Anecdoted

Re-posted from the Kiva Fellows Blog.

Having followed the recent debate over Kiva’s transparency and the P2P model, the main critique that stuck with me was that there should be more transparency on Kiva’s partner MFIs. This resonated with me because I believe that Kiva has, on the whole, picked out partner MFIs that do amazing work and have really compelling stories to tell about their organization. So in that spirit, I’ve decided to share more details here about some of the products and services that my host MFI, Hagdan sa Pag-uswag Foundation, Inc. offers. In addition to lending, Hagdan also offers a mandatory savings program, insurance programs, and leadership/business trainings. Hagdan also runs community development programs out of a different part of the organization.

Before I dive into those services though, I want to devote this post to HSPFI’s interest repayment policy. Over the last six weeks I’ve realized that my understanding of the details is sadly lacking. So one weekend when I was in the office, I grabbed Sir Melchie Badion, HSPFI Internal Auditor, and asked him for a detailed rundown. Knowing that interest payments cover much of an MFI’s operational costs, I wanted to make sure I had everything straight in my head from start to end.

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As most close friends and family know by now, I’m excited to be traveling to Cagayan de Oro, Philippines as a Kiva Fellow! If you haven’t heard of Kiva.org, I would highly encourage you to check out their website, as the concept behind their organization is really cool. Kiva is basically a microfinance organization that makes small loans to entrepreneurs around the world, so they can grow their businesses and improve the life of themselves, their family, and even their community. The cool thing about Kiva is that it allows you as an individual lender to go on their website and make small $25 loans to any entrepreneur of your choice. Over a period of time (between 6 to 12 months), the borrower will pay back the loaned amount to Kiva so you’ll ultimately get your money back, interest-free. It’s a great way to make a small but powerful difference in the world.

Kiva is all about communications and connections between individuals, so as part of my fellowship I’ll be interviewing different borrowers and sharing their stories with Kiva lenders through blogs, journal entries, profiles, etc. on Kiva.org. I’ll also be assisting both Kiva and Hagdan sa Pag-uswag Foundation, Inc. or HSPFI (Kiva’s field partner organization in the Philippines) with other work as needed. I’ll be the first Kiva Fellow to work with HSPFI, so it’s definitely an exciting prospect!

This blog posting was actually a long time in coming. I was accepted to the fellowship program around the middle of August, but I kept putting it off because there was just so much going on. In the whirlwind of preparing for my fellowship in the Philippines, I had also decided to move to Australia in January 2010. There are a multitude of reasons involved in the planned move to Australia, just as there were in accepting the Kiva Fellowship. For people who know me, yes, my Australian boyfriend played a big part in this decision But there was so much else to consider, and these weren’t decisions that I could make lightly.

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