Innovation | Kiva

Stories tagged with Innovation

May 5, 2013 Global Update, Rwanda

Kerosene is the primary source of light for over a billion people on the planet. Its fumes can cause health problems for those that use it frequently (sometimes children, studying after dark), and the long-run costs can reach a quarter of a family’s income. To top things off, kerosene’s black carbon byproduct is a far greater threat to climate change than carbon dioxide (see article). Despite all these problems, its incrementally cheap price and ubiquity make it popular.

In light of this, numerous clean-energy organizations have stepped up to tackle this problem... Continue Reading >

Dec 12, 2012 India

Kiva’s Investment in Non-Traditional Loan Products By Irene Fung

By Irene Fung | KF19 | India

Water and Sanitation may not be the first issue that people associate with Kiva. Entrepreneurs scoop up most of the headlines in micro-finance, but when it comes to alleviating poverty, other less publicized loan products are equally important. In fact, Kiva is committed to increasing peoples’ access to financial services to facilitate the development of water and sanitation, a key development challenge.

India has felt this challenge acutely with 67% of the rural households lacking any access to sanitation facilities. In Odisha, India...

Nov 11, 2012 Uganda

Grameen Foundation and Kiva: Partnering to Bring Life-Changing Agricultural Information to Rural Communities in Uganda By Laura Sellmansberger

Laura Sellmansberger | KF19 | Uganda

CKWs in Masaka practice using their new equipment (photo credit Ravi Agarwal)

Kiva recognizes the unique power of the interest-free capital it provides through its lenders. The zero-interest aspect of Kiva’s loans enables its partners to act boldly and to try new things, to go the extra mile to reach new groups of people, and to fund loans that Kiva characterizes as highly catalytic. Kiva uses the term ...

Oct 10, 2012 Burkina Faso

Expectations, (harsh) realities, engagement and innovation By Diana Biggs

Diana Biggs | KF 18 | Burkina Faso

I’d like to think the title of this post sums up my experience in Burkina Faso – perhaps even both professional and personally. I’ll focus on the former here and try to take you through my journey.

Expectations: As a Kiva Fellow, it’s likely you’re a Type A (if on the quirky end), dedicated, well-traveled, highly educated young person, perhaps an experienced professional looking to Pivot (see Patrick’s post for more on that) or mid-studies in a Masters program. Whilst...

Sep 9, 2012 Nicaragua

My Week with Premal – Kiva’s President visiting borrowers and partners in Nicaragua By Luan Nio

He is named Global Young Leader by the World Economic Forum and is on the Forbes 40 under 40 list.
It is easy to become impressed, maybe intimidated by a person that holds such accolades. But Premal Shah, president of Kiva, is the last person to become intimidated by. However, impressed? Yes, highly. And he was coming my way to Nicaragua.

Premal Shah’s lender page on Kiva. Note that he made over 300 loans.

The only time I...

Sep 9, 2012 Kenya

Technology in the Field: the Future of Microfinance By Varick Schwartz

Varick Schwartz | KF18 | Kenya

Kiva profile photo from mobile app

Juhudi loan officer using mobile app to capture Kiva profile info

When I applied to the Kiva Fellows program, I knew I’d be spending some time ‘in...

Aug 8, 2012 Kenya

Credit Scoring in Kenya: observations and comparisons from the field By Varick Schwartz

My Fellowship workplan has been focused a little more on the technical side of things, with more application programming and appraisal analysis than borrower verifications. From such projects, and also because I come from a banking, lending and risk management background, it seems fitting to at least put forth some observations regarding the use of credit scores across the Kenya micro landscape. However, the way we approach credit scoring in the USA is almost opposite from current practices here, where aggregated financial data at the individual level could still be years away....

Aug 8, 2012 India

Is Microfinance a boon or bane..? My learnings from the field By Suneetha Kanchustambham

I always wondered how far microcredit actually helped alleviate the lives of the poor especially after the SKS Microfinance crisis in Andhra Pradesh. There has been a lot of criticism that this industry was full of profit motivated rather than socially focused players. So, I always wanted to understand what would make micro finance perform stronger socially.The reason I say my fellowship was rewarding is because I had all these questions answered through my eyes and ears in the process of being Kiva’s Eyes and Ears on field.

Two weeks back I was juggling between profile...

Aug 8, 2012 Uganda

Empowering Women through… Videography? By Julie Kriegshaber

There is good reason why past Kiva Fellows at BRAC Uganda have been impressed with BRAC’s Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescents (ELA) program.

I am not going to rehash what has been already been thoroughly covered – instead, I want to highlight a small group within the ELA program that is doing amazing work.

Visiting the “PV girls” of BRAC Uganda’s ELA program!

Meet the PV women...

Aug 8, 2012 Peru

It all started with a bijouterie workshop By Eduarda Carmo Vaz

Let me introduce you to Carmen, Maria and Lina, from the group “Siempre 10 Al Progreso”. They live in the same neighbourhood in Lima, Peru’s capital, so they have known each other for a long time. But since 2008 they share more than their neighbourhood: they belong to the same “alcancía comunal”.

An “alcancía comunal”, sometimes referred to as a communal bank, is a self-organized group of borrowers who guarantee each other’s loans. Most of the loans at Edaprospo, the organization where I am placed, are...

Stories tagged with Innovation

Pages