Kiva conducts regular, ongoing monitoring of all Lending Partners, but only posts status updates here in response to relevant, major changes at the partner.
 

Status update — October 3, 2016

Alidé has repaid Kiva all installments approved by the Ministry of Finance in Benin. The delay in the organization's ability to send repayments to Kiva was caused by drastic fluctuations in the local currency. As a result of these currency fluctuations, the repayments received are inconsistent with the full amount owed to lenders. Kiva has therefore settled the $168,609.41 repaid since October 2014 on a pro-rata basis to all Alidé lenders, and the remaining amount of their unpaid loans has been defaulted. With no more payments expected, Kiva and Alidé have now ended their partnership. Kiva thanks Alidé for its commitment to providing financial services to people in need in Benin and for its collaboration throughout the years. 

Status update — June 4, 2015
Alidé is limited in the amount of money they are able to send to Kiva due to restrictions placed on them by the Beninois ministry of finance. However, even allowing for this difficulty, this partner is still considered behind on repayments to Kiva. They plan to send Kiva extra repayments between now and August 2015 in order to make up this difference. After that time, they will pay a flat amount per month to repay the balance of funds due to lenders.

Status update — December 17, 2014
Alidé stopped raising funds for new loans on Kiva's platform in 2014. The organization is taking time to solve a regulatory issue that has restricted Alidé from sending funds to Kiva above an arbitrary cap imposed by the Beninese Ministry of Finance. Throughout this period, Alidé has sent funds to Kiva regularly, occasionally before they were due. Kiva is committed to finding a solution in partnership with Alidé, and continues to support this organization and their strong social mission. In the interim, Alidé will continue to repay lenders as permitted by the Ministry of Finance.
 
Partner description:

Alidé (L’Association de Lutte pour la promotion des Initiatives de Développement) was started in 2006 out of the institutional transformation of a French NGO (Initiative Développement). Alidé made its reputation from being the first MFI to serve the two poorest neighborhoods in Cotonou: Placodji and Akpakpadodomé, which are essentially shantytown slums near the polluted lagoon that divides Cotonou in two.

Now a fully independent Beninese NGO respected by the industry and its clients alike, Alidé continues to work in those same neighborhoods but has also expanded its presence past Cotonou (Benin’s economic capital) and into Sémé-Podji, Allada, Porto-Novo (the administrative capital), Missérété, Adjarra, Dangbo, Avrankou, and Calavi.

In these communities, Alidé works with marginalized people who have previously been excluded from formal credit and savings systems: women, widows, refugees, people with handicaps, people living with AIDS, etc. Alidé offers not only micro-loans (including 0% interest Coup de Pousse loans for the very, very poor), but also well-needed savings options, free training sessions on health, finance, and loan management, and on-site social workers.

All of Alidé’s nine offices are similar. The spaces are bare, but tidy. The walls are almost always a pale blue. Alidé’s name, which means, “a path always exists [for the very poor],” in Fon, the local language, is proudly displayed in big letters next to the company’s logo, a man made out of cowry shells – cowry shells, once used as money in Benin, now a symbol of wealth. 

On any given day you can find a number of women in colorful dresses waiting patiently on the benches in each agency’s courtyard. They’re waiting to apply for loans, pick up their money, or make deposits and are generally happy and smiling, even if they have to wait for hours in the obtrusive midday heat. When you ask them what they think of Alidé, they describe it as a godsend.

Benin is a country with a history of slavery and communism, where more than a third of the population lives below the poverty line, where 65% are illiterate, and the median age is 17. It’s through loans like those from Alidé that today’s generation of working poor can get enough capital to think beyond daily survival and establish the businesses they need to pull themselves out of poverty and ensure a better life for their children.

If you’re interested in learning more about Alidé or Benin, you can join the Friends of Benin lending team.

Status update — April 7, 2013

In February 2013, Alidé notified Kiva that the Beninois Ministry of Finance had restricted the amount Alidé is allowed to send Kiva to about $13,000 per month. This amount was not equal to the amount due from Alidé to Kiva in order to cover Kiva borrower repayments. This restriction was a surprise to both Kiva and Alidé, especially because Alidé had always been able to repay Kiva on time and in full in the past.

While this situation is worrying, since it means that Kiva lenders are being repaid late, Kiva remains committed to this longstanding partnership in the hope that -- once Alidé is able to repay the total due to Kiva -- the MFI will be able to balance the number of loans it posts with the amount it can repay monthly. As an institution, Alidé remains healthy and in good standing with its other creditors to Kiva's knowledge. Kiva and Alidé are hopeful that this situation can be resolved in the future, and that Alidé will be able to resume paying Kiva back regularly as it has in the past.

Status update — September 17, 2009

Kiva recently modified its methodology for assessing the level of risk presented by its Lending Partners. This new process is more rigorous and measures partner performance along additional key dimensions of risk. The drop in Alidé’s risk rating stems directly from the switch to this new methodology and is not a reflection of any changes at the institution.