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WARNING: THIS PAPER WAS DONE BEFORE WIKI RULES WERE READ. THIS PAPER DOES HAVE A POINT OF VIEW AND A BIAS.

Kiva is a non-profit organization whose goal in to alleviate world poverty by connecting lenders, micro financing institutions, and impoverished entrepreneurs around the world.

Founded in 2005, Kiva has been connecting lenders, micro financing institutions, and impoverished entrepreneurs through their online based Kiva.org allowing individuals worldwide to lend as little as $25 in the attempt to nurture socioeconomic opportunities and stability around the world.

Working with micro finance institutions of five continents, Kiva helps groups and individuals acquire loans that would not be otherwise be accessible to them by traditional banking institutions.

Field partners, who administer the loans on the ground, working alongside 450 volunteers, edit and translate the needs and story about the individuals before posting them on Kiva.org.

Kivas, nor the lenders, apply interest rates. This assures that one hundred percent of the money is sent to the field partners, who set a small percentage of interest to be able to function.as kiva, nor kiva’s lenders are not allowed to charge interest, this creates a low-cost borrowing system.

Kiva was founded by matt and Jill Flannery, who attended a lecture by dr. Mohammad Yunus. seeing the socioeconomic needs of women in the village of Jobra, Bangladesh, Dr.Yunus, as a professor of economics at Chittagong university in the 1970’s, went to fund Grameen Bank in 1983 and pioneered in micro financing. This resulted in the 2006 nobel peace prize being awarded to him.

Matt and Jessica Flannery saw micro financing as a life calling and got to work. Seeing the lack of access to finds that hindered the poor countries’ simple and driven peoples, they decided to create an organization to allow poor peoples to take advantage of economic opportunities that otherwise would not be available to them. This will promote living not for only survival, but also for the dream of a better future.

Through lenders making optional donations and raising funds by obtaining grants, corporate support, and foundations, kiva is funded.

By promoting and offering safe and affordable access to capital, Kiva envisions a world where all people, poor or not, can work to create opportunity for individuals and create better lives for them and families around the world.

Kiva is a success story. “Nearly everyone told Matt and Jessica Flannery that their idea--a Web site where people could make micro loans to individual borrowers in the developing world--wouldn't work.” Writes Forbes. “ ’We were in this weird social entrepreneurship space, trying to fight perceptions,’ Matt Flannery recalled.” But after an uphill battle, where many lawyers advised them that this would be illegal and “If you do that, someone's going to care. Someone's going to show up at your door.” They decided to press through. This organization has been praised by former president, Bill Clinton. Many blogs, for example Daily Kos, wrote about kiva. PBS and print media, but when Oprah got a hold of  Kiva, kiva’s growth by ten times and when pbs aired their special, kiva grew ten times once again. In fact, the demand from potential lenders has been so great that, in December, Kiva had to turn some away. All of the available loans had been funded. "It was very stressful," Flannery recalled. "People had heard about us on television or the Internet, and yet we had to refuse their money."

Critics and other mfi’s (micro financing institutions) state that micro credit may not be appropriate where conditions pose too much of a challenge to loan repayment. Areas with significantly poor health or high incident of disease, hiv or aids for example, might endanger the stability of the mfi’s itself. Geographical areas where peoples are too dispersed will put more of a burden for the mfi’s to reach and assist with financial services which in cost will increase the expense of the microloans in the form of interest.

While some areas, critics and some mfi’s argue, would be better suited for grants, infrastructure improvements, or education and training programs until they are suitable and capable to receive and be able to repay the loans.

Other factors that put up a red-flag for potential mfi’s are the areas prone to hyperinflation, absence of law and order, or over regulation, for example interest caps that will cripple the mfi’s inoperable.

In the past 20 years, a substantial amount of effort and progress has been made in the battle against poverty around tha world. The micro financing institutions have been evolving to streamline the process and implementing stricter prerequisites for loans that will ensure that micro financing institutions will be here for time to come.

Yet the “cross between Google and bono”, as Forbes has called Kiva for their “daring of Google and their do-gooder ethos of bono”, has emerged as a cavalier among mfi’s with their brave mfi partners who have taken up the burden of eradicating or alleviating poverty, not single handedly, but still very bravely. They understand that poverty does not find it a burden of leaching itself among any peoples around the world. Some of Kivas most valuable and effective weapons combating poverty are their field partners themselves. Many of whom find it their mission to help areas and demographics that other mfi’s will not risk. They help the most dispersed, most in need, and post-conflict peoples. The field partners do not only provide Kiva with profiles, translations, and loan administrations, but as mfi ‘s have evolved, the cavaliers have also, and now they also tackle social problems.

Many mfi’s ,along with micro loans, they also provide health services.” Through her local microfinance institution, Gerardina from Ecuador has access to medical care for herself and her family for a small monthly charge. Gerardina and her family can receive regular check ups from a physician, as well as low cost medicine and hospital referrals. The inability to treat health related issues, if she did not have access to health care, has the potential to cause her to fall back into the cycle of poverty despite running a successful business.” states kiva. As some focus on health, other mfi’s focus on entrepreneurial assistance. Many farmers know how to grow the harvest, but field partners are there to help them find a bigger market and how to run their business more efficiently.

Conventional banks in poverty devastated areas charge low income individuals to use their institutions even if it’s just for saving. Yet many poverty stricken families are willing to pay that fee for the sake of saving. Mfi’s have taken that burden away. ‘Innovations”, as kiva called them, are services that some mfi’s have started to offer, for example non-credit based services, such as savings or insurance.

Other mfi’s have taken the “vulnerable group focus”. These groups focus in post-conflict areas where internally-displaced-persons and refugee populations require desperate help. Some of these areas are very difficult to access, but their peoples are grateful the mfi’s are there. These people include religious minorities, people with disabilities or disease, the young, many farmers, and women. Many mfi’s that find the social problem of devaluation of women have come up with social assistance by only allowing women to borrow money to incorporate women more in the decision making and importance in their community. These types of mfi’s “choose to address more challenging demographics as part of their social mission” says Kiva.

Kiva, aided by their brave mfi partners, has embraced the old latin proverb, "Fortes fortuna adiuvat" or “fortune favors the brave.” engaging crippling-poverty in many battle fronts. Strategically addressing many types of dangers and risks, no matter how gloomy, the regional situation seems to be.