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

August 6, 2020 - COVID-19 Update:

Kiva has been in contact with CEVI to understand how we can best support their business and borrowers during the ever-evolving COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to prioritize the safety and well-being of all staff, borrowers and their families as this global pandemic continues.

While country-specific responses to the crisis vary, most governments have imposed curfews, travel restrictions, and nation-wide shutdowns. The Philippines has imposed temporary moratoriums on loan payments, affecting not only microfinance, but the economy as a whole.

As a result, borrowers and CEVI may experience difficulty making and collecting loan repayments due to the aforementioned restrictions or fallout effects of the virus. Over the coming months, it’s possible that lenders will see a delay in repayments and new loans posted by CEVI. As an impact-first funder, Kiva is committed to serving our Lending Partners, as in past crises. We are sympathetic to temporary increases in repayment delays and delinquency in order to help Lending Partners and borrower communities recover. 

Kiva is working closely with CEVI to support them and their borrowers through the COVID-19 crisis. CEVI is sending regular updates to Kiva, and we'll update Partner Pages as we learn more. 

On behalf of Kiva and CEVI, we’re grateful for your continued support through this difficult time.

Partner description:

Community Economic Ventures, Inc. (CEVI), a partner of VisionFund International, was conceptualized in 1998 in Bohol, Philippines to improve livelihoods among families covered by the Area Development Program of World Vision Development Foundation (WVDF). CEVI started as a micro-enterprise development program that aims to offer more dynamic and sustainable projects.
In 2000, CEVI was registered as a non-stock, non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). CEVI is a Christian organization, which integrates values formation in its provision of financial and technical assistance to micro-entrepreneurs engaged in trading, manufacturing, agriculture and service businesses. CEVI’s social mission is to “serve the economically active poor by providing appropriate and quality microfinance products and services to help their businesses grow.”

By providing better alternatives to access credit, build up capital, micro-insurance and savings, in addition to extending consultancy services and trainings (Financial Literacy Program), CEVI has helped transform the lives of thousands of families. Read some client success stories on the CEVI website

Not only does CEVI strive to build client capacity through business management modules, but also through values training, which promote personal development. CEVI operates with the understanding that by equipping clients with knowledge, in addition to capital, clients will have the tools to sustain and, eventually, grow their businesses. Furthermore, CEVI primarily serves women, under the notion that as women are able to achieve higher incomes, they will directly invest to improve their family’s quality of life, and they will instill good values in their children.

Since its inception, CEVI has established microfinance services in 13 provinces and cities across the Philippines, with a total of 32 branches, as of September 2016. CEVI continues to explore methods to increase outreach to people in impoverished regions, including communities that have been financially excluded based on ethnicity and religion.

Vision: “People experiencing fullness of life.”

Mission: “As a sustainable Microfinance Institution, we follow Jesus Christ in promoting transformation in the lives of poor families and communities through the provision of appropriate microfinance services with values formation, training and consultancy.”

A note about CEVI’s portfolio yield:

We care deeply about the cost that Kiva borrowers pay for their loans, which is why fair pricing is a core part of our initial due diligence process for Lending Partners. With Kiva's 0% capital, many of our Lending Partners are also able to add additional value to their loans by reducing interest rates, offering non-financial services or creating new loan products.

For partners with reported portfolio yields or average APRs higher than 50%, Kiva takes steps to check that the high rates are justified by the impact of the loans. Kiva also verifies that the partner is not generating unreasonable profits or paying inflated salaries, and that the partner’s elevated operating costs are justified by its operating environment and/or the design of its loan products.

We seek to support loans that don’t impose an unjustifiable cost burden on hard-working borrowers. We nevertheless recognize that in order to reach vulnerable and excluded people with high-impact products and services, some of our partners incur high costs that necessitate charging higher-than-average costs to borrowers in order to allow for sustainability and scale. With this partner, Kiva capital is supporting a loan product that costs less than the partner's typical products.

Factors that drive up the costs that this partner organization charges its borrowers include:

• They provide very small loans. This leads to higher operating costs, since providing each individual loan presents a minimum per-unit cost.
• They provide more than just cash to many of their borrowers, including costly wraparound services such as healthcare, financial or business training, agricultural extension services, insurance or access to education.
• They work extensively in rural areas, which requires their employees to engage in costly travel to find and serve their clients.
• They operate in a region known to be at risk of natural disaster, which increases the cost of doing business.