Kiva Blog

Blog posts tagged with kiva

Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
“To Catch a Dollar: Muhammad Yunus Banks on America” is an inspiring documentary that chronicles the introduction of microfinance into the U.S. economy.



Muhammad Yunus, known as the "father of microcredit," received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work with microfinance in the developing world -- creating economic and social development from the bottom up. In an attempt to break the cycle of poverty in disadvantaged U.S. communities, Yunus brought microfinance to the United States with Grameen America in 2008. Directed... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
We're thrilled to announce that starting today Capital One is matching $500,000 in loans made to Kiva and Kiva Zip borrowers in the U.S.!

Here at Kiva, we're all about empowering small businesses. In fact, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, these companies have created 2 out of every 3 new jobs in the country over the past 17 years. Now that's recovery!

Most of the U.S. borrowers on Kiva and Kiva Zip qualify as small business owners -- people who work long, hard hours to turn their ideas into reality. But no matter how hard they work,... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
As you may know, every two weeks, we push a bunch of updates to the website to make our lenders' lives better. This week, we're announcing some pretty cool changes.

Mobile-optimized checkout flow

We've optimized several pages on the site to make it easier to check out on your phone or tablet. Currently, these include the login and registration pages and the basket pages when you're making a loan. If you use Kiva through a third-party mobile app, you can now check out without any zooming! More page upgrades are coming, so stay tuned!... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
Last January, Strathmore University became Kiva’s first university partner -- enabling lenders to make loans to low-income students for tuition and school-related supplies like laptops.

Striving toward UNDP Millennium Development Goals, Strathmore established @iLabAfrica in January 2011 with the goal to spearhead research, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the area of information and communication technologies for development.

This February 14 through 16 -- in time for Kenya's March 4 election -- @iLabAfrica and Google teamed up to host the first ever... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
In this last installment of the Passport Series focused on Tajikistan, we wanted to share with you a few success stories from the field.

Meet Nafisa.

A 29-year-old mother of two, Nafisa lives in the town of Jabar Rasulov in Tajikistan. When she was younger, family circumstances prevented her from attending college. But she was determined to find a rewarding career, and decided to apply her talents as a cook -- a skill she’d learned from her mother.



In 2005, Nafisa and her husband opened a small restaurant in the... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
Earlier this month, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Development Programme released the report "Rethinking Economic Growth: Towards Productive and Inclusive Arab Societies," stressing the need for improved governance, social justice and economic progress in the Arab world.

Recent Arab uprisings have highlighted a lack of social protection and dialogue between citizens and authorities.

According to the report, the Arab world had the second lowest productivity growth rate of any world region between 2000 and 2010. While... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
This year, Valentine's Day wasn't just about sappy cards and fancy dinners. It was about a revolution. 



Last week, thousands of women all over the world “rose” -- demanding an end to violence against women.   

Founded by Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues and founder of V-Day, One Billion Rising is a global movement to end violence against women once and for all.

The movement gets its name from the staggering U.N. statistic that one in three women will be raped... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
This is a guest post from Bob Harris, author, adventurer, Kiva super lender, and captain of the incredible Friends of Bob Harris lending team. This is the second in a series of posts from Bob chronicling his travels around the world meeting Kiva borrowers. Read his last piece about making fireworks in Nicaragua here, and start getting excited about the release of his new book The International Bank of Bob, available starting March 5.

For my upcoming book about visiting Kiva clients in the field, I traveled around the world with side trips on five continents, visiting... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
In the spirit of Valentines Day, we're celebrating people falling in love and making connections all over the world! And, as you may know, some loans on Kiva help families pay for wedding expenses. All those happy couples borrowing on Kiva come from somewhere!

Exhibit A:



A happy couple of Kiva borrowers in El Salvador.

In many places where Kiva works, weddings are much more than fancy parties. They can have huge... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
SPECIAL OFFER: Now when new Kiva users lend to a borrower in Tajikistan, they'll get a $25 bonus to make a loan for free to any borrower! This is a rare opportunity for the first 200 lenders who join Kiva and lend in Tajikistan between Feb. 11 and 26. You will receive an email within 30 days from Kiva letting you know if you received a $25 bonus credit or not.

Read on to see why lending in Tajikistan is so important -- and influential:




Shodiya used her $1,050 loan... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
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
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

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



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
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



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


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

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

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


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


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
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
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
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
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 >>

Pages

Blog posts tagged with kiva

Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
“To Catch a Dollar: Muhammad Yunus Banks on America” is an inspiring documentary that chronicles the introduction of microfinance into the U.S. economy.



