By John Rauschkolb III, KF-12, Philippines

They have a saying in Tagalog (native Filipino language), “hnd k mggng kuntento kung lagi mOng hnahnap ay ang gus2 o ninais mo, matuto kang mag-appreciate ng kung anung meron ka”.  The translation to English is “You can never be content if you keep looking for something that you do not have, so start counting and appreciate the things that you do have…”

Here at Alalay Sa Kaunlaran (ASKI), Inc. in the Philippines they have found a great way to show their staff they are appreciated.  As with many businesses in the U.S., the term...

More than 100 people in the microfinance sector from over 40 different organizations, from Mongolia, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines, gathered at Kiva’s Asia-Pacific Conference in Manila. The weeklong event marked the first time that many of Kiva’s partners from all over Asia, as well as other microfinance organizations, were able to come together in one place. Though many issues were discussed, the conference was devoted largely to the topic of social performance.

Measuring social performance has become an increasingly important topic in the microfinance sector. With the...

By John Rauschkolb III, KF-12, Philippines

During my first lazy Sunday afternoon I sat outside, catching the rays and admiring the scenery.  A large ant farm freeway was busily working its way to and from it’s farm on the hill to a small apple core which was thrown there the day before.  The ants were diligent and tireless until 4:55 p.m.  GONE.  No ant to be seen and still plenty of apple core left to be consumed.  Why were they gone you ask?  They knew that in five minutes the rain would be coming and they needed to get to high ground.

While traveling in the...

I have just completed my first two weeks at the Center for Community Transformation (CCT) in Manila, Philippines.  For those of you who followed Prem Thomas’s blog, the following account of my first impressions of Manila and CCT will likely seem familiar, but I hope you still find them interesting.

A first Jeepney ride through the heavy traffic congestion on Taft Street, the main thoroughfare through Ermita and Malate, gave me a quick introduction to the urban economy of the Philippines.  Despite the presence of familiar franchises (McDonalds, Starbucks, etc.) and some not so...