Meet Javier Alberto Viscarra. A 49-year old entrepreneur, he recycles hospital waste to develop solutions for unwanted plastic. His product is simple, a machine that breaks down “low density polyethylene” – substance that plastic bottles contain – and recycles them as granules for reuse in the market. He developed his first machine in 2010 when he started his workshop with limited capital and his wife told him - "think of this as your... Continue Reading >>
Stories tagged with IMPRO
Meet Javier Alberto Viscarra. A 49-year old entrepreneur, he recycles hospital waste to develop solutions for unwanted plastic. His product is simple, a machine that breaks down “low density polyethylene” – substance that plastic bottles contain – and recycles them as granules for reuse in the market. He developed his first machine in 2010 when he started his workshop with limited capital and his wife told him - "think of this as your... Continue Reading >>
By Isabel Balderrama | KF17+18 | Bolivia
When thinking of the wide swath of qualities that make up a Kiva Fellow, one can be certain of the one trait all fellows possess: an unequivocal thirst for exploring unfamiliar territory.
A fellowship assignment presents us with the thrill of being given an opportunity to quench this thirst as it often sends us flying halfway across the world (and sometimes even further), thousands of miles away from our places of birth and comfort zones.
So here I find myself, on my second Kiva fellowship assignment with Kiva Fellows...
Continue Reading >>By Eric Rindal – KF16 – Bolivia
Part of my Fellowship here in Bolivia is to complete two Borrower Verifications (BVs) for two Kiva partner microfinance intuitions: Emprender and IMPRO. During the BV, I ask four questions to verify that the borrower is the real borrower, and...
Continue Reading >>Eric Rindal – KF16 – La Paz, Bolivia
Another day, another dollar lost as a volunteer. The first part of my second Fellowship has gone by tremendously fast. I only have two more months left of what will be my seven months as a Kiva Fellow. No longer do I feel like a volunteer, this is now my way of life. At this juncture, after leaving Sierra Leone and entering Bolivia, I ask three questions: Why micro loans; Why small business; and Why poverty.
As a Fellow these questions encapsulate most of what I think about. In short, I want to know why things are...
Continue Reading >>By Nila Uthayakumar, KF14, Uganda,
With the help of several other Fellows in the field
I’ve met all kinds of borrowers. From age 16 to 76; from orphans to a former beauty queen; from potato sellers to auto parts saleswomen to motorcycle transportation tycoons. I’ve met them in urban slums, in villages, in homes, on porches, in...
Continue Reading >>Clara Vreeken, KF 14, Bolivia
Clara volunteered as Kiva Fellow in Bolivia. She worked for the micro finance institutions IMPRO, Pro Mujer and Emprender. In this blog she elaborates on health issues in Bolivia – Bolivians prefer to drink herbal tea and listen to witch doctors instead of seeing a doctor – and she says goodbye as the end of her Kiva Fellowship has arrived.
Bolivian people prefer to drink a herbal tea (maté) than going to a doctor. The herbal tea here in Bolivia is delicious, however it does not cure you from all diseases. Therefore the Bolivian micro...
Continue Reading >>Prolonged heavy rains have caused a hilltop to collapse in a poor neighborhood of the Bolivian capital, cracking roads, destroying at least 1500 homes and burying people’s belongings under mud. Slides are common in La Paz, perched at about 3.640 meters (11.900 ft) above sea level and surrounded by hills covered with poor communities. Heavy rains have been blamed for 44 deaths around the country in recent weeks.
Rainfalls caused a hilltop to collapse in a poor neighborhood of La Paz (Bolivian newspaper ‘La Razón’).
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Continue Reading >>Members of the 14th class of Kiva Fellows have officially hit their stride. While we never know where the next dispatch will come from or what interesting topics the Fellows will cover next, we always know we’ll be transported, entertained, and edified. This past week, topics included “Christmas”, trekking to a remote village (with video!), handling adversity (...
Continue Reading >>Kiva’s Bolivian field partner IMPRO is a small non-profit organization that has been offering micro credit to the working poor in the cities of La Paz and El Alto in Bolivia since 1995.
The central office of IMPRO in La Paz, Bolivia
IMPRO has 2147 clients of whom 45% are women. IMPRO serves clients in rural areas (11%) and in the cities La Paz (65%) and El Alto (24%) in Bolivia. 43% of IMPRO’s clients live from 1 dollar or less per day. 34% of its clients live in houses made of clay, 42% of the clients live in...
Continue Reading >>Introduction
My name is Clara and I am from the Netherlands (there they call me Klaartje). I took a sabbatical from my job at KPMG in order to volunteer and travel in Bolivia, together with my husband. After being trained in San Francisco at the Kiva Headquarters, I arrived in La Paz two weeks ago. It’s great to be a Kiva ambassador, especially because Kiva’s mission is very appealing: “Connecting people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty”.
That’s me in La Paz, Bolivia
... Continue Reading >>