{"id":730,"date":"2007-11-21T03:07:53","date_gmt":"2007-11-21T08:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=730"},"modified":"2018-08-15T20:57:48","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T00:57:48","slug":"wednesday-november-21-2007-kiva-a-new-twist-on-micro-lending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=730","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday, November 21, 2007- Kiva \u2014 A New Twist on Micro-lending."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Micro-lend\u00ading Rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion has done more to improve the lot of ordi\u00adnary human beings than any oth\u00ader social move\u00adment.&nbsp;It has many anti\u00adci\u00addents, since rotat\u00ading cred\u00adit asso\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtions and fra\u00adter\u00adni\u00adties have a long, though most\u00adly undoc\u00adu\u00adment\u00aded his\u00adto\u00adry. The island of Oki\u00adnawa, for exam\u00adple, has had mul\u00adti-pur\u00adpose, demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly man\u00adaged co-oper\u00ada\u00adtive asso\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtions called<em> moai<\/em> for cen\u00adturies, which oper\u00adate as effec\u00adtive micro-lenders. [1] The moai are such con\u00advivial and effec\u00adtive insti\u00adtu\u00adtions that many Oki\u00adnawans attribute their unusu\u00adal good health and long lifes\u00adpans to par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpat\u00ading in them [2]. Nine\u00adteenth cen\u00adtu\u00adry pio\u00adneers of sav\u00adings-and-loan co-oper\u00ada\u00adtives in Scot\u00adland, Bohemia (Raif\u00adfeisen), and Cana\u00adda (Des\u00adjardins) were at first involved in the kind of small scale pro\u00adduc\u00ader-cred\u00adit that is today called micro-lend\u00ading, and it was this ele\u00adment in them that helped cre\u00adate aston\u00adish\u00ading leaps in social equal\u00adi\u00adty and pros\u00adper\u00adi\u00adty in those places, though the insti\u00adtu\u00adtions they found\u00aded grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly came to be con\u00adven\u00adtion\u00adal con\u00adsumer-ori\u00adent\u00aded banks. In 1976, Muham\u00admad Yunus found\u00aded the Grameen Bank, which began as a research project by Yunus and the Rur\u00adal Eco\u00adnom\u00adics Project at Bangladesh\u2019s Uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty of Chit\u00adtagong to test his method for pro\u00advid\u00ading cred\u00adit and bank\u00ading ser\u00advices to the rur\u00adal poor.&nbsp;The first loan was for only $27.&nbsp;<!--more--> Mon\u00adey was loaned through self-gov\u00adern\u00ading cir\u00adcles of five, and involved only small sums strict\u00adly for the improve\u00adment of a viable enter\u00adprise (for exam\u00adple, pay\u00ading for a cart to bring pro\u00adduce to mar\u00adket, or tools for a bicy\u00adcle shop).&nbsp;The major\u00adi\u00adty of lenders were women, whom Yunus found sta\u00adtis\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly more respon\u00adsi\u00adble with the mon\u00adey than men.&nbsp;More than half of Grameen bor\u00adrow\u00aders in Bangladesh (close to 50 mil\u00adlion) have risen out of acute pover\u00adty thanks to their loan, as mea\u00adsured by such stan\u00addards as hav\u00ading all chil\u00addren of school age in school, all house\u00adhold mem\u00adbers eat\u00ading three meals a day, a san\u00adi\u00adtary toi\u00adlet, a rain\u00adproof house, clean drink\u00ading water. Repay\u00adment rates, while slow, have proven to aver\u00adage 98 % (far exceed\u00ading repay\u00adment rates in con\u00adven\u00adtion\u00adal bank\u00ading).&nbsp;The Grameen bank was spec\u00adtac\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly suc\u00adcess\u00adful, and spread like light\u00adning through Bangladesh, and sub\u00adse\u00adquent\u00adly to 43 oth\u00ader coun\u00adtries. Yunus was award\u00aded the Nobel Prize for his work, one of the best-deserved of such awards.