Eric Rindal – KF16 – Bolivia

After Jeffrey Sachs  started talking about ladders, rungs, and poverty, many wondered if there would be an end to poverty. The way he saw it was that if a developing country could just make it to that first “rung” on the ladder, they would reach the global economy and lift themselves from poverty. He augmented this with “clinical economics,” treating developing countries like patients by offering a unique diagnosis, by properly addressing a country’s need. I am not going to analyze Sachs’ book, rather I will compare the differences...

By Andrea Ramirez, KF16, El Salvador.

Last Thursday, September 15th, we celebrated Independence day here in El Salvador. However, El Salvador was not alone in the celebrations as Mexico, Honduras and Nicaragua also had their own festivities on that very same day.  It was a colorful day, and I want to share a bit of the fun show that I got to enjoy here in San...

By Adam Cohn KF14, Rwanda

Before my Kiva fellowship, I had never considered the differences between the loans which appear on Kiva. To me, a loan was a loan, and the only difference was the story of each individual borrower. That’s actually far from the case, and as Urwego Opportunity Bank prepared to roll out their first agriculture loan product, to rice farmers in Rwanda, I quickly learned about the differences between agriculture...

By Andrea Ramirez, KF16,  El Salvador

In recent years the microfinance sector has been hit with harsh criticism about the real impact it has on improving the lives of the low-income clients it serves. If it is true that microfinance, including micro-credit, is not the panacea for poverty; it is also true that Microfinance Institutions (“MFIs”) don’t have an easy job. MFIs and their staff are, in my opinion, the true heroes. Their loan officers and administrative staff are those who are out there, day after day, meeting clients and trying to help...