafe conditions, or rent inadequate housing in Phnom Penh. The pay is very low, around $55-60 a month, which forces them to work overtime. Starting or expanding a small business can be a good alternative.

Another issue is that rural families often take their daughters out of school due to school and transport costs and in order to have them help with the family business or farming. Helping these families boost their incomes increases the chances that their daughters will be allowed to continue their schooling.

MAXIMA hopes to contribute to the social good by helping to encourage small businesses. When women can work at home or in their village rather than in the factories, they have more time to spend with their families, look after their health and take their children to school.

MAXIMA's Kiva Coordinator
MAXIMA lenders are probably already familiar with with our Kiva Coordinator, Sophal Ros. Sophal has been working at MAXIMA for almost two years and during that time has posted 1,334 loans and 1,359 journals (her journaling rate is one of the highest on Kiva).

Sophal is 25 and hails from an area of Kandal province where MAXIMA provides loans. She came to Phnom Penh in grade 12 to study. She was sponsored by an NGO, Association Française de Solidarité, that provides housing, food and school fees to poor students from the provinces who would not otherwise be able to continue their education.

Sophal has earned her Associate's degree in IT systems and network administration and is now in her final year of university to receive her Bachelor's degree in IT at Norton University. In addition to her 9-10 hour workdays at MAXIMA, she goes to school every weeknight and all day on Saturday.

One of Sophal's main duties at MAXIMA is to get written updates from the credit officers about clients and translate them into English for the wider Kiva audience. She says she has appreciated having so many Kiva Fellows to practice her English with. "I don't think my English is good but I can communicate with foreigners, and I can just talk to them. If it is wrong I ask them to correct my grammar or ask for help with vocabulary."

Sophal has read and enjoyed all of your responses to the journals she has written. Her message to Kiva lenders is "Thank you so much for supporting not only MAXIMA borrowers but all of the poor Cambodian borrowers on Kiva!"

All the best for 2011,

Lina Goldberg
MAXIMA Mikroheranhvatho Co. Ltd.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Make a loan to a MAXIMA borrower
Learn more about MAXIMA Mikroheranhvatho Co. Ltd.
Join the MAXIMA lending team

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Inlägg för Fatoumata Coulibaly (17e januari 2011)

Dear Lenders,

During an onsite visit, Kiva staff recently uncovered that the repayment calendar for this loan is incorrect. This happened because a Soro Yiriwaso staff member altered the disbursal date of this loan during the profile upload process. Soro Yiriwaso has agreed to repay Kiva lenders according to the original repayment schedule, and pledge to keep this issue from recurring.

Kiva decided not to refund this loan because of Soro Yiriwaso's quick response to this problem. The Soro Yiriwaso staff member who uploaded the incorrect information extends his sincere apologies to you and hopes that you will continue to support Malian borrowers through Kiva.

Chers prêteurs,
Pendant une visite, l'équipe Kiva a découvert que le calendrier de remboursement de ce prêt n'est pas correct. Cela s'est passé parce qu'un membre de l'équipe de Soro Yiriwaso a modifié la date d'octroi de ce prêt pendant la publication de ce profil. Soro Yiriwaso a donné son accord pour rembourser les prêteurs Kiva selon le calendrier de remboursement publié avec le prêt et ils sont entrain de travailler pour éviter ce genre d'erreur dans le futur.

Kiva ne reversera pas ce prêt parce que Soro Yiriwaso a répondu à ce problème rapidement et convenablement. Le membre de l'équipe de Soro Yiriwaso qui a téléchargé le prêt avec les informations incorrects demande votre pardon et espère que vous continueriez de soutenir les clients de Soro Yiriwaso à travers Kiva.org.

197475 SALIMATA KAMATE
197482 SEYDOU TOURE
228042 DANAYA Group
228041 BELLE DAME Group
228047 Laïdou Group
232603 BENKADI Group
232609 BENKAN Group
232613 DJANTOYERELA Group
232614 DJEKAFO Group
232619 SARAKOGNOUMAN Group
232624 TIESSIRI Group
197465 FATOUMATA COULIBALY
197474 MODIBO TRAORE
197473 KADIATOU SOGOBA
184257 Mamadou Kanté
228034 DJIGUIYA Group
228039 TIESSIRI Group



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Inlägg för Anonymous (9e december 2010)

After continuing non-payment to Kiva, all active SELFINA loans have now been defaulted. Kiva will continue to pursue recovery of funds on these loans and apply funds proportionally to lenders if and as funds are received. However, Kiva staff have judged the likelihood of recovery on these loans to be sufficiently low such as to update the loan status of these loans to "defaulted".

