kiva.org for bougainville?
July 21, 2011 12:56 AM Subscribe
is there a site like kiva.org offering micro loans to people in Bougainville?
Are there any Kiva partners that work in Bougainville?
My family have made kiva loans instead of buying christmas presents.
Because of a personal connection with the island I'd like to be able to make loans in support of development in Bouganville.
Are there any Kiva partners that work in Bougainville?
My family have made kiva loans instead of buying christmas presents.
Because of a personal connection with the island I'd like to be able to make loans in support of development in Bouganville.
Response by poster: I'm not going to try and convince you of anything, but I am happy to explain my attitude.
You seem to point out three potential problems:
the interest is high
borrows may take on debt for projects that will not return sufficient money to allow them to repay the debt.
borrowers may exploit the system
All of these things are true, and I know that and still choose to support micro credit loans.
The interest rates charged might be higher than I would be charged if I were to take out a loan, but operating in developing countries is difficult and expensive, because so much of the social, legal and physical infrastructure we take for granted is missing.
I wouldn't be troubled by someone financing a wedding, in Bougainville I was really impressed by how useful feasts and ceremonies were for reconciling groups who had fought during the civil war. The Bougainvillians were very nuanced and sophisticated in the way they went about it, so if they thought a wedding was worth borrowing for I'd be inclined to trust them. In principle, I like the idea of putting the power into the hands of the people borrowing to decide whether an idea is worth borrowing for.
Of course some people will abuse the system. When I can afford it, I prefer to risk being too open, knowing full well that my openness might be exploited, rather than being too closed and knocking back sincere people that I could help. This is my personal choice of how I aspire to behave. I think kiva is revolution with regard to the quality of the information they are providing lenders. I want to help in developing countries, kiva can't provide complete information about the projects, the cost of gaining complete information would be prohibitively high, so I think you have to accept that you must make decisions with insufficient knowledge, and for me, the information kiva provides is sufficient for me to be be willing to risk lending.
posted by compound eye at 5:48 AM on July 21, 2011
You seem to point out three potential problems:
the interest is high
borrows may take on debt for projects that will not return sufficient money to allow them to repay the debt.
borrowers may exploit the system
All of these things are true, and I know that and still choose to support micro credit loans.
The interest rates charged might be higher than I would be charged if I were to take out a loan, but operating in developing countries is difficult and expensive, because so much of the social, legal and physical infrastructure we take for granted is missing.
I wouldn't be troubled by someone financing a wedding, in Bougainville I was really impressed by how useful feasts and ceremonies were for reconciling groups who had fought during the civil war. The Bougainvillians were very nuanced and sophisticated in the way they went about it, so if they thought a wedding was worth borrowing for I'd be inclined to trust them. In principle, I like the idea of putting the power into the hands of the people borrowing to decide whether an idea is worth borrowing for.
Of course some people will abuse the system. When I can afford it, I prefer to risk being too open, knowing full well that my openness might be exploited, rather than being too closed and knocking back sincere people that I could help. This is my personal choice of how I aspire to behave. I think kiva is revolution with regard to the quality of the information they are providing lenders. I want to help in developing countries, kiva can't provide complete information about the projects, the cost of gaining complete information would be prohibitively high, so I think you have to accept that you must make decisions with insufficient knowledge, and for me, the information kiva provides is sufficient for me to be be willing to risk lending.
posted by compound eye at 5:48 AM on July 21, 2011
Mod note: comments removed - this is not the thread where we complain about Kiva, thanks.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:10 AM on July 21, 2011
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:10 AM on July 21, 2011
Response by poster: This may not be the thread where we complain about Kiva, but actually I'd be very interested to receive mefimail from anyone with informed concerns about kiva, if they have suggestions of something better.
ie - 'i don't think greenpeace get enough done with the money the raise' isn't a useful suggestion
but 'i don't think greenpeace get enough done with the money the raise, so I give to the sea shepards because I think they do', is a useful suggestion.
posted by compound eye at 5:49 PM on July 21, 2011
ie - 'i don't think greenpeace get enough done with the money the raise' isn't a useful suggestion
but 'i don't think greenpeace get enough done with the money the raise, so I give to the sea shepards because I think they do', is a useful suggestion.
posted by compound eye at 5:49 PM on July 21, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by devnull at 1:49 AM on July 21, 2011