&nbsp;How\u00adev\u00ader, the con\u00adcept was \u201cin the air\u201d among those who had long suf\u00adfered under the idio\u00adcies of Marx\u00adism and the eco\u00adnom\u00adic nos\u00adtrums of Big Pow\u00ader insti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal ortho\u00addoxy.&nbsp;Esther Afua Ocloo, in Ghana, and Ela Ramesh Bhatt, in India, ini\u00adti\u00adat\u00aded the same con\u00adcept with their Wom\u00aden\u2019s World Bank\u00ading asso\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtion in the same year as Yunus began Grameen.&nbsp;Orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adly viewed with hos\u00adtil\u00adi\u00adty by most gov\u00adern\u00adments and finan\u00adcial insti\u00adtu\u00adtions, micro-lend\u00ading is now a band\u00adwag\u00adon to jump on, so you can expect var\u00adi\u00adous bureau\u00adcra\u00adtized, cor\u00adpo\u00adrate and state-direct\u00aded per\u00adver\u00adsions of the con\u00adcept to be foist\u00aded on peo\u00adple.&nbsp;Be that as it may, the amount of good that the move\u00adment has done for the world is undeniable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Now we have anoth\u00ader, grass-roots twist on micro-lend\u00ading.&nbsp;<span class=\"caps\">KIVA<\/span> is an inter\u00adnet-based micro-lend\u00ading sys\u00adtem.&nbsp;Poten\u00adtial bor\u00adrow\u00aders reg\u00adis\u00adter on the Kiva site, describ\u00ading their micro-busi\u00adness.&nbsp;Field offi\u00adcers, work\u00ading with exist\u00ading micro-lend\u00ading groups, ver\u00adi\u00adfy their bona fides. The aver\u00adage loan is for about $600, but it is made up of small\u00ader amounts, often $25, con\u00adtributed by the pub\u00adlic.&nbsp;Prospec\u00adtive lenders choose their bor\u00adrow\u00aders from the inter\u00adnet pro\u00adfile.&nbsp;They almost always get their mon\u00adey back, and usu\u00adal\u00adly re-lend it.&nbsp;To main\u00adtain the non-prof\u00adit sta\u00adtus of the orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion, the lenders can\u00adnot col\u00adlect inter\u00adest, but the sat\u00adis\u00adfac\u00adtion of know\u00ading that a tiny dona\u00adtion can do sub\u00adstan\u00adtial good over and over again is enough to sat\u00adis\u00adfy most par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpants.&nbsp;Kiva\u2019s web\u00adsite pro\u00advides a \u201crisk and due dili\u00adgence\u201d page that demon\u00adstrates the com\u00adbi\u00adna\u00adtion of ide\u00adal\u00adism, hon\u00adesty, and lev\u00adel-head\u00aded\u00adness that human beings can bring to bear on the prob\u00adlem of pover\u00adty if they step out of the old ways of think\u00ading into the mod\u00adern&nbsp;age.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">[1] Lebra, William P. <span class=\"amp\">&amp;<\/span> Thomas W. Maret\u00adz\u00adki \u2014 \u201cThe Com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty Coop\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtive in North\u00adern Oki\u00adnawa\u201d \u2014 Eco\u00adnom\u00adic Devel\u00adop\u00adment and Cul\u00adtur\u00adal Change, vol.1 #3, part I (April 1963). p.225\u2013238.<\/span><br>\n<span style=\"color: #000000;\"> [2] Buetnner, Dan \u2014 \u201cNew Wrin\u00adkles On Aging\u201d, Nation\u00adal Geo\u00adgraph\u00adic, Novem\u00adber&nbsp;2005.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Micro-lend\u00ading Rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion has done more to improve the lot of ordi\u00adnary human beings than any oth\u00ader social move\u00adment.&nbsp;It has many anti\u00adci\u00addents, since rotat\u00ading cred\u00adit asso\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtions and fra\u00adter\u00adni\u00adties have a long, though most\u00adly undoc\u00adu\u00adment\u00aded his\u00adto\u00adry. The island of Oki\u00adnawa,&nbsp;for&nbsp;\u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=730\">Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-at-blog-2007"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=730"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8806,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730\/revisions\/8806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}