How do you know your Lendwithcare loan is doing what it says on the tin?

Have you ever wondered what actually happens when a member of the Lendwithcare team visits one of our Lendwithcare countries to check that everything is working as it should?

In November 2016 I visited the Cambodian Community Savings Federation (CCSF), our partner in Cambodia for the last six years. Usually it would be our Senior Microfinance Advisor, Dr Ajaz Ahmed Khan, who would conduct a monitoring and evaluation visit. However, as I was taking part in a sponsored cycle trip, along with 20 other supporters, which was culminating in a visit to some of our Cambodian entrepreneurs, it made sense for me to conduct a mini evaluation during the same trip.

Guest blog | How hands forge human connections

This blog has been reposted with permission from Michelle Nicol.

Originally posted here.

One hand belongs to a project manager from a prestigious international law firm. The other to an 81-year-old villager and survivor of the most brutal, insidious civil war.

We are in Cambodia. We have cycled from Paksé in nearby Laos, to a small village community near Battambang to see the difference that CARE International is making to people’s lives through its micro-finance initiative Lendwithcare.

Guest blog | Who are you and what do you care about?

This blog has been posted here with permission from Michelle Nicol.
Originally posted here.

I visited Laos and Cambodia recently to find out more about the charity Lendwithcare, who help some of the world’s poorest people work their way out of poverty.

Guest blog | A lender's experience meeting Lendwithcare entrepreneurs

Lendwithcare has recently lent £10 million to entrepreneurs across the world, and to celebrate, we are offering one lucky lender the chance to win a trip to Zambia to meet Lendwithcare entrepreneurs, and see the difference their loans have made.

Long-standing lender Gary Nicol shares his experience of when he met Lendwithcare entrepreneurs, by taking part in CARE's Vietnam to Cambodia cycle challenge:

Diary from the field - cycling from Vietnam to Cambodia

Head of Lendwithcare, Tracey Horner, has embarked on a challenge of a lifetime. For the past seven days Tracey, along with ten other CARE supporters, has cycled from Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam to Battambang in Cambodia (a gruelling 460km) to raise vital funds for CARE's poverty-fighting programmes. 

Before peddling off into the Mekong Tracey met with one of Lendwithcare's newest microfinance partners, MACDI, who are based in northern Vietnam. 

What follows is her diary from the first six days.

Is peer-to-peer (P2P) lending an efficient way to support microfinance?

The Lendwithcare.org Homepage

Peer-to-peer (P2P) micro-lending platforms, such as lendwithcare, have become a popular method of supporting small businesses in developing countries. Local microfinance institutions (MFIs) select borrowers and appraise their loan applications, which if approved, are financed by the P2P platform. Lendwithcare was established in 2010 and to date some 17,000 individual lenders have financed loans to more than 8,000 borrowers across ten countries.  Our experience over the past four years is that as their loans are repaid, lenders invariably re-lend; rather than withdraw their money. While lendwithcare has proven to be very popular with supporters, is it an efficient way for MFIs to access funding?

Rice production in Cambodia: the poor farmer’s perspective

Rice farming in Cambodia can be a tough and uncertain business. Rainfall is highly erratic, both drought and floods being regular occurrences, land is often infertile or under-nourished and investment in new farming systems and technology is minimal. 

Yet approximately 60% of the Cambodian population rely on agriculture (mainly rice production) for their livelihoods and unsurprisingly the vast majority of those are living on less than $1.25 a day. Despite government commitments to expand rice production and increase the country’s export capacity, the reality for the majority of farmers is stagnant growth and an uncertain future. Which is why, on a recent trip to Cambodia, I was keen to find out why so many of the entrepreneurs we have supported through lendwithcare.org are sticking to rice farming.

Lendwithcare in Cambodia | How a growing economy impacts on the poor

Lendwithcare on location in Cambodia

Recipient of an agricultural microloan through lendwithcare
© CARE/Nancy Thomas

The last time I visited Cambodia was in 2005 and as I walked out into the humid night air and towards Phnom Penh’s visibly transforming skyline, I was eager to find out how Cambodia had changed since my last visit.

A Day In The Life Of .... A Liaison Officer from Cambodia

Chantra Roeurn works for lendwithcare's microfinance partner in Cambodia, the Cambodian Community Savings Federation (CCSF), and has taken time out of his busy schedule to tell us a little about his work & life 

Chantra Roeurn © CARE

What happens with loan repayments when a natural disaster occurs?

© CARE/Ami Vitale

I am currently in Cambodia where months of heavy rainfall have resulted in the worst flooding in a decade. This has left at least 247 people dead and damaged more than 390,000 hectares of agricultural land, including more