Have Impact !http://www.haveimpact.orgMake a difference in the world.en-USMon, 06 May 2013 21:43:40 PDThttp://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1hourly1http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/HaveImpacthttp://feedburner.google.comSubscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with PageflakesSubscribe with PlusmoSubscribe with The Free DictionarySubscribe with Bitty BrowserSubscribe with NewsAlloySubscribe with Live.comSubscribe with Excite MIXSubscribe with Attensa for OutlookSubscribe with WebwagSubscribe with Podcast ReadySubscribe with FlurrySubscribe with WikioSubscribe with Daily RotationNew microfinance loans went to 20 countrieshttp://www.haveimpact.org/new-microfinance-loans-to-20-countries/New LoansPeterMon, 06 May 2013 21:09:57 PDThttp://www.haveimpact.org/?p=580Rita from Kyrgyzstan

We help Rita from Kyrgyzstan to expand her livestock

Nicaragua, Tanzania, Philippines, Georgia, Senegal, Congo, Rwanda, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Mali, Bolivia, Burundi, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Ghana, Armenia, Peru, and Azerbaijan.

That’s 20 countries.

That’s how many countries our new Kiva loans went to, today. Most of the entrepreneurs we lend to, are women working in agriculture.

You might think I am a half-millionaire to allocate US$3,475 of new loans in one go. However, these were all repayments from previously allocated loans. Re-investing in people, to help themselves…

People like Rita from a village called “Semenovka”, in Kyrgyzstan. Rita is 44 years old and a widow, raising her daughter single-handedly.
She works as a cook at a boarding house, but also has her own livestock.
With her micro finance loan, she wants to buy more cows so she can sell the milk, providing her with extra income to further expand her business, and to refurbish her house.

Here are all the loans we allocated today:

Come and join our Kiva team!

]]><p class="wp-caption-text">We help Rita from Kyrgyzstan to expand her livestock</p> <p>Nicaragua, Tanzania, Philippines, Georgia, Senegal, Congo, Rwanda, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Mali, Bolivia, Burundi, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Ghana, Armenia, Peru, and Azerbaijan.</p> <p>That&#8217;s 20 countries. </p> <p>That&#8217;s how many countries our new Kiva loans went to, today. Most of the entrepreneurs we lend to, are women working in [...]http://www.haveimpact.org/new-microfinance-loans-to-20-countries/feed/0New loans to women groupshttp://www.haveimpact.org/new-loans-to-women-groups/New LoansPeterTue, 08 May 2012 07:50:43 PDThttp://www.haveimpact.org/?p=570pakistan microfinance

Jamila (L) and her microfinance entrepreneural group

 Today, we issued a new batch of microfinance loans. This batch contained only loans for groups, mainly consisting of women.

In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan, as a part of a larger group of individuals. The group is there to provide support to the members and to provide a system of peer pressure. Groups may or may not be formally bound by a group guarantee, where members of the group are responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members in the case of delinquency or default.

Kiva’s Field Partners typically feature one borrower from a group. Let’s take the case of second loan, featuring Jamila, a mother of six, in Pakistan.

Jamila will utilize the loan for her dairy and livestock business. With the loan investment, she, and her husband will buy a buffalo that will help him get larger quantities of milk for sale.

The other loans we issued today are:

]]><p class="wp-caption-text">Jamila (L) and her microfinance entrepreneural group</p> <p>&#160;Today, we issued a new batch of microfinance loans. This batch contained only loans for groups, mainly consisting of women.</p> <p>In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan, as a part of a larger group of individuals. The group is there to provide support [...]http://www.haveimpact.org/new-loans-to-women-groups/feed/070 more loans to women, working in agriculturehttp://www.haveimpact.org/70-more-loans-to-women-working-in-agriculture/New LoansPeterSun, 18 Mar 2012 16:15:46 PDThttp://www.haveimpact.org/?p=558

Zaripakhon in Kyrgyzstan

Would you even know where Kyrgyzstan is? Leave alone, been there? And would you even have thought to finance an entrepreneur there? Ever?

Well we did. On all three accounts: “Knew”, “Visited”, and “Financed”…

We just financed our 1,666th loan (that is one thousands six hundred and sixtysixthththth) loan with our Kiva micro financing team.

The loan went to Zaripakhon, 52 years and mother of three children. She is a cattle farmer since 2000 selling milk and dairy products. To order further develop her business, Zaripakhon requested a loan buy more livestock.

Zaripakhon was one of the 70 women from around the world we allocated our newest microfinance loans to. This loan was financed by a project on AidJobs, which raised over US$2,000 of funds.

Here are the latest micro finance loans we allocated, bringing our team total to almost US$60,000!