Muhammad Yunus, known as the "father of microcredit," received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work with microfinance in the developing world -- creating economic and social development from the bottom up. In an attempt to break the cycle of poverty in disadvantaged U.S. communities, Yunus brought microfinance to the United States with Grameen America in 2008. Directed... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
We're thrilled to announce that starting today Capital One is matching $500,000 in loans made to Kiva and Kiva Zip borrowers in the U.S.!

Here at Kiva, we're all about empowering small businesses. In fact, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration, these companies have created 2 out of every 3 new jobs in the country over the past 17 years. Now that's recovery!

Most of the U.S. borrowers on Kiva and Kiva Zip qualify as small business owners -- people who work long, hard hours to turn their ideas into reality. But no matter how hard they work,... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
As you may know, every two weeks, we push a bunch of updates to the website to make our lenders' lives better. This week, we're announcing some pretty cool changes.

Mobile-optimized checkout flow

We've optimized several pages on the site to make it easier to check out on your phone or tablet. Currently, these include the login and registration pages and the basket pages when you're making a loan. If you use Kiva through a third-party mobile app, you can now check out without any zooming! More page upgrades are coming, so stay tuned!... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
Last January, Strathmore University became Kiva’s first university partner -- enabling lenders to make loans to low-income students for tuition and school-related supplies like laptops.

Striving toward UNDP Millennium Development Goals, Strathmore established @iLabAfrica in January 2011 with the goal to spearhead research, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the area of information and communication technologies for development.

This February 14 through 16 -- in time for Kenya's March 4 election -- @iLabAfrica and Google teamed up to host the first ever... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
In this last installment of the Passport Series focused on Tajikistan, we wanted to share with you a few success stories from the field.

Meet Nafisa.

A 29-year-old mother of two, Nafisa lives in the town of Jabar Rasulov in Tajikistan. When she was younger, family circumstances prevented her from attending college. But she was determined to find a rewarding career, and decided to apply her talents as a cook -- a skill she’d learned from her mother.



In 2005, Nafisa and her husband opened a small restaurant in the... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
Earlier this month, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Development Programme released the report "Rethinking Economic Growth: Towards Productive and Inclusive Arab Societies," stressing the need for improved governance, social justice and economic progress in the Arab world.

Recent Arab uprisings have highlighted a lack of social protection and dialogue between citizens and authorities.

According to the report, the Arab world had the second lowest productivity growth rate of any world region between 2000 and 2010. While... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
This year, Valentine's Day wasn't just about sappy cards and fancy dinners. It was about a revolution. 



Last week, thousands of women all over the world “rose” -- demanding an end to violence against women.   

Founded by Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues and founder of V-Day, One Billion Rising is a global movement to end violence against women once and for all.

The movement gets its name from the staggering U.N. statistic that one in three women will be raped... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
This is a guest post from Bob Harris, author, adventurer, Kiva super lender, and captain of the incredible Friends of Bob Harris lending team. This is the second in a series of posts from Bob chronicling his travels around the world meeting Kiva borrowers. Read his last piece about making fireworks in Nicaragua here, and start getting excited about the release of his new book The International Bank of Bob, available starting March 5.

For my upcoming book about visiting Kiva clients in the field, I traveled around the world with side trips on five continents, visiting... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
In the spirit of Valentines Day, we're celebrating people falling in love and making connections all over the world! And, as you may know, some loans on Kiva help families pay for wedding expenses. All those happy couples borrowing on Kiva come from somewhere!

Exhibit A:



A happy couple of Kiva borrowers in El Salvador.

In many places where Kiva works, weddings are much more than fancy parties. They can have huge... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
SPECIAL OFFER: Now when new Kiva users lend to a borrower in Tajikistan, they'll get a $25 bonus to make a loan for free to any borrower! This is a rare opportunity for the first 200 lenders who join Kiva and lend in Tajikistan between Feb. 11 and 26. You will receive an email within 30 days from Kiva letting you know if you received a $25 bonus credit or not.

Read on to see why lending in Tajikistan is so important -- and influential:




Shodiya used her $1,050 loan... Continue Reading >>
Feb 2, 2013 KV Kiva HQ
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
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

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



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
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



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


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

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

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


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


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
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
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
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
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 >>

Pages