For further details on this default, please see SELFINA's Field Partner page here http://http://www.kiva.org/partners/90/.

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Inlägg för Seang Sokorn (19e november 2010)

Dear Kiva CREDIT Lender,

Thank you for supporting a Cambodian entrepreneur with CREDIT. As a Kiva Fellow, for the past three months I have had the privilege to interact with CREDIT and its borrowers. As Kiva's oldest partner in Cambodia, CREDIT has reached countless borrowers throughout the partnership, and continues to provide new opportunities to target low-income communities in the country, including through CREDIT's Vulnerable Services Unit (VSU) for more marginalized and vulnerable populations, as well as the organization's new Trust Bank program.

From the VSU program, responsible clients are offered the Trust Bank program. Both programs offer non-collateral loans for guarantee groups and trainings, but the Trust Bank also provides slightly larger loans (from $125 - $400 USD), as well as agricultural trainings.

Subsistence agriculture and farming businesses are very common throughout Cambodia. The latest data by the World Bank shows that "approximately 80 percent of Cambodia's population lives in rural areas and 71 percent depend primarily on agriculture (largely rice) and livestock for their livelihoods." This population tends to live in poverty and is therefore a critical segment of population for development and microfinance assistance, as CREDIT has noted.

Two months ago, a rural guarantee group expressed interest in an agriculture training. Last week CREDIT and partner Green Agricultural Product provided training to 10 borrowers on family farming.

Sothy, a representative from Green Agricultural Product, presented throughout the two day training. The family farming training focused on growing vegetables and how to increase farming productivity. Topics covered included properly preparing the soil, how to make compost fertilizer and solid compost, managing proper bacteria in the soil, and how to destroy harmful insects and prevent domestic animals from grazing on crops. In addition, the training taught borrowers about water management, including how to maintain good soil during the rainy and dry seasons, as well as what kinds of vegetables to chose for sunny and/or shaded areas. Clients learned techniques in how to plant within a garden as well as in a seed bed, and harvesting in general.

Borrowers were taught with written and illustrated teaching materials, an individual manual, as well as a practical approach as borrowers worked together creating a garden using the skills they learned. Out of a barren patch of land, the borrowers created a full garden of tomato, ginger, morning glory, bell pepper, ginger, chili, papaya, and a fruit similar to cassava.

As a CREDIT lender, we rarely see the poorest borrowers of CREDIT as their small loans and needs require a more direct approach from the organization. Yet, it was enlightening to see the work CREDIT does behind-the-scenes. The commitment to providing new skills and therefore a chance for improved livelihoods was inspiring and makes a difference far beyond a loan.

Thank you again for supporting CREDIT and its borrowers.


Sincerely,
Anjali Fleury, Kiva Fellow – Cambodia


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Inlägg för Josefa (18e oktober 2010)

Here's the follow-up photo of Josefa Labrador with her Food Production/Sales that now its going better that help her a lot in defraying family and business expenses. She is very thankful for the help for lending her a capital to continue her business.

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Inlägg för Josefa (12e oktober 2010)

Josefa Labrador of Hda. Claudio , Poblacion II, Sagay City, Negros Occidental, used the PHP 19000 loan she received from NWTF - Project Dungganon last September 1, 2010 to sustain her Food production/ Sales business. It has earned her PHP 8000 so far.
The loan from Kiva and NWTF-PD has allowed Josefa to start planning to make home improvements and repairs, and raise the quality of her family's living condition.
Josefa is grateful to NWTF-PD and all Kiva lenders who choose to help in struggle to progress out of poverty.
The Data of Josefa Labrador was gathered on October 12, 2010 when the NWTF-PD Loan officer stopped by to check on her progress.
Please continue supporting NWTF in its mission to help the poorest in the Philippines by joining the NWTF Kiva lending team on Kiva.org







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Inlägg för Fatoumata Coulibaly (27e juli 2010)

La cliente Fatoumata a effectué le voyage sur le Burkina Faso en apportant des habillements pour homme et femme, des couvres lits et des tissus ; qu'elle a vendue aux clients au comptant et à crédit. A son avis le prêt a favorisé non seulement d'apporter une quantité suffisante de marchandises mais aussi d'avoir les marchandises de qualité supérieure. Elle estime avoir réalisée un bénéfice d'environs 35 000F CFA par mois au cours du cycle. Avec ce bénéfice, elle a pu résoudre ses dépenses personnelles. Elle compte avoir un montant supérieur pour acheter beaucoup de marchandises.