]]><p class="wp-caption-text">Zaripakhon in Kyrgyzstan</p> <p>Would you even know where Kyrgyzstan is? Leave alone, been there? And would you even have thought to finance an entrepreneur there? Ever?</p> <p>Well we did. On all three accounts: &#8220;Knew&#8221;, &#8220;Visited&#8221;, and &#8220;Financed&#8221;&#8230;</p> <p>We just financed our 1,666th loan (that is one thousands six hundred and sixtysixthththth) loan with our Kiva micro financing [...]http://www.haveimpact.org/70-more-loans-to-women-working-in-agriculture/feed/0Start 2012 well!http://www.haveimpact.org/start-2012-well/Other Impact ProjectsProject UpdatesPeterSat, 31 Dec 2011 12:32:07 PSThttp://www.haveimpact.org/?p=551

Since we kicked off our Kiva microfinance project “Change Starts Here” in November 2008, our Kiva Lending Team has already funded over 1,500 projects, for a total value of US$54,000. Check out our project score card on our Have Impact! blog.

In 2011, I had a wide range of sponsors for the blogs I manage. After deducting the running costs for my blogs, I want to invest the left-over funds in our microfinance project “Change Starts Here” . Seems like a good way to start 2012 off on a good footing!

So, from January 1 to 15, I will run a promotion campaign for AidJobs, my newest blog, while helping to boost our micro finance projects. How? Pretty simple:

  • For every comment left on this blogpost, I will donate US$5.
    Just leave your name and where you live. Add any wishes you have for a better world in 2012.
  • For every new Twitter follower on @AidJobs, I will donate US$5.
    (we’re starting at 147 followers)
  • For every new “like” on our AidJobs Facebook page, I will donate US$5.
    (we’re starting at 22 likes)
  • For every new Email subscription, I will donate US$5.
    (we’re starting at 4 subscriptions)

Again, the end date is midnight January 15, and all funds go to our Kiva micro finance projects. A good way to start 2012, no?

Happy New Year everyone!

Peter

 

]]><p> Since we kicked off our Kiva microfinance project &#8220;Change Starts Here&#8221; in November 2008, our Kiva Lending Team has already funded over 1,500 projects, for a total value of US$54,000. Check out our project score card on our Have Impact! blog.</p> <p>In 2011, I had a wide range of sponsors for the blogs I manage. After [...]http://www.haveimpact.org/start-2012-well/feed/0Horn of Africa: Want to have impact? Help us spreading the message!http://www.haveimpact.org/horn-of-africa-want-to-have-impact-help-us-spreading-the-message/Other Impact ProjectsPeterWed, 24 Aug 2011 14:11:51 PDThttp://www.haveimpact.org/?p=543dead cattle in Horn of Africa
After 17 years in the field, working in front line humanitarian emergency response, of which 15 years in food aid relief, I took a sabbatical break. Taking a distance allowed me to discover an other side of the humanitarian work, something more longer term, but with no less impact: agricultural development.

Over the past sabbatical year, I had the opportunity to work with a team at CGIAR, mostly on social media related projects. That work brought me to the field, talking to farmers about ways they adapt (or don’t) to the economic and climatic changes, their needs, their wishes,… I wrote about it, made videos, published pictures.. I realized the impact even small things can have, on their daily lives. I talked to researchers, to extension agents, to suppliers… In short, I got hooked.

At this moment, I have the opportunity to work with CGIAR on an event taking place in Nairobi on Sept 1st, highlighting the importance of longer term agricultural research to augment the resilience of farmers confronted with a rapidly changing world, specifically related to the current drought (again) in the Horn of Africa.

The work of the CGIAR is not well known to the outside world. Having worked in food aid for the better part of my professional life, the CGIAR was certainly an unknown to me. It is part of my job is to make it known. And this is where you all can help, even though the effort is still at its early beginning (isn’t it great to be part of something from the start?).

We have set up a repository (in the form of a blog), in which I post simple examples of agricultural research the CGIAR is doing, particularly in the Horn, leading up to the Sept 1 event.

At the same time, we are “populating” a brand Twitter account @cgiarconsortium , using the hashtag #Ag4HoA (Agriculture for the Horn of Africa) for all tweets related to agricultural development. We started publishing development projects related to the Horn, but after Sept 1, we will broaden to other projects the CGIAR does, as time goes by.

On Sept 1st (followed by another event on Sept 2nd and 3rd), I will be live blogging/tweeting from the event, using the same Twitter account.

Now where can you help?

Just as I called out to the social media community for the Addis Sharefair, I am calling out to you now. I am looking for people active in the social media community to help spreading our worthwhile message. You don’t have to be related to development or agricultural research, but any reach you have within your own social community, can help.

I am looking for people who are willing to retweet, reblog, post our articles on Facebook, Google+, in short “make some social media noise”. I have assembled a good list of people in an email list already, whom I update daily of the new events and posts we are broadcasting.

