Kiva

I've been using rss feeds for about 18 months now. I subscribe to a variety of sites.... some library related, some news alerts and others for personal interest. I don't have a huge number because they can be a bit of a distraction. One rss feed that I receive only posts very occasionally. It is from an organisation called Kiva. I first came across them when reading a philanthropy related blog that I subscribed to when working for the Office of Development. I was fascinated by the concept that they had created. In brief they are involved in helping to fund microfinance. What is this? As wikipedia describes it is "a term for the practice of providing financial services, such as microcredit, microsavings or microinsurance to poor people." Microfinance concentrates on giving small loans to "entrepreneurs' in developing countries who would not normally qualify for loans from traditional lending institutions. Kiva was started by a US couple who while working in Africa decided that the best way to help the people in poor countries was to improve their access to microfinance. Their idea was to create an avenue for people from wealthy countries to support the efforts of the poor to establish an income. They have developed a process where they act as a 'middle man' between the microfinance lenders and people like us who would like to offer financial support. We can go to the Kiva website pick an 'entrepreneur' that we would like to support and then lend them some money. Currently the only amount you can lend is $25. You used to be able to lend more, but as a result of publicity generated by an appearance on Ophra, and a mention in Bill Clinton's book "Giving" they have been inundated by people wishing to lend money, so the amount has been restricted to allow more people to do so. When the required number of people have given their $25, so that it adds up to the requested loan amount, it is given to the borrower to fund their enterprise. When the loan has been paid back in full everyone is refunded their contribution. I have given to 5 people (I have chosen to give only to women so far) who come from Paraguay, Vietnam, Togo, Nigeria and Azerbaijan. There is no security for the money that I have lent, I may never get it back, but I hope that I do because it means that these people are being successful in their endeavours. Historically microfinance has a very good record of repayment. I will probably reinvest the money when it is repaid. I think one of my loans might be a bit risky. I feel the lady from Togo might have a bit of a challenge ahead. A small part of her profile reads "Mrs. Eya AWUDZA, 40 years old, is married and the mother of eight (8) children and is supporting five (5) other persons. All the household resposinbilities lie on her because her husband is often absent and totally neglects his role as a father. Her principal activity is the sale of vegetables and food products." Risky probably, worthwhile most definitely. I have joined with others from the USA (mostly), UK, Canada, France, Sweden and Norway to lend Eya US$1000. I hope she is able to make her business work.
Others I have lent to are:
Ladislaa Peralta
Trần Thị Bảy
Sevil Qurbanova
Theresa Aigbonkuan
Have a look at this site. I found it really uplifting, and I feel I'm making a positive difference to some struggling peoples live. If nothing else I'm sure you will find it interesting.