Just in time for Father's Day on SUNDAY, we want to share some stories of exceptional fathers supporting their families with the help of Kiva loans. Meet Aaron. He borrowed $375 through UpEnergy in Uganda to buy an inventory of improved/clean-burning cookstoves to sell in his local community around the capital city, Kampala. His story is incredible, and he’s an amazing father. Aaron wa ...

Dedicate a loan to the dads in your life today! Just go to kiva.org/lend, and look for the heart before you check out. Click to dedicate your loan to Dad — and even include a special message about why you chose that loan just for him. When you dedicate a loan on Kiva you do three good deeds at once: Give a dad in your life an unforgettable gift. Give someone else in the world the ...

Did you know that 80% of the loans posted to Kiva are for women borrowers? Microfinance is an incredible force for women’s empowerment. So much so, that many microfinance institutions and organizations focus largely or exclusively on serving women. But men play a vital role in development and their communities too -- especially fathers! So, in advance of this Father's Day (in 40 countri ...

This spring, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative announced its goal to eradicate polio by 2018. National governments and global foundations immediately pledged millions of dollars to fund the program’s community health initiatives in the few countries (Nigeria, Pakistan, India) where endemic polio remains. Initially, the disease was supposed to have been eradicated by 1990, but despite a ...

We’re excited to announce our new partnership with Kopernik in Indonesia! When we talk about the best ways to alleviate poverty in developing countries, we often bring up issues around education, clean energy, healthcare, savings and more. But poverty can also be tackled by establishing large-scale distribution networks to connect technology suppliers with users in remote areas. This is exactl ...

A borrower in Iraq. We obscure the identities of many of our borrowers in conflict zones for their protection.   Few people question the morality of micro-lending. But when it comes to making loans to borrowers in conflict zones, my first question is, "Is it moral?" More on this later. First, I think it's important for people to understand the realities of conflict zones.  What i ...