), is a type of banking that focuses on providing small loans and other financial services to the poor. Kiva provides an informative guide to microfinance on their website including answers to the basic hows and whys of microlending.The cool thing about Kiva is that you can browse the lending opportunities and learn about the individuals and groups that are seeking loans. This lets you get a better understanding of where the money is going and allows you to target your donations to people and causes that you feel the greatest connection with. For example, having read Half the Sky
…I might be inclined to lend to a woman or group of women because I learned that extending microcredit to women is an effective means of combating the marginalization of women in the developing world. Alternatively, I might have a particular interest in a specific country or region. In sum, Kiva affords ample flexibility to tailor your giving to meet your charitable goals and interests.One final note…because Kiva’s model is microlending…loan recipients do pay the money back. So, in theory (unless the borrower defaults) your loan amount will be credited back to your account upon repayment (without interest…the interest paid by the borrower goes to covering the costs of the Kiva Field Partners, the groups that disburse the money, directly interact with the borrowers, evaluate projects, etc.). This is also a nice touch, because as you are likely approaching Kiva as a charitable endeavor, your dollars can be used multiple times resulting in an even greater impact.
Anyway, I encourage you to have a look, if you are so inclined, and let me know what you think. I don’t have much direct experience with Kiva yet, but I’ve read about it in several places that I consider to be reliable and the reviews have been very positive overall.
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