Kiva conducts regular, ongoing monitoring of all Lending Partners, but only posts status updates here in response to relevant, major changes at the partner.

Status update — February 21, 2019

Kiva and BRAC Pakistan have agreed to end their partnership. This partner has repaid its outstanding balance to Kiva in full and these funds have been distributed to lenders. We thank BRAC Pakistan for their partnership and wish them success in their future endeavors.

Partner description: 

BRAC is a global leader in creating large-scale opportunities for the poor. Founded in Bangladesh in 1972, it’s now the world’s largest development organization. Over 100,000 BRAC workers have impacted the lives of an estimated 138 million people in 12 countries, using a wide array of tools such as microfinance, education, healthcare, legal rights training and more.

BRAC started operations in Pakistan in April 2007 and since its launch, has aimed its work at poverty alleviation and human development, focusing on both the economic and social needs of its target clients.

A unique lending approach:

BRAC Pakistan’s microfinance program aims to enhance the income of the poor by providing easy access to institutional lending to start small and medium income-generating activities, as well as mobilize women to contribute to their household income. Through 4,706 community based village organisations in 15 districts, the microfinance program is serving poor and marginalised people with 3 main products:  

1. Microloans
2. Small enterprise loans
3. Agriculture loans

Since the program’s inception, 54,021 beneficiaries have received a total of 55,591 loans amounting to USD 110.7 million. BRAC Pakistan partners with Kiva to administer all 3 of these loan products, and seeks such funding avenues as a means for providing cost-effective loans to its borrowers. 

In addition to credit, BRAC Pakistan aims to impart financial education to its clients, promoting gender equity by enabling women to become breadwinners of their households, alongside their male counterparts. When their businesses expand, members can become eligible for larger loans through the small enterprise program.

BRAC Pakistan also works to promote poverty alleviation and human development through 3 other non-financial programs: 

1. BRAC’s education intervention aims to support the government in increasing enrollment, minimizing gender disparity and improving the quality of education by setting up schools within their communities, providing girl-friendly environment and developing institutional structure through skilled key personnel and rigorous teachers training.

2. Their essential health care program aims to improve the health and nutritional status of the community, particularly women and children under 5 years of age, by creating demand and increasing access to basic health services. It offers health and nutrition education, water and sanitation services, family planning, pregnancy-related care, safe delivery practices, basic curative care for 10 common diseases and immunizations through community health promoters and program assistants.

3. Lastly, to help address the needs of the extreme poor and marginalized communities of the Lasbela district of Baluchistan, the Programme for Poverty Reduction (PPR) in collaboration with Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF), aims to build a holistically enabling environment for poverty reduction and socio economic development through social mobilisation and activism, health coverage for poor, building of productive community physical infrastructures, provision of free education and up gradation of existing educational facilities and developing and strengthening livelihood opportunities for targeted communities.