What is Micro Finance?
Microfinance is the practice of making financial services available to the poorest people in the world earning about $ 1 per day who do not have access to typical banking services.
How to Solve Poverty
By helping the active poor who make $1.25 per day and have the desire to help themselves, small amounts of money can go a long way in making them self-sufficient.
Transforming Lives
When jobs are created people survive on their own as their self-esteem and outlook on life improve dramatically. The income generated from their new businesses allows once poor families to begin to fulfill basic needs transforming one life at a time as each person escapes the tragedies of poverty.
Case for Action - Our Mission
In the next 10 minutes, 50 people will die from hunger. Our Mission is to Make an Impact by Investing and Transforming the Life of An Entrepreneur
Field Partner Testimonials
This is a guest post by Emily Stone, the managing director at Kiva partner Maya Mountain Cacao in Belize. MMC supports cacao growers in the country to improve their livelihoods and get their high-quality product to market.
Chocolate. Dark brown, delicious, sweet, creamy, cocoa-loaded delights. Brownies, cookies, mousse, tarts, cakes, ganache. Candy bars, truffles, and bonbons.
This is the chocolate that we all know and love. Given as gifts between couples, used to celebrate special events, and craved by the masses sitting at school desks and work desks around the world.
Well, I’m posting today to tell you: chocolate is even better than you thought. You who love chocolate, did you know that this delectable melty goodness is actually made of the seeds of a tropical fruit from a tree that grows naturally under the shade of the rainforest? Did you know that cacao is easily grown using organic practices, and many cacao farmers do not use any chemicals on their trees? Did you know that there are Mayan farmers, whose ancestors thousands of years ago farmed the chocolate fruit (scientific name: Theobroma cacao, literally “food of the gods”), still producing these seeds today?
This is a guest post by Kiva Fellow Esther Honig, who spent the last four months working with Kiva partner Fondo Esperanza in Chile.
In Santiago, Chile, a recent census showed that 50% of households living below the poverty line are run by single mothers.
The reason why has a lot to do with gender inequality in Chilean society. Of 93 countries surveyed around the world, Chile ranks 60th on the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM).
While the country is considered to be fairly developed, many women still struggle to gain economic independence. The majority of single Chilean mothers never see a dime for child support and many moms, like the four Fondo Esperanza borrowers I interviewed, have had to work tirelessly to make sure their families not only get by, but get ahead too.
I’d like to introduce you to these four mothers -- amazing women who embody the spirit that Kiva loans are designed to nurture, and who will stop at nothing to make sure their children have access to opportunity.
This is a guest post from Allie Hill, the Kiva Coordinator who works at field partner HOPE Congo.
The author (right) with a HOPE Congo client Edith.
It was my first month living in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. I had a mixture of emotions adjusting to a new culture, climate, and language, yet I was excited about my work with HOPE Congo’s clients. During my orientation, I visited several borrowers’ meetings, including Edith’s group Shaloom 2. I could barely communicate in French, but Edith and the other members of the group graciously welcomed me into their meeting. I watched as they all did their duties to collect and record the repayments. At the end, Edith talked with me, asking me questions about my family and new life in Brazzaville. She revealed such a genuine and kind heart that day.
For Mother's Day, we wanted to hear from some of our partners in the field about how motherhood, or helping mothers, has changed their perspective or inspired them to do more. We were excited to speak to Yuthida Sophat, treasury officer for VisionFund Cambodia, who is also a young mother.
KIVA: How does VisionFund Cambodia work to serve and support mothers?
YUTHIDA: VisionFund (Cambodia), a social-oriented MFI, has a precise mission to empower poor women and their families with small loans and other financial services. To support this mission statement, VisionFund targets women clients, especially mothers, as they play a crucial role to support the entire family including household chores, and family’s business/income generating activities.
MicroFinance in the News
