Kiva Blog

Blog posts tagged with kiva

Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
Turn Feb. 14 into Generosity Day with Kiva! By Emily Wakefield
On a cold December evening in 2008, Acumen Fund's Sasha Dichter found himself in a familiar situation. Riding home on the train, he was approached by a man raising money to help the homeless. Reflexively, he denied the man his request and buried himself in his phone.

But this time something felt different. Something clicked in Sasha’s head. He felt like he had done the wrong thing by not giving the man any money. 

"Pretty soon, 'no' becomes who you are, and what you do when somebody comes to you asking for help," Sasha has... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
Challenging the traditional loan model with longer loan terms By Eileen Silva
While the majority of microfinance models provide short-term credit with a two-year turnaround or less, there is a significant need for long-term finance in the marketplace. Long-term loans of 3 to 15 years, for example, are especially critical when borrowers are looking to finance educational expenses or agricultural investments.

The very nature of education is long-term, whereas agriculture can involve both short- and long-term loans. Longer-term agricultural investments include microforestry, organic conversion and field renewal, to name just a few.

MFIs and other... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
Milepoint Celebrates Two Year Anniversary: Q&A with Team Leaders By Stephanie Bradley

In celebration of Milepoint’s two year anniversary as a Kiva lending team, we wanted to take a look back and highlight their vast achievements thus far. The Milepoint team was started on February 12, 2011 and has since grown to over 1,500 members. Brought together by their love of travel, Milepointers just surpassed $4.5 million in Kiva loans and are excited to continue their success and momentum into the future. We chatted with two of the team captains, Randy Petersen and Haung “Ho” Yu, as well as active team member Bob Kaplan, to get an update on... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
Another amazing milestone -- thanks to you! By Camille Ricketts



That's right! Since its inception a mere 7 years ago, Kiva has helped serve up more than $400 million in loans to borrowers around the world. That's 524,572 loans making the world a better place for 971,438 borrowers with 99% repayment rate. An incredible achievement -- that we owe entirely to you, our lenders. 

Exactly how much is $400 million? We're glad you asked. It's approximately the same as:
  • 114 million Starbucks lattes.
  • 130 million...
Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
Week in Review: Bringing down the costs of sending money home By Emily Wakefield
In 2012 alone, migrant workers around the world sent over $400 billion back home.

Unfortunately, sending money isn’t as cheap and clear-cut as you might think. On average, remittance services cost 8.96% of the amount being sent -- which is a lot given that most migrant workers don't make a lot to begin with.

Notably, costs of remittances have traditionally been highest in Africa -- undoubtedly, one of the places where the money is needed most. In 2012, about $60 billion was sent to Africa in remittances at an average transaction cost... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
Answers to your questions from the Kiva Insights Call By Brandon Smith



As part of our recent Kiva Insights Call, our community submitted additional questions through lending teams, and we wanted to take the time to answer the most popular questions below. Thanks again to everyone who participated; we always love to hear from you!

Q: How is Kiva making less popular loans more attractive, and what kind of feedback does Kiva provide Field Partners to help fund loans?

A: There are a few ways we work to highlight loans that may be less popular or in need of support. To start, we try to... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
Lending to eradicate child marriage By Emily Wakefield


Despite the many efforts and programs in the developing world, girls are still largely disadvantaged. In general, they tend to have less access to education and fewer social and economic opportunities than their male counterparts.

One significant indicator of the well-being of adolescent girls is child marriage. While this is an issue that can also effect boys, it's impact on girls is hugely disproportionate.

Reasons for child marriage range from economic to social. In many cases, girls are married off at an early age to reduce the... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
What's new on Kiva 2/5: Big improvements to lending teams! By Martin Butt

Team message boards update!

For all you awesome lending team members, we've made a number of improvements to the team message boards:

1) Team captains can now post featured messages to communicate important events, goals, initiatives, etc. The featured message will be highlighted as the first post on message boards and will also appear at the beginning of nightly digest emails.

2) We’ve added a panel on the right side to show loans that this team has recently talked about...

Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
Kiva partner Strathmore University jumpstarts students' careers By Emily Wakefield

Strathmore University is one of the leading private universities in Kenya. And in January of 2012, it became Kiva’s first university partner -- allowing lenders to make loans to low-income students for tuition and other supplies. Securing tuition fees is a major challenge for many Strathmore students, and every year, about a third of accepted applicants are unable to enroll because they don't have the money. We're proud to be changing this picture one loan at a time.

Last week, Strathmore held its 9th Annual Career Fair. Altogether, 31 organizations from... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
Passport Series: The patchwork heritage and future of Tajikistan By Esther Honig


Do you remember your first class in world geography?

At some point you were probably taught that Africa is a continent, the Niles is the longest river, and that Russia is the largest country. But it’s pretty unlikely your teacher ever mentioned anything about Central Asia, and in particular Tajikistan.

In fact, this tiny country (roughly the size of Wisconsin), although unique historically and culturally, remains a mystery to most of the Western world.

Bordering Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and China, Tajikistan is made up of a... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
Week in Review: Global Barometer of Hope and Happiness By Emily Wakefield


Every year on New Year’s Eve, the WIN/Gallup International Association publishes The Global Barometer of Hope and Happiness. This survey has been conducted every year since 1977, and last year, a total of 55,817 people were interviewed in 54 countries.

The Global Barometer of Hope and Happiness measures exactly what it says it does: people’s overall opinion on economic prospects, as well as their personal levels of happiness, in all parts of the world.

The survey published at year-end 2012 suggests that overall global economic hope is on the... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
How can we make surgery affordable in developing markets? By Emily Wakefield
Minor or routine surgery is a regularly available health option for many of us. But for the 1.3 billion people living on less that US$1.25 per day, there is no such thing as disposable income... Continue Reading >>
Jan 1, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
New Field Partner: Building businesses and supporting peace in Palestine and Jerusalem with JIMF By Amniya Shahbozova
We are now in Jerusalem and we’re thrilled to welcome Jerusalem Interest-free Microfinance Fund as our new Field Partner!

Is it possible to help the poor establish businesses while at the same time building peace among different communities? You might have doubts about it, but four men representing the Muslim and Jewish communities who truly believe in cross-communal initiatives are achieving this goal through the Jerusalem Interest-free Microfinance Fund (JIMF). These Muslim and Jewish men founded the organization together in 2008.

Based in... Continue Reading >>
Jan 1, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
Investing in girls is paying off BIG in Uganda (thanks to BRAC!) By Camille Ricketts
We're passionate about empowering young women to reach their full potential.

Last year Kiva started offering loans to girls through BRAC Uganda's Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescents (ELA) Program. In addition to credit for older participants to become entrepreneurs, this program includes training in life skills, support groups and clubs, business development training and more. Today, more than 1,000 ELA clubs reach over 40,000 woman.



So we were thrilled to spot a recent post on BRAC's blog about some of the incredible impact... Continue Reading >>
May 5, 2012 KV Kiva HQ
Islamic microfinance: How is it different? By Brigitte Bradford
Kiva lends to thousands of entrepreneurs in countries where Islamic law impacts how people can borrow money and pay it back. Below, learn how Kiva's Field Partners approach these loans, which will be identified in loan descriptions going forward.



How is Islamic microfinance different?

Islamic banking was created as a separate path of financing in order to comply with prohibitions stipulated by Islamic law. Also referred to as Sharia law, Islamic law can be considered God's law as interpreted by Muslims.

Islamic... Continue Reading >>

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