Within a short period, Jackson has been able to expand his farmland to cover a full two acres, expand his business and employ people in his village, thereby creating a ripple effect of economic opportunity.

With over a quarter billion people from different ethnic groups, Indonesia is a dense melting pot and has the largest economy in Southeast Asia. Yet, despite its rapid economic growth, the country also faces enormous challenges.

“You can see the self esteem and dignity that they gain,” Shadrack says. Shadrack is a program manager at Hand in Hand Eastern Africa, a Kiva field partner in Kenya. He is describing the impact that Hand in Hand's youth entrepreneurship clubs have on their student participants.

I had nothing to wear for my birthday, until a Kiva borrower came to my rescue. Her name is Judith, and at 66 years old, she has a lifetime of dressmaking experience.

Doña Micaela sits on the floor, knees on a straw mat and a spool of cotton thread whittled in her hand. Behind her is a display of natural dyes, labeled for tourists. “Can I please take a picture of you?” I ask her in Spanish.

Upon arriving in the Dominican Republic, you’re bound to encounter one recurring type of shop…a colmado. What is a colmado? Well...it's a bit of everything.

In March 2018, I had the pleasure of attending the ICT4D Conference held in Lusaka, Zambia, which brought together representatives from NGOs, the private sector and academia to discuss how ICT and partnerships are being leveraged to solve different development challenges.

Never has the saying, ‘If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a nation,’ resonated more with me. Before starting my fellowship with Kiva, I always wondered why most lenders loan money to women rather than men.

When I first arrived in Lusaka, I didn’t know how I would spend 2 months here. “There’s nothing to do in Zambia,” a friend helpfully told me when I asked them for some travel advice. However, upon arrival my calendar quickly filled with things to do and my time in-country has flown by.