Status update — June 3, 2020 

Kiva and JWS Pakistan have agreed to end their partnership after 5 years and more than $2,000,000 USD in loans raised. This partner has repaid all recovered borrower payments to Kiva, and these funds have been distributed to lenders. We thank JWS Pakistan for the years of collaboration and wish them success in their future endeavors.

Status update — October 4, 2019

Kiva and JWS Pakistan have agreed to end their partnership. The partner will keep repaying the outstanding balance to Kiva and these funds will be distributed to lenders. We thank JWS Pakistan for their partnership and wish them success in their future endeavors.

Partner description: 

JWS Pakistan is a non-profit, non-political, non-sectarian social development organization formed in 1990. JWS’s mission is to uplift the status of marginalized communities through an integrated approach that helps sustain businesses and improve living standards. Poverty is widespread in Pakistan, where 58.7 million people earn less than $1.25 per day. JWS’s mandate is to eradicate poverty in the communities that it works in, by working with women, minorities, farmers and financially excluded populations.

JWS’s microfinance program aims to increase the income of impoverished rural communities through 4 main products:

1. Group based microcredit loans
2. Individual enterprise development loans
3. Agricultural financing to smallholder farmers
4. Small and medium enterprise loans

​In its 26 years of operation, JWS has provided over 100,000 loans to low income groups through its network of 24 branches. JWS launched branchless banking in September 2011 to reduce transaction costs and service delivery times, reducing the time it takes for clients to receive and repay their loans.

In addition to loan products, JWS also provides low-cost health insurance and loan insurance to its borrowers. Micro-health insurance covers all medically necessary inpatient treatment and services for its borrowers. JWS’s loan insurance ensures that a member’s family is not burdened with the loan in case of their death.

JWS also provides different non-financial services in the communities it works in. These include:

1. Jinnah ambulance service
2. Health camps
3. Medical camps and food distribution in flood affected areas
4. Livestock vaccination campaigns

Why Kiva works with JWS:

Kiva shares JWS’s vision of serving financially excluded women, minorities and farmers by providing them with access to finance to start and grow their income generating activities. JWS also provides many non-financial services to its clients and the communities that it works in. Kiva funding will enable JWS to expand its work in enabling marginalized communities in Pakistan to access finance and make their lives better. 

Note: JWS Pakistan was incorporated as a non-profit public company in January 2016. Previously, JWS Pakistan was operating as Jinnah Welfare Society, a voluntary non-profit society.