Nessa E. French | KF 17 | Kenya

“I won the bet!”  I exclaimed on Friday afternoon as I did a victorious ‘raising of the roof’ dance.  The dance is better left to the imagination than any sort of visual.  The bet in question was one that two other colleagues and I made on how long it would take for Strathmore University’s first partial tuition loan to fund once it went live on Kiva’s website.

Compiled by Jim Burke, KF16, Nicaragua

We are Kiva Fellows. This is the stuff we like. Here is an insider (often critical, or satirical but always true!) view of what it means to be a Kiva Fellow and promote access to financial services around the world. From party crashing to bazaars to street food, these are the things we like and thrive on. Check out Stuff Kiva Fellows Like (SKFL) #1-9!

#10 Street Food

Mariela Cedeño, KF16, Cochabamba, Bolivia

I’m not...

By Claire Markham, KF16, Kenya

In Kenya, the act of going green appears to be far less of a priority than it is in more developed green economies. In the first part of this blog series, I discussed the cultural barriers that exist in Kenya. In this second part, I attempt to answer the question of how an MFI can break through the obstacles identified in Part 1 to implement a successful green and water loan program. I certainly don’t have all of the answers, but I will describe certain strategies that can be used.

Frame of Reference: Me vs. we, now vs. later...

Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF16, Rwanda

This week, you have no fewer than 14 new articles to choose from on the Kiva fellows blog: Let the fellows take you along on borrower visits across the world. Learn how Kiva field partners expand the reach of microfinance in Rwanda, fill the microfinance donut hole in Sierra Leone and improve social performance in Uganda. Find out what poverty is like in urban Tajikistan and rural Burkina Faso...