November 7th was the 1 year anniversary of the end of Ebola in Sierra Leone. Everyone in the streets stood still for 3 minutes at 11am to both remember and rejoice.
... Continue Reading >>By the time Ceejay reached the age of 18, she had been to 23 countries and couldn't seem to stop travelling. While at the University of California, Berkeley, she focused her studies on water scarcity issues with an Environmental Economics and Policy lens and lived in countries such as Bolivia, India and Argentina in order to gain more insight into the variety of interventions and actions on the ground. These experiences aided the perspective she brought to the Women and Girl's Empowerment Group at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City, where she assisted with the vetting of partnerships and establishment of measurable impact goals for hundreds of commitments. After finishing an internship for Kiva in 2013, Ceejay moved to Portland to work for an institutional asset manager and delve into the world of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) investing. Most recently, she relocated to the United Kingdom to oversee the European client operations and servicing efforts from a satellite office in London. She has finally returned to California with a massive tea addiction and the anticipation of her next global adventure.
Fellows Blog Posts by Ceejay Girard
Oct 21, 2016
Sierra Leone
“Despite the hoopla over microfinance, it doesn't cure poverty”1. The validity of this statement is recognized, and the data; compelling. A simple google search will lead you to a plethora of articles about how microfinance is not as effective as promised by NGOs around the world, and that it is a disappointment in the development field234. However, before you scrap the concept and decide your money is better spent with a foundation, I would like to invite you to consider a different perspective. Continue Reading >>
“Despite the hoopla over microfinance, it doesn't cure poverty”1. The validity of this statement is recognized, and the data; compelling. A simple google search will lead you to a plethora of articles about how microfinance is not as effective as promised by NGOs around the world, and that it is a disappointment in the development field234. However, before you scrap the concept and decide your money is better spent with a foundation, I would like to invite you to consider a different perspective. Continue Reading >>