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Inlägg för Alinyikira Development Group, Mukono (1a juli 2010)

Naigwe Robinah is a business lady involved in the poultry business. She keeps both layer and broiler birds and she is grateful that she has increased the number of birds in her farm. Robinah says that before going into loans, she had a business capital of 100,000/=and so far it is so good since her business has expanded. She hopes to continue expanding her business and this will mean constructing more shelter for the excess birds.

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Inlägg för Diana (10e maj 2010)


According to Diana, she was able to expand her business by procuring metal pots, rubbers and plastic products in bulk. She says there has been gradual progress in her business and repaying the loan is not a difficult deal at all. Diana says she saves the profits she makes and reinvests into her business. Diana has lost her elder brother who is yet to be buried.


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Inlägg för Adjo Pomedonowo (18e mars 2010)

Discussions of Africa seem to inevitably evolve into discussions of health. Hot button issues such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and infant mortality suddenly become unavoidable topics of conversation and often leave us feeling discouraged and overwhelmed. This fact is no less relevant when it comes to discussions about Togo. This tiny West African country sandwiched between Ghana, Benin, and Burkina Faso is home to 6 million people. Thankfully, the HIV/AIDS prevalence hovers around a relatively low 3% of the population, but bacterial and viral infections including malaria are widespread. The Togolese face a life expectancy of just under 60 years and the country rates 42nd in the world for high infant mortality. It is all too easy to feel enveloped in statistics. Yet an extraordinary amount of work is being done to keep the Togolese population healthy. Individuals just like you are taking action, helping others, and using the profits to support their own families. As a Kiva Fellow working with Women and Associations for Gain both Economic and Social (WAGES), I had the opportunity to meet some of these inspiring individuals. The following journal entry will focus on four extraordinary women, all of whom work as nurses or midwives in the Lomé area and received Kiva loans from WAGES.

Akou Damali runs a large prenatal and family planning clinic. Born in Nigeria, Mrs. Damali now works in the Akodésséwa neighbourhood of Lomé. With the help of her loan officer acting as a translator, we conducted our interview in a combination of English, French, and Ewe. When asked how many hours she worked a day, Mrs. Damali laughed and said, "Twenty-four hours." In reality, the clinic must always be open to serve her patients. She used her $1,125 loan to purchase medications, injections, pills and other products for her clinic. At times, Mrs. Damali can struggle to deal with sudden declines in her patients' health. Patients experiencing complications in their pregnancy can fall ill beyond Mrs. Damali's care and she is forced to send them to a hospital. Nevertheless, Mrs. Damali maintains that running a clinic is, in fact, a very profitable business. As a single mother of three, she is able to use the profits make ends meet at home and support her own family.

Edjoè Abiassi works as a midwife and pharmacist in the Hédranawoé neighbourhood just north of Mrs. Damali's clinic. Mrs. Abiassi takes pride in her work. She enjoys helping the sick and finds joy in saving the lives of mothers and babies. In addition to a personal sense of satisfaction, the profits from her business help Mrs. Abiassi support her four children. She used her $650 loan to purchase medications for her business, and she has used the profits to help cover school fees and food costs for her children.
Given the difficult nature of her work, Mrs. Abiassi can face extremely trying situations. Currently, she is facing a mass expiration of stock and has been forced to either dispose of some of her medications or send them back to the manufacturer. Like Mrs. Damali, Mrs. Abiassi must overcome complications in her patients' pregnancy or during childbirth. At times, the outcome can be disheartening. As a result, Mrs. Abiassi plans on building a small clinic in the future. There, she will be able to better care for her patients and perform deliveries in a clean and comfortable environment.

Afi Maimounatou Kouloungou and Anoko Lawson run two sister clinics a few blocks apart in the Hédzranawoé district of Lomé. Both clinics offer services such as prenatal care and family planning as well as general services for the ill. These hardworking women must be available twenty-four hours each day in order to care for their patients. Although exhausting, Mrs. Kouloungou maintains that it is worth the work for the sake of "aider l'humanité," helping humanity. Both women used their individual $625 and $975 loans to purchase medications, beds, and other supplies needed to better serve their patients' needs.