Are you willing to help? Leave a comment, or email me via peter (at) theroadtothehorizon (dot) org and I will include you on our mailing list.

I hope with this effort, we can do some good, make a change, and maybe contribute our small bit to make sure droughts and floods no longer turn into famine.

Maybe one day, we won’t need to put up pictures of cattle starving due to a drought. Maybe one day, we will be able to publish pictures of thriving crops and well-fed cows, even though the area has been hit by yet another drought, or a flood.

]]><p> After 17 years in the field, working in front line humanitarian emergency response, of which 15 years in food aid relief, I took a sabbatical break. Taking a distance allowed me to discover an other side of the humanitarian work, something more longer term, but with no less impact: agricultural development.</p> <p>Over the past sabbatical year, [...]http://www.haveimpact.org/horn-of-africa-want-to-have-impact-help-us-spreading-the-message/feed/7New loans to more than 100 women over the whole worldhttp://www.haveimpact.org/new-loans-to-women-over-the-whole-world/New LoansPeterSat, 18 Jun 2011 05:13:49 PDThttp://www.haveimpact.org/?p=535Gakii Mwenda, Kiva lender from Kenya

Gakii Mwenda, one of our Kiva lenders from Kenya

Gakii Mwenda lives in the Nkubu area of Central Kenya. She has been a farmer for 13 years. Gakii has been producing french beans, potatoes and milk. She sells her produce on the local market.

Gakii has made a loan request to Kiva so she could buy dairy goats and construct a barn on her farm. She intends to expand her dairy goat farming and keep cows in the future. She says she will fully rely on the farming income for the upkeep of her children.

When I read Gakii’s request, it made me think of many Kenya’s women I met during my visit last year. Most of them, like Emily manage their household, their farm and their family entirely by themselves. Many are widows, or their husbands work in the cities, only coming home a couple of times per year.

In honour of the strong women in this world, today I allocated 52 new microfinance loans via Kiva. Some of these loans go to individual women, some are group loans.

With these new loans, we reached over 100 women. They live all over the world: Mexico, Bolivia, Philippines, Uganda, Mongolia, Peru, the DRC, Ecuador, Ukraine, the Dominican Republic, Rwanda, Kenya, Azerbaijan, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Cambodia. 18 countries.. did I count that well?

They needed help in setting up or expanding their retail business, buy seeds or fishlings, invest in new farming equipment or stocks.

It is amazing to realize, that from my desk in Italy, I can make a difference in the lives of over 100 women in 18 countries… Why don’t you join our Kiva team, and allocate your microfinance loan too?

Here is the list of new loans I allocated today:

]]><p class="wp-caption-text">Gakii Mwenda, one of our Kiva lenders from Kenya</p> <p>Gakii Mwenda lives in the Nkubu area of Central Kenya. She has been a farmer for 13 years. Gakii has been producing french beans, potatoes and milk. She sells her produce on the local market.</p> <p>Gakii has made a loan request to Kiva so she could buy [...]http://www.haveimpact.org/new-loans-to-women-over-the-whole-world/feed/3New loans to entrepreneurs in agriculturehttp://www.haveimpact.org/new-loans-to-entrepreneurs-in-agriculture/New LoansPeterFri, 25 Feb 2011 05:31:57 PSThttp://www.haveimpact.org/?p=527New microfinance loan for a Philippino entrepreneur

Gloria Daliego's team

Gloria Daliego lives in the village of Estrella, San Guillermo, in the Philippines. She is 41 years old and the group leader of a 13-member group loan. While each member of the group receives an individual loan, they are all collectively responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members if someone is delinquent or defaults.

Gloria is married and has 4 school-aged children. She owns and operates a farming business, planting and harvesting a variety of vegetables for sale. Gloria has been engaged in her business for over 10 years and earns approximately 4,000 PHP a month from it.

In 2009, Gloria asked a microfinance loan to help improve her living situation and ability to engage in business activities. Gloria has successfully repaid a previous loan of 5,000 PHP, which was used to purchase additional seeds, seedlings and young crops to raise.

Gloria is requesting a new loan of 8,000 PHP which will again be used to purchase additional seeds, seedlings and young crops to raise. She plans to use the additional revenue generated from the business to improve/expand her business.

As part of our newest loans, concentrating on entrepreneurs active in the agricultural sector, we allocated $50 to Gloria’s group.

Here are our most recent loans:

]]><p class="wp-caption-text">Gloria Daliego&#039;s team</p> <p>Gloria Daliego lives in the village of Estrella, San Guillermo, in the Philippines. She is 41 years old and the group leader of a 13-member group loan. While each member of the group receives an individual loan, they are all collectively responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members [...]http://www.haveimpact.org/new-loans-to-entrepreneurs-in-agriculture/feed/0New Kiva loans to women and groups working in agriculturehttp://www.haveimpact.org/new-kiva-loans-to-women-and-groups-working-in-agriculture/New LoansPeterThu, 06 Jan 2011 08:42:34 PSThttp://www.haveimpact.org/?p=523microfinance loans in Kyrgyzstan

Sobirahon Ahmadalieva (on the left) with her team

Sobirahon Ahmadalieva is 51 years old and divorced. She lives with her four children in Aravan, Kyrgyzstan. The older son works in construction, the second repairs cars, and her two daughters study at the university.

