Last Updated on: July 29, 2018

I am sure you’ve heard about it, read about it or even used it yourself. I’ve been a member of Kiva since 2007, approx. one year after Muhammad Yunus had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance.

I knew about the principles prior to that but there’s no doubt Yunus and the award made me more aware, and contributed interest in getting more knowledge.

Kiva is somewhat similar to Grameen Bank, yet a 100% non-profit organization that deserves all the exposure it can get. It has and continues to do remarkably much good across the globe.

Today the organization boasts over 1,25 million lenders, and have paid out somewhere in the neighborhood of $670 million in loans. That’s pretty staggering, as is a repayment rate of 98,78%.

Microfinancing combats corruption

Yes it does, it has, it can and continue to will. The best way to avoid corruption is to break financing down into smaller entities, smaller sums of money, thus secure the channeling of funds to those who really need it. This of course, doesn’t account for or work in all context, but it is one avenue that may reduce corruption.

Countless are stories of corruption, misconduct and mishandling of aid, all over the planet. Equally countless are the number of cynical, greedy and corrupt politicians who have and will continue to seize any opportunity to get rich, at the expense of those in need, giving a perfect damn about the general public.  

The problem with this of course is that we, the lenders, you and I, we the people who would like to see aid reach those in need of it, time and time again read stories about, millions and even billions worth of dollars, of aid, dissipate into a smokescreen, a cloud of corruption.

Microfinancing or microcredits secures that credits and loans are made available to people who otherwise would be deprived of the opportunity to get their life up and going. A way to empower those enslaved by poverty, give them tools and instruments to build up their life. Kiva gives you an opportunity to decide exactly what, and where, your contribution should go.

If you’re not a member of Kiva, or any other microcredit lending system that permits you to decide where funds should go, I hereby challenge you to try. And as for the repayment rate well, I can only go by the reports seen regarding my own lending. Over the past years I don’t think I’ve seen even one single person not paying back.