Kiva's Field Partners

Each entrepreneur requesting a loan through Kiva has successfully completed an application process conducted by a local microfinance institution (MFI). These MFIs have entered into a Partnership Agreement with Kiva to become one of our Field Partners, who are responsible for the distribution, administration and collection of your loan. Given the critical importance of their role, each Field Partner must successfully complete Kiva's Due Diligence process before being given access to Kiva's capital source. Our Due Diligence process is designed to maximize the potential of your loan, with respect to repayment and social impact.

Each Field Partner must meet the following criteria:

Have a mission of lending to the poor for a social purpose.
Have an established history of accountability and credibility with Kiva and other organizations (e.g. U.S. Peace Corps).
Have low overall associated risk, high repayment history, and/or a loan loss reserve fund.
Be able to accept debt capital from US lenders.
Sign Kiva's Hosting Agreement.
Be cleared of the US Department of Justice Terrorist Exclusion List and the Treasury Department's list of "Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons."
Provide Kiva with financial statements that indicate sound financial health.
Provide Kiva with legal incorporation registration documents.
Be capable of managing the currency risk in their region, as all Kiva loans are granted and collected in US dollars.
Offer a socially responsible interest rate to entrepreneurs given their local economy (i.e. significantly discounted in comparison to alternative options for low income entrepreneurs with no collateral, credit history, etc).

Each Field Partner establishes a reputation with Kiva based on:

Repayment rate
Journal frequency
Social impact (as measured by the impact assessment report provided on each entrepreneur at the end of the loan term)

Measures to evaluate Field Partner Trustworthiness, Impact, and Accountability

Kiva's process evaluates Field Partners as dependable institutions that succeed in their mission to make a significant social impact. Kiva employs third-party assessments, regular Kiva Evaluations, and a risk management system to conduct this process. Kiva Lenders are encouraged to consider the reputation of Field Partners when choosing to loan. We have designed our marketplace to encourage Field Partners to compete for lenders' funds by establishing and maintaining a good reputation with lenders.

Existing Evaluations and Standards

Kiva refers to currently established MFI evaluation systems, leading industry professionals' opinions and existing due diligence activities, including:

Microfinance industry data sources, such as the MIX Market, that are dedicated to promoting transparency and improving reporting standards in the microfinance industry.
Awards and professional credit ratings such as MicroRate, Planet Rating and Microfinanza.
Internal audits.

Evaluation Activities Conducted by Kiva

Throughout the certification process and partnership, Kiva conducts the following activities to continue our due diligence:

Collection of third-party validation from professional references, sponsors, and local/international experts.
Regular surveys of Field Partners to determine the partnership's effectiveness.
Periodical visits to random samples of entrepreneurs to corroborate reported activities, accomplishments, and results.

Limitation of Risk

Each Field Partner is rated according to their size, history, sources of funding, demonstrated ability to make repayments on time, and external evaluations. This rating determines their positioning within Kiva's five-level risk-management system that corresponds to the total credit extended to them each month.

Kiva continually re-evaluates this rating according to a Field Partner's performance; as Field Partners fulfill additional requirements and demonstrate reliability in making repayments they are graduated to a higher rating level.

Compliance with Anti-Terror Guidelines

Kiva commits to complying with international and local laws, and efforts to prevent, detect, and prosecute the financing of terrorism. Anti-terror compliance is conducted in the following ways:

Field Partners must sign Kiva's Hosting Agreement, which includes an anti-terror clause requiring them to abide by laws regarding the prevention and detection of international money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
The names of all Field Partner employees involved with Kiva are checked against the U.S. Treasury Department's list of "Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons" and the Department of Justice's Terrorist Exclusion List.