Cambodia
Compiled by Allison Moomey | KF16 & KF17 | Bénin
Kiva fellows enjoy some time off during springtime holidays. Kiyomi enjoys a Semana Santa beach vacation in Mexico.
Springtime has arrived and fellows around the world are celebrating the resfreshing new life springing from the ground. From millions of tulips in Turkey to smelling family members and friends in Mongolia, fellows have been busy embracing the unique cultures of their host countries. Join Isabel...
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Benin, 
Dominican Republic, 
Liberia, 
Philippines, 
Togo
Compiled by Allison Moomey | KF16 & KF17 | Bénin
Jamie enjoys the view on his way to visit borrowers in one of the Philippines' most beautiful but poverty affected areas.
Now there comes a time in every Kiva fellow’s life when… he or she begins contemplating, analyzing, and trying to make sense of the past few months’ experiences. We’ve learned how to navigate busy streets, seen joyful faces, and witnessed...
Continue Reading >> Dominican Republic
Compiled by Allison Moomey | KF16 & KF17 | Bénin
Nessa meets one of Kiva's first Strathmore students to receive a loan for partial tuition or a laptop.
Kiva Fellows have been busy checking items off their workplans. From borrower verifications to loan officer trainings to collecting borrower stories, each fellow’s workplan is a diverse set of tasks dealing with both the glamorous and less-exciting aspects of a Kiva-partner relationship. This week...
Continue Reading >> Benin
Compiled by Allison Moomey | KF16 & KF17 | Bénin
Kiyomi photographs a very blue river at the Aguas Azules Waterfalls in the state of Chiapas, Mexico.
Deep into the world of profile posting, repayment reporting, and borrower verifications, Kiva Fellows have been reflecting on the contrasts between their previous lives and their lives in the field. Kiyomi discovers a new side to neighboring Mexico, Micaela humorously presents the her differing reactions to...
Continue Reading >> Benin
Allison Moomey | KF16 & KF17 | Bénin
All smiles at destination #1
Remember those scavenger hunts with friends in middle school? I have fond memories of running around the mall following cyptic directions and taking crazy pictures at each newfound destination. The goal was to visit all of the locations as quickly as possible while earning points for the most exciting polaroid shots. Oh polaroids, that’s a nostalgic post for another time....
Continue Reading >> Benin
Allison Moomey | KF16 & KF17 | Bénin
Enjoying lunch, conversation, and laughter in Ouagadougou.
One of my favorite aspects of Kiva is the autonomy it gives to partners. While Kiva has strict due diligence standards, the microfinance institution (MFI) partners are the ones who decide what products to offer, what social performance steps to take, and how to execute their plans. This results in a wide range of partners, each with its own unique culture and...
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Cameroon
Compiled by Allison Moomey | KF16 & KF17 | Bénin
KF17 fellows have made their way out into the field. Some to more tropical locations, such as Michael Slattery who took this picture in Togo, and some to the bitter cold found in Mongolia.
KF17 fellows have now made their way into the field, which means new workplaces, new countries, and new cultures for us all. Even more importantly it means fascinating new blog posts from every corner of the globe for you...
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By Allison Moomey, KF16, Burkina Faso
The longer I’m with my partner microfinance institution, Micro Start, the more impressed I am with them. Not only are they wonderful, hard-working people who get things done, but they also have a long-term, sustainable, and empowering vision. I recently completed a credit and savings product survey, and one of the questions for each product is “what is the goal of this product?” The answer always involved the word autonome, or autonomous. Each product is working to eventually move the client to financial...
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By Allison Moomey, KF16, Burkina Faso
I spent last weekend in a small village about 10km outside of Banfora (a small city about 6.5 hours from where I live in Ouagadougou) with some incredibly welcoming and generous Peace Corps volunteers. As often as I get annoyed by bugs, heat, and unreliable internet, I live a pretty charmed Burkinabé life in Ouaga. Staying in a village without electricity or running water was a wake-up call to the realities of life here. I didn’t do any of the hard work like getting water or biking products to market that most residents do each...
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I was a fan of Kiva long before I realized there were real people who make those profiles miraculously appear on Kiva’s website. Likely, you’re a bit more aware. Or perhaps you’re like me, and you’ve just never thought about it. If so, this is like the Santa revelation… there aren’t gnomes behind the screen, but instead hard-working, committed groups of people. Either way, this is the first in a series of posts dedicated to them and all that they do!
There are so many people behind the posting of a single profile, and this is just part one in a series of posts to...
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