Kiva Connections

Clearly we all see a need for new creative ways to fight poverty, not only in our own communities but across the world. Most of us have seen the starving children on TV, feel sorry, but don’t give a second thought. Or we support one child in Africa, claiming this to justify that nagging in the back of our minds when hearing statistics of how many children starve to death every day. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not on a soap box here I am just pointing out the fact that the traditional ways of alleviating poverty are not working in actually reducing poverty or educating those in wealthier nations. Kiva is succeeding because Matt is tackling world poverty at a new angle. He is focusing on connecting people.

“Lending is connecting. At Kiva.org, lending money is all about informationexchange. In a sense, money is a type of information. Lending to someone elsecreates an ongoing communication between two individuals that is more bindingthan a donation.” What these connections do, like facebook, are establish personal relationships. The lender is not just donating money to an organization that represents the people. Instead the lender is donating to a person with hopes, a dream, a passion to meet needs in their communities, and entrepreneurially raise themselves out of poverty. Just like eBay connects people to sell and buy things, Kiva is able to make business connections and seamlessly aid in the transfer of funds. As if the impoverished entrepreneurs are the “sellers” of business ideas and the lenders are the “buyers” seeking to invest in the ideas.