September 11, 2011

As part of an ongoing effort to fully migrate risk ratings to our new and enhanced risk rating system, Kiva has conducted a re-assessment of the level of risk posed by this institution.

During this re-assessment, our analysts were able to gather updated operational and financial information about the institution, as well as speak with key members of the staff. 

Kiva's new risk rating system, which now includes half stars, has enabled us to display ARD's risk rating with a higher level of granularity. As a result, ARD's risk rating will now be displayed as 2.5 stars instead of 3 stars. 

We have prepared a blog post with more information on Kiva's new and enhanced risk rating system, along with a chart showing the relative magnitude of the overall changes for Kiva's portfolio.  To view that, please go here: http://www.kiva.org/updates/kiva/2011/09/07/kiva-risk-ratings-now-with-half-stars.html.

ARD has been informed of the change in the display of their rating on Kiva's website.

Association for Rural Development (ARD) is one of the leading Micro Finance Institutions in Sierra Leone. ARD, a registered NGO, was established in 1986 and started operations in 1989.

The Association works on a range of programmes related to meeting the needs of entrepreneurs through the creation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of small scale projects. Over the years ARD has been providing professional and committed services to helping the poor, disadvantaged and marginalized groups taking responsibility for their own development. The organization has metamorphosed in the last decade to a Financial Service Provider, specialising in microfinance and providing loans for small scale businesses. It mainly gives loans to economically active women, who do not usually have access to formal banking systems. ARD primarily engages in group lending whereby (5- 10) persons each co-guarantee the other. Loan are between $100 and $1,600. To date, the organization has more than 15,000 active clients - over 70% of whom are women and has disbursed more than $1.9 million in loans.

Through its numerous loan products and participatory methodologies, ARD has been able to provide direct financial services mainly through the provision of credits/loans. This has increased women’s access to credit and cash and has enabled them to improve upon their productive capabilities in their various enterprises. To guarantee the sustainability of these efforts, ARD improves the management skills of their clients through business advisory services and technical support. Literacy, HIV/AID sensitization and condom social marketing are allied activities patronized by the loan recipients.

ARD has offices in Freetown, Bo, Makeni and Kenema.