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 - February 2, 2022


Kiva and Fonkoze - Zafèn have agreed to end their partnership after nearly 8 years and more than $1,230,00 in loans raised. A recently passed law in Haiti prohibits Foundations from engaging in lending activities, which makes it impossible for Fonkoze - Zafèn to continue its lending program. This partner has repaid its outstanding balance to Kiva in full, and these funds have been distributed to lenders. We thank Fonkoze - Zafèn for the years of collaboration and wish them success in their future endeavors.


Status Update - October 11, 2019


Kiva has moved this Lending Partner to inactive status, which means Fonkoze - Zafèn is no longer fundraising loans on Kiva, though Kiva fully expects the partner to continue to send repayments owed to Kiva lenders as long as the partner has an outstanding balance.


Due to the recent round of protests, concentrated in the capital of Port-au-Prince, Fonkoze - Zafèn's clients are facing challenges that may make it difficult to repay their loans at this time. Should the political and economic situation improve, Kiva hopes to continue to support Fonkoze - Zafèn's much-needed development efforts. Kiva has been in communication with this partner, and we remain concerned about the safety and well-being of staff and clients affected by recent unrest.


If and when this partner requests to fundraise again on Kiva, Kiva will first conduct any additional monitoring and due diligence tasks we believe necessary.


Status update — January 25, 2016

After 18 months on Kiva and 155 loans fundraised, Fonkoze - Zafèn has graduated out of Kiva’s Experimental Partnership program and been given a risk rating of 1.5 stars. 

Partner description:

Fonkoze (fonkoze.org) is Haiti’s largest microfinance institution, offering a full range of financial and development services to Haiti’s rural poor. Since 2004, they have worked to provide tens of thousands of Haitian women with a comprehensive approach to poverty alleviation. 

Fonkoze is a family of organizations that includes:

• Fondasyon Kole Zepol (Fonkoze, the "Foundation”), founded in 1994 by a group of grassroots Haitian organizations and Father Joseph Philippe to provide financial services and education to the organized poor. The foundation also runs Zafèn (zafen.org), the lending platform that is partnering with Kiva.

• Fonkoze USA, founded in 1997, a 501(c)3 U.S. organization that raises funds for loans and grants to Fonkoze in Haiti.

• Sèvis Finansye Fonkoze, S.A. (Fonkoze Financial Services, "SFF"), spun off from the Foundation in 2004, SFF uses a business model to provide microcredit loans primarily to Haitian women as well as other financial services. 

After the January 2010 earthquake, the Fonkoze Foundation launched an online “peer-to-project” lending platform called Zafèn to support small and growing businesses in Haiti. It was designed to facilitate contributions from the Haitian Diaspora and friends of Haiti. Zafèn is now using Kiva as its lending platform, which will enable the Zafèn program to reach more people. This partnership with Kiva is a natural fit, as it will allow Fonkoze to focus on working with borrowers, instead of on crowdfunding, thus reducing overall program costs. 

Zafèn was founded by four organizations: Fonkoze, the Haitian Hometown Associations Resource Group (HHTARG), the International Vincentian Family and DePaul University.  

A unique lending approach:

Fonkoze-Zafèn has 2 areas of focus:

• Small and growing businesses (SGBs) — Zafèn targets businesses that demonstrate potential for growth and fulfill a set of qualification criteria around job creation, environmental benefits, and potential for replication and community value addition.

• Village savings and loan associations — Providing loans to these associations can be difficult for regulated microfinance institutions, as these informal groups typically have no legal status. This type of loan enables Zafèn to provide access to financial services to the poorest segments of the population. 


Repayment Performance on Kiva

    This Lending Partner All Kiva Partners
  Start Date On Kiva Jun 12, 2014 Oct 12, 2005
Total Loans $1,231,125 $2,048,758,690
Amount of raised Inactive loans $0 $348,325
Number of raised Inactive loans 0 296
Amount of Paying Back Loans $0 $153,933,040
Number of Paying Back Loans 0 183,991
Amount of Ended Loans $1,231,125 $1,852,324,370
Number of Ended Loans 846 2,496,556
Delinquency Rate 0.00% 11.72%
Amount in Arrears $0 $10,838,102
Outstanding Portfolio $0 $92,466,642
Number of Loans Delinquent 0 38,146
Default Rate 10.22% 1.82%
Amount of Ended Loans Defaulted $125,850 $33,752,032
Number of Ended Loans Defaulted 206 89,003
Currency Exchange Loss Rate 1.92% 0.47%
Amount of Currency Exchange Loss $23,611 $12,742,203
Refund Rate 4.75% 0.53%
Amount of Refunded Loans $58,525 $10,938,345
Number of Refunded Loans 42 9,670

Loan Characteristics On Kiva

    This Lending Partner All Kiva Partners
  Loans to Women Borrowers 49.69% 78.48%
Average Loan Size $1,452 $393
Average Individual Loan Size $1,452 $586
Average Group Loan Size $0 $1,910
Average number of borrowers per group 0 8.3
Average GDP per capita (PPP) in local country $1,300 $5,592
Average Loan Size / GDP per capita (PPP) 111.72% 7.02%
Average Time to Fund a Loan 7.45 days 9.12 days
Average Dollars Raised Per Day Per Loan $195.01 $43.08
  Average Loan Term 13.33 months 11.5 months

Journaling Performance on Kiva

    This Lending Partner All Kiva Partners
  Total Journals 746 1,222,149
  Journaling Rate 73.52% 41.92%
  Average Number of Comments Per Journal 0.00 0.02
  Average Number of Recommendations Per Journal 0.00 0.55

Borrowing Cost Comparison (based on 2017 data)

    This Lending Partner Median for MFI's in Country All Kiva Partners
  Average Cost to Borrower 27% APR 51.00% PY 26.44% PY
  Profitability (return on assets) 16.5% 4.2% -1.32%
  Average Loan Size (% of per capita income) N/A 95.00% 0.00%

Country Fast Facts

Lending Partner Staff

Ralf Dumas Charles