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Microfinance Notes: 30 March 2011

April 1, 2011


At Kiva, we value being in tuned to the news, research, and latest findings in Microfinance, so we are making an effort to bring you more of the latest in Microfinance!

In this post, we cover: an interview with Kiva President, Premal Shah, a case study of the Progress out of Poverty Index, studies on Turkey, Sierra Leone, and Pakistan, in addition to a podcast about money and happiness!

This is one of the more comprehensive interviews to be published about Kiva. Read this article to learn about how Kiva describes many aspect of its business.

As Kiva explores a greater focus on borrower targeting in 2011, Grameen's PPI poverty assessment tool will be a critical part of that effort. Kiva Field Partner Microfinanzas Prisma has been working closely with Grameen to implement the tool.

3. Is Turkey microfinance investable? source: Microfinance Focus
As Kiva's portfolio team proposes our first potential Turkish MFI Field Partner to the Investment Committee, this article draws attention to the microfinance industry in that country.

4. Health Promoter & Entrepreneur in Sierra Leone source: Malik Rashid at BRAC blog
Brand new Kiva Field Partner BRAC Sierra Leone has made firm strides in improving health.

5. Microfinance Investors Explore Approaches to Address the Risks of Over-indebtedness
source: CGAP Microfinance Blog
BlueOrchard has similar investment interests as Kiva. Read about BlueOrchard's approach to fighting over-indebtedness.

6. Islamic Microfinance Challenge: Profiling Tameer Bank, Pakistan
source: CGAP Microfinance Blog
Another in CGAP's blog series about Islamic microfinance. Kiva works in many areas where Islamic microfinance products will be growing and becoming a more important part of the lending landscape.

7. Solutions for Financial Inclusion: Serving Rural Women
source: Microfinance Gateway
Kiva aims to provide microfinance funding where it is less available. Rural microfinance remains a vastly underdeveloped part of the industry. Studies like this one help us to understand the dynamics within which we are working.

8. Does Money Buy Happiness?
source: NPR Planet Money
Kiva believes in microfinance as a tool for economic development. This podcast suggests an interesting link between money and happiness. It is a good listen at the very least! Check out this figure, as an example of the work that this podcast discusses.


Life Satisfaction and Real GDP per Capita: Gallup World Polll Data.