It can be difficult to operate a clinic, but Mrs. Lawson has seen the benefits. She divides the profits from her loan in two, using one part to reinvest in her business and putting the remainder into savings. She says that her loan has had a huge positive impact on her family. After the elections, Mrs. Lawson hopes to receive another WAGES loan to purchase land and build a house. Mrs. Kouloungou's family has also benefited from her loan. She says that this loan from WAGES has "changé la vie." It has changed her life and everyone in her family is very happy. In the future, Mrs. Kouloungou would also like to take out another loan with WAGES in order to purchase land and build a house.

The loan officer with whom I was working commented that this seemed to be a common long term plan among WAGES' female entrepreneurs. Mrs. Lawson laughed and said that women cannot just wait for their husbands to provide for them. Instead, they must fend for themselves. She stated wisely that sometimes, "Il faut être maman et papa au meme temps." You have to be mother and father at the same time. Evidently, this line of work has significant challenges. In addition to the difficulties shared with Mrs. Damali and Mrs. Abiassi, Mrs. Lawson mentioned the hardship of working such long hours. Mrs. Kouloungou also addressed a specific situation where patients will require her services, but cannot pay for her care. This puts her in an extremely difficult position. Despite the obstacles they face on a daily basis, all four of these women remain committed to their work and their patients.

All of these dedicated women are thankful for their loans. They ask that Kiva lenders continue to support WAGES so that they may continue to benefit from WAGES loans. As an institution, WAGES also does its part to keep the community healthy. WAGES goes beyond providing financial services to offer health seminars focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention and malaria treatment. Mrs. Damali, Mrs. Abiassi, Mrs. Lawson, and Mrs. Kouloungou strive for this goal independently and are collectively supported by an institution dedicated to the same cause. As a result, the extended WAGES community is working to ensure the ongoing health of their fellow citizens. Empowerment is not possible without health and these four women are lifting themselves out of poverty by helping others do the same.

On behalf of these four women, WAGES, and Kiva, I would like to thank you for ongoing commitment to lending, empowerment, and poverty alleviation.
Lend to a WAGES entrepreneur here. Show your support for WAGES by joining the lending team.

Best Wishes,

Taylor Akin
Kiva Fellow

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Inlägg för Diana (16e mars 2010)

Dear Kiva Lenders,


My name is Maia Pelleg and I'm a Kiva Fellow working with Sinapi Aba Trust (SAT) in Ghana. I completed my first placement as a Kiva Fellow in Kenya in January, 2010 and was thrilled to embark on an experience with Kiva and microfinance in the new context of West Africa. The initial goals of my posting in Ghana included implementing a repayment reporting system, facilitating a process that enables SAT to provide journal updates to lenders, and making necessary changes to increase efficiency.


I arrived in Kumasi and quickly ascertained that Ghana's reputation for tremendous hospitality stems from reality. The staff of SAT welcomed me warmly and graciously offered to acquaint me with various aspects of Ashanti society.


Unfortunately, as I discovered the kindness of SAT staff, I also found that SAT's existing Kiva system was extremely flawed and lacked proper management. A close look revealed that many loan amounts and terms published on the Kiva website were incorrect. Additionally, the presence of multiple duplicate loan postings was concerning.


Kiva took immediate action and paused SAT for fundraising on Kiva.org. We have evaluated many aspects of the SAT partnership, and I am confident that operational weaknesses can be corrected and adequate management information systems can be utilized.


I have spent the last few weeks designing a new decentralized Kiva system and have already begun implementing changes. Including loan officers from around the country in Kiva processes serves as an additional check as well as enables SAT to provide journal updates and scale in the future. Central to the new Kiva platform is an internal data system that will verify loan details and automate frequent and accurate repayment reports. Additionally, a senior regional manager will be stepping in as Kiva Coordinator at the end of this month.


I am working directly with SAT leadership and staff to execute identified changes. Just this week I trained two branches and several loan officers in how to collect borrower information and photographs for Kiva's site. I can attest to SAT's commitment to a strong Kiva partnership based on integrity and honesty. I am confident that we are able to bridge any gaps that existed in SAT's process of raising funds on Kiva.


This experience serves as a reminder of how seriously Kiva takes transparency and accountability. I hope you will share my ongoing confidence in SAT and more generally in microfinance. Sinapi Aba Trust makes a real difference in the lives of low-income entrepreneurs and I am excited to be a part of enabling them to continue their lending footprint.


Sincerely,
Maia Pelleg


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In English, please?