With her team, Sobirahon breeds cattle for resale after fattening. In this way she earns about $85 per month. With her microfinance loan of $1,066 she wants to purchase two bull calves for breeding.

In the future she wants to increase the number of cattle and save money to celebrate her daughter’s wedding.

We funded 10% of her loan request, which she will pay back over the course of the next 18 months.

This was one of 17 loans we issued today, concentrating on women, and lender’s groups working in agriculture. This time, the lenders were mostly from South America and Central Asia:

]]><p class="wp-caption-text">Sobirahon Ahmadalieva (on the left) with her team</p> <p>Sobirahon Ahmadalieva is 51 years old and divorced. She lives with her four children in Aravan, Kyrgyzstan. The older son works in construction, the second repairs cars, and her two daughters study at the university.</p> <p>With her team, Sobirahon breeds cattle for resale after fattening. In this way [...]http://www.haveimpact.org/new-kiva-loans-to-women-and-groups-working-in-agriculture/feed/0New microfinance loans. From Mongolia to Paraguayhttp://www.haveimpact.org/new-microfinance-loans-from-mongolia-to-paraguay/New LoansPeterMon, 01 Nov 2010 07:02:13 PDThttp://www.haveimpact.org/?p=503Armen Hovhannisyan in Armenia

Armen wants to invest in potato seedlings for the next planting season

Armen Hovhannisyan lives in Armenia, in a village called “Lchashen” with his parents, his wife and two children.

Armen has been a farmer for about 15 years. In his farm he has cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens. Armen’s wife helps him in farming, so they support their family, develop their farm and pay for their children’s education at university. He asked for a loan of 1,000,000 AMD (USD$ 2,800) to buy potato seedlings, which he will plant next spring.

Armen Hovhannisyan is one of the 31 new loans we have issued to Kiva this week.
In this tranche, we slightly deviated from our usual emphasize on women, but concentrated on entrepreneurs working in groups, and lenders working in agriculture.

In the course of the past two years, Our Kiva team has now allocated over 1,000 microfinance loans, for a total value of US$39,500. Check our score card for the details!

Of the microfinance loans I have allocated to people in 36 countries, 90% were women.
37% of the loans went to people working in the agricultural sector, 26% works in retail (smaller shops) and 21% worked in food processing and food trade.

]]><p class="wp-caption-text">Armen wants to invest in potato seedlings for the next planting season</p> <p>Armen Hovhannisyan lives in Armenia, in a village called &#8220;Lchashen&#8221; with his parents, his wife and two children.</p> <p>Armen has been a farmer for about 15 years. In his farm he has cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens. Armen’s wife helps him in farming, so [...]http://www.haveimpact.org/new-microfinance-loans-from-mongolia-to-paraguay/feed/2New loans to women all over the worldhttp://www.haveimpact.org/new-loans-to-women-all-over-the-world/New LoansPeterSat, 07 Aug 2010 05:02:59 PDThttp://www.haveimpact.org/?p=484Tamara Hovannisyan in Armenia

Tamara in Armenia wants to expand her farming business

Tamara Hovannisyan lives in Horom, in the Shirak region of Armenia. She is married with three children 14, 19 and 21 years old. Tamara has been a self-employed farmer for the past 20 years. In addition to supporting the education of her children, she also provides her brother’s family with agricultural produce grown on her farm. She has a dream of renovating her house and establishing a small shop to support her family, so she took a loan to purchase fuel and cattle feed to increase her small livestock business. If successful, she expects her income to increase by 25%.

Tamara is one of the 15 entrepreneurs out of 8 countries we allocated microfinance loans to today:

As per our usual choice, all selected entrepreneurs are either women, or women’s groups. This batch concentrated mostly on loans for active farmers.

Check out our project score card for a summary of our loans, and if you are interested, join our Kiva team… Up to today, we have 82 members, who issued a total of US$35,325 in 894 different loans…

And if you just tune in now, check here how it all started…

]]><p class="wp-caption-text">Tamara in Armenia wants to expand her farming business</p> <p>Tamara Hovannisyan lives in Horom, in the Shirak region of Armenia. She is married with three children 14, 19 and 21 years old. Tamara has been a self-employed farmer for the past 20 years. In addition to supporting the education of her children, she also provides [...]http://www.haveimpact.org/new-loans-to-women-all-over-the-world/feed/0