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Here is a summary of The Road’s fifth social project:

Sopheap Chun is 22 mother of two children. She is married to Chhit Ka, who is a palm juice collector.

Sopheap is the village bank president of a bank loan which consists of fifteen people, in Andoung Russey (Kampong Chhnang Province in Cambodia). She is also a pot maker in the local village.

She is looking to purchase new equipment for their business. A loan would also allow her to buy additional materials to produce more palm sugar.

This is an End-of-Term village bank loan, considered as the most beneficial to Cambodia’s poor. It allows them to repay portions of the principal whenever they are financially able to. Most start to make payments many months before the end of the loan term. (See the group’s full profile on Kiva)

This loan goes through “AMK”, the local micro financing partner of Kiva.

Loan Request: $1,900
Repayment terms: 11 months (Deadline Dec 15 2009)
We gave them a loan of US$100

This is The Road’s 5th social project. The funds for this loan were donated by the VK0IR Heard Island expedition team.

Ms Teresa presides The “Mujeres Vencedoras” (or “Winning Women”) Community Bank in El Alto (Bolivia).

The members, all women, primarily earn a living from dress-making, and from selling food and vegetables. Some own neighbourhood stores, while others own independent micro-businesses.

The majority of the women already know each other and have experience in solidarity groups. It is a group of very happy and motivated people.

Owing to their punctuality and commitment from their previous three loans, this group is classified as one of the most enterprising by “Fundación Agrocapital”, the local micro financing partner of Kiva. (See the group’s full profile on Kiva).

Loan Request: $3,900
Repayment terms: 3 months (Deadline March 15 2009)
We gave them a loan of US$100

This is The Road’s 4th social project. The funds for this loan were donated by the VK0IR Heard Island expedition team.

Here is a summary of The Road’s third social project:

Fatuma Jumbe, 51, is married with 6 children. She has a tailoring business which she began 15 years ago. Working from 8 to 5 daily, she is able to make a monthly profit of about US$80.

She has taken out three previous loans, all since repaid, to buy vitenge (traditional Swahili fabrics) which she sells at her sewing shop. She now would like to buy a sewing (interlocking) machine.

Fatuma will share this loan with her loan group, Mabibo Freedom, whose 15 members hold each other accountable in paying back their loans. In the picture, Fatuma is sitting on the left in the front row. (See their full profile on Kiva).

Their loan went through “Tujijenge Tanzania Ltd”, a local micro financing partner of Kiva.

In a group loan like this one, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a group of individuals bound by a group guarantee.
Under this arrangement, each member of the group supports one another and is responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members if someone is delinquent or defaults. This is not only a financial guarantee, but also stimulates the social solidarity and responsibility aspect of micro-financing.

Loan Request: $4,000
Repayment terms: 3 months (Deadline April 15 2009)
We gave them a loan of US$100

This is The Road’s 3rd social project. The funds for this loan were donated by the VK0IR Heard Island expedition team.

Here is a summary of The Road’s second Change Starts Here project:

A micro-financing loan to the Essofalafia women’s association in Togo.

Created in 2007, the ESSOFALAFIA association is an energetic group of married women in Agoe (Togo) who share their financial means for the benefit of their households.

They have different businesses such as selling cereals (corn, beans), mats and soaps. Since their main business is related to cereals, they have a common shop where they stock their goods.

The first loan the members of this association are seeking will enable them to buy 11 sacks of corn, 6 sacks of bean, 35 mats and 8 boxes of soap. With this new stock, they will be able to make more sales and to provide for their families. (See their full profile on Kiva).

Their loan went through “WAGES”, a local micro financing partner of Kiva.)

Loan Request: $1,850.00
Raised so far: $450.00 $1,850
Repayment terms: 15 months

This is The Road’s 2nd social project. We gave them a loan of US$150 (Here is our first project).

We collected the funds for our loan during an (excellent) Ethiopian dinner prepared by Selamawit in Rome. Contributors were: Ekram (Libya), Selamawit (Ethiopia), Ray (Uganda), Hetty (Holland), Laurent (France), Tanaz (US) and Peter (Belgium). Some pictures: