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 — December 11, 2019
Grameen Ghana's final loans with Kiva have been defaulted, and this partnership is now closed. For the last 3 years, Kiva first tried working with Grameen Ghana and then an external debt collection agency to recover the outstanding amounts due to Kiva lenders. Kiva’s present assessment is that this Lending Partner will not make further payments, and thus the remaining $56,124.23 in outstanding amounts due to Kiva lenders has been defaulted. Kiva will continue to work with the external debt collection agency, and if we are able to recover any additional funds from Grameen Ghana, they will be applied to lenders' accounts on a pro-rata basis.

Status update — January 17, 2018
Since our last update, Grameen Ghana remitted a small payment to Kiva and their debt now stands at $56,124.23. Kiva is working with a third party with presence in Ghana to continue our efforts to recover lender funds. Grameen Ghana has shared with Kiva's representatives in Ghana that they are working to re-establish collections in the microfinance program so that funds can be repaid to Kiva lenders.

Status update — February 16, 2018
Since our last update, Grameen Ghana has not remitted any additional payments and their Kiva debt still stands at $56,875. They shared with Kiva the final findings of the forsemic audit report which they undertook in 2017 due to suspicion of staff fraud. We have also learned that they stopped their lending activity in mid 2017 due to continued liquidity constraints and the choice to concentrate on recoveries.

Since October 2017, we have continued to explore additional recovery options for the outstanding Kiva debt. We initially held discussions with a legal firm that is involved in advisory and corporate debt recovery but we did not proceed to formal engagement. We are currently exploring the use of an international debt recovery firm, but are still in the preliminary discussion stage. We will continue to work to recover lender funds and will provide more information as it becomes available.

Status update — August 15, 2017

Since pausing our partnership with Grameen Ghana in January 2017, their liquidity situation has continued to worsen, leading to a complete suspension of their lending activity. This situation has also led to closure of some of their branches, along with downsizing of their staff leaving only a small group to focus on loan recoveries.

Over this period, Grameen Ghana has also engaged an external auditor to carry out a forensic audit of their credit program after indications that internal fraud may have been a contributing factor for the high delinquency that caused the liquidity challenges. Preliminary report they shared with Kiva confirmed that indeed some of their staff were involved in fraudulent activities and they took immediate action to suspend and terminate all the culpable staff. Grameen Ghana hasn’t yet shared with us the final forensic audit report for our determination of the effect of the fraud on the outstanding Kiva debt of $56,875. We continue to work with the partner to determine how much of the current debt is reasonably recoverable and the time frame by which such payments would be remitted. We’ll post an update as soon as these details are determined.

Status update — January 9, 2017

The situation has continued to deteriorate following our last update about liquidity challenges and an agreed upon payment plan with Grameen Ghana. Since August 2016, Grameen Ghana hasn’t honored the monthly payment plan and their total debt now stands at $56,875. Based on our further assessment of the continued challenges facing the organization, we’ve decided to pause this partnership and will continue to work to try and recover the amount due to Kiva lenders. As more information becomes available on the progress of our recovery efforts, we’ll post updates to this page.

Status update — September 13, 2016

Grameen Ghana has reported a significant increase in delinquency for Kiva loans in the past few months. This has been the result of liquidity constraints, as well as economic challenges facing the Ghanaian market in general. Based on Kiva's assessment of the situation, we have mutually agreed to suspend fundraising for new loans on Kiva until the organization's situation improves. We have also agreed on a monthly repayment plan of $5,000 per month to cover the overdue payments to Kiva lenders. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates if the situation changes.

Partner description:

Grameen Ghana is a microfinance institution that aims to alleviate poverty in rural Northern Ghana by empowering underserved communities through financial services and educational training. The organization currently serves 13 districts that are home to some of the poorest people, providing the country’s most vulnerable groups with microcredit, food security and education.

Since its creation in 2003, Grameen Ghana has shown extraordinary commitment to connecting Ghana’s financially excluded communities with access to capital.

Today, Grameen Ghana serves over 11,000 clients -- 98% of whom are women -- and provides them with four financial products:
(1) Basic or income generating loans.
(2) Shea loans, for shea nut pickers and processors.
(3) Agricultural loans that provide farmers with funding for activities including cultivation, inputs, and harvesting.
(4) Energy or solar loans, to help clients purchase solar lighting devices in conjunction with Impact Energies.

In addition to its microfinance services, Grameen Ghana promotes entrepreneurship and financial empowerment surrounding communities through various credit and financial literacy trainings, savings programs and educational courses

A unique lending approach:

As well as supporting Grameen Ghana’s expansion into other underserved communities, Kiva lenders’ funds will help the organization to grow and develop two of its highly catalytic loan products: the Agriculture/Shea loans and the solar loans.

Given that farming is the main source of income for most borrowers, Grameen Ghana will use Kiva funding to increase the number of its high-demand Agribusiness and Shea loans. Together these products currently account for slightly more than half of the organization’s outstanding loans.

Kiva funding will also allow Grameen Ghana to expand its solar loan outreach and develop its current partnership with  Impact Energies to offer a wider range of solar products to more clients. Due to funding constraints, loans had  previously been limited to existing clients and low-value lighting products.