The big avocado tree marked the beginning of the small property and the little pig tied at the bottom, circled it left and right like a restless guard. Juana opened the big... Continue Reading >>
Stories tagged with Esperanza International
The big avocado tree marked the beginning of the small property and the little pig tied at the bottom, circled it left and right like a restless guard. Juana opened the big... Continue Reading >>
David Gorgani | KF 17 | Dominican Republic
I’m one of the few Fellows that has been able to cheat and head home mid-fellowship. I’ve got a good excuse though – I’ve been invited to explore the grad schools to which I’ve been admitted. Yesterday, however, as I waited 20 minutes for a bus down 16th St NW in Washington DC, I used my free time to contemplate the many differences in public transportation norms between US cities and Santo Domingo. So after listing the many options for public transportation in Santo Domingo, I’ll finish with the conclusion of yesterday...
Continue Reading >>David Gorgani | KF 17 | Dominican Republic
As readers of this blog, you’re all surely familiar with the controversy surrounding microlending. Of course, it’s easy to criticize the high-interest backdrop of loans that are designed to help the poor lift themselves out of poverty.
As you have probably read in this very blog, there are many explanations for this trend (see this post by Julie Kerr (KF16) for examples of why providing this capital is no cheap task, and this post by Kate Bennett (KF15) for an example of the alternatives for marginalized poor that...
Continue Reading >>David Gorgani | KF 17 | Dominican Republic
Looking at the Kiva Fellows Blog over the past few weeks, one might interpret that the principal role of a Kiva Fellow is to verify that the information on Kiva.org is accurate and that it was shared with the consent of the borrower. While this is an important part of a Kiva Fellowship, it is one of dozen(s) of tasks assigned to a Kiva Fellow – so why so many posts on this specific deliverable?
1) Importance. Borrower Verifications (BVs) are undoubtedly among the...
Continue Reading >>David Gorgani | KF 17 | Dominican Republic
I went to IKEA on Tuesday. I bought coat hangers, a laundry hamper, surge protectors, and (of course) Swedish meatballs.
In Santo Domingo, locally referred to simply as “La Capital,” it is an understatement to say that luxuries from back home are readily available. Sure, Taco Bell is...
Continue Reading >>By Nick Hamilton, KF13 Haiti and Dominican Republic, KF14 Colombia
This is the final installment of a three-part article on ‘The Pros and Cons of Microfinance – A View From The Field.’ The first concentrated on the pros of microfinance and the second on the cons. This third part will describe what I deem to be the optimum conditions for successful microfinance.
The cons described in Part 2 of this article may come across as quite negative, but at Interactuar (in Antioquia, Colombia – my second Kiva Fellowship) I saw many being...
Continue Reading >>By Nick Hamilton, KF13 Haiti and Dominican Republic, KF14 Colombia
This is the second of a three-part article on ‘The Pros and Cons of Microfinance – A View From The Field’. The first part concentrated on the pros. The second will focus on the cons.
Most of the cons described below demonstrate one thing; microfinance assists on a micro level but is unable to affect macro-level influences. The latter are the main reason that people are impoverished in the first place.
During my time in Haiti and the Dominican Republic I generally found...
Continue Reading >>By Nick Hamilton, KF13 Haiti and Dominican Republic, KF14 Colombia
I have now come to the end of my second placement as a Kiva Fellow. I have seen microfinance at work in two organisations – Interactuar and Esperanza International – in three different countries; Colombia, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. My 6-month stint has been an eye-opener. It’s been fun and interesting, challenging and frustrating.
I embarked on this journey knowing very little about microfinance. I had a notion of the supposed pros and cons of this exciting, largely...
Continue Reading >>By Nick Hamilton, KF13
Please note that I am living in Northern Haiti, which wasn’t hit by by the January 2010 earthquake, and not in Port-au-Prince.
As I waited for a bus to take me to Trou du Nord, Northern Haiti, I was struck by a curious sight. I was surrounded by hoards of impeccably dressed schoolchildren. Their clothes were perfectly ironed, shoes spotless, shirts tucked in and socks pulled up. They portrayed an elegance of military ilk, if it weren’t for the spectacular collection of hairstyles and bows displayed on the heads of the giddy...
Continue Reading >>By Nick Hamilton, KF13
Before beginning my placement as a Kiva Fellow, I tended to view the Kiva model simply in terms of members lending to borrowers and borrowers paying back. It was hard to envisage the intricacies of an Field Partner’s (or MFI) operations and what goes into facilitating a loan. In my eyes the MFI was the middle man; an amorphous mass that made things happen. Of course, the simple fact is that without MFIs Kiva would not exist. They share an equal responsibility with the lenders and the borrowers in ensuring that Kiva’s mission – ‘to...
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