Hydrologic has a simple mission: it builds, distributes and sells water filters to rural customers in Cambodia. Its water filters improve public health and reduce the environmental impact of clean water access. About 3.9 million Cambodians lack access to clean water, so most rural families have to purchase bottled water from a market or boil water at home.1 Both options are time-consuming and environmentally harmful, but they are necessary to prevent disease. According to UNICEF: "diarrhoeal diseases alone account for one-fifth of the deaths of children age 5 and under in...
Continue Reading >>Bruce is excited to return to development work after honing his organizational and leadership skills as a logistics expert with Amazon for the past two years. During his graduate studies in international development, with a specialization in post conflict environments, Bruce conducted his field work in Lebanon to inform his dissertation on the localized challenges of implementing the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan. After graduation, Bruce’s desire for further field work in challenging environments led him to a role with Street Child, a UK based child protection charity, working as an ambassador in Sierra Leone during the aftermath of the Ebola crisis. His team was primarily focused on a mid-project assessment of income generating initiatives in the Bombali chiefdom. He has had previous career stops as a business manager at the Port of Oakland and as a substance abuse counselor at Walden House. Bruce is eager to begin working with Kiva and gain greater experience in social enterprise and development finance.
Fellows Blog Posts by Bruce Martinez
I write to you from Dili, the still sleepy capital of Timor-Leste, Southeast Asia’s newest and least developed country. I’ve spent the last month with Kaebauk Investimentu no Finansas (KIF), a long time Kiva Field Partner and one of only two microfinance organizations in the country. Most of Timor still lack access to basic financial services and KIF fills a vital role in closing that margin. With 22 total branches, KIF has a footprint in every district, one of the few local organizations that cover the breadth of the country. While Timor is small, it is very mountainous and still...
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