Fellows Blog

Stories from the field

As the Field Support Specialist for Francophone Africa, Kathrin works with Kiva partners to make sure they get the most out of working with Kiva, and to ensure that Kiva responds effectively to partners' changing needs. Kathrin previously served as a Kiva Fellow Togo and Rwanda and holds a B.S. in International Trade & Finance. After working at Deloitte as a Senior Consultant for four years, she decided to leave the corporate world to spend a year exploring several countries in East Asia and Africa. Her journey has now led her to Kigali, Rwanda, where she is based when she is not visiting Kiva partners in Francophone Africa. Kathrin is fluent in German and French and she is currently working on her Kinyarwanda.

Fellows Blog Posts by Kathrin Gerner

Aug 15, 2011 CL Chile

Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo

This week on the Kiva fellows blog, take a cooking class with a Kiva borrower in Ecuador and learn how to make two mouthwatering local specialties: quimbalitos and tamales. Continue on to Sierra Leone to see how autarky is the goal of Kiva fellowships as well as micro loans. Then return to Ecuador to watch a video about traditional dances, find out about the feeling of “saudade” and reflect on the juxtaposition of poverty and prosperity. Finally, learn how a social performance study can be constructed in Chile....

Continue Reading >>


Aug 1, 2011 ID Indonesia

Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo

Black Rhino in Swaziland (by Tim Young)

This week, learn how microfinance could help working animals and their wild cousins in Senegal. Find out more about pigs in Indonesia and how pig waste can be put to good use with biogas digesters. Then understand more about the infrastructure difficulties facing a Kiva partner in Sierra Leone.

Working Animals, Conservation & Microfinance Country: Senegal / Fellow...

Continue Reading >>


Jul 11, 2011 CM Cameroon

Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo

The Ile de Gorée in Senegal (by Tim Young)

This week, the Kiva fellows invite you to accompany them across Africa and South and Central America: Take a walk in the streets of San Salvador. Improve your language skills by adding a few words in three of South Africa’s most widely spoken languages to your vocabulary. Look poverty in the face in Cameroon. Continue by learning more about the latest riots in Senegal. Find...

Continue Reading >>


Jul 4, 2011 EC Ecuador

Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo

A traditional Zulu hat (by Daniel Jung, South Africa)

Learn about the tradition of Zulu weddings in South Africa. Find out how Kiva’s partners adapt the concept of microfinance to fit their country-specific needs: from loans targeting borrowers affected by emigration in Ecuador, over a preference for group loans in El Salvador, to lending coupled with various training programs in Rwanda. Finish off your weekly reading...

Continue Reading >>


Jun 26, 2011 TG Togo

By Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo

Check out Part 1 of this series Bad Roads, Transportation Costs and Microfinance in Togo to learn more about why new roads are essential for Togo and the Togolese economy.

Lomé is under construction. In fact, all of Togo is under construction. This is what I heard when I first arrived in this small West African country two weeks ago. And it did not take me very long to find out what that meant.

Life goes on as...

Continue Reading >>


Jun 20, 2011 TG Togo

By Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo

It becomes apparent with every new rainfall now that the rain season has started in Togo: Roads are the arteries that carry the lifeblood of the economy. They transport goods, employees and clients, and they provide shelf space for the countless street vendors.

Mostly unpaved, however, the roads of Lomé stand no chance in the face of torrential downpours. With few drains to take the water out of the city and the soil already saturated, they turn into a vast, difficult to navigate network of rivers and lakes. The otherwise vibrant...

Continue Reading >>


Jun 6, 2011 CM Cameroon

Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo

This week, the fellows in Africa continue to get their bearings in the field. Learn about the importance of trust in Cameroon, find out how political instability affects businesses and microfinance in Uganda, and take a trip to a fellow’s country mountain home in Cameroon.

Trust: Members of a trust group in Rwanda wait for their loan together (by Carolyn Nold)

Instability and Microfinance in Kampala...

Continue Reading >>


May 23, 2011 CO Colombia

Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo

Personal connections: Kiva borrower, Muhammad, in Sierra Leone looking at the 38 global lenders who funded his loan (by Eric Rindal)

As the 14th class passes the baton to the 15th class, the Kiva fellows are sharing their final thoughts and first impressions. Be inspired by the personal connections Kiva creates between lenders and borrowers in Nepal and Sierra Leone. Find out how a phenomenal harvest can prevent farmers in...

Continue Reading >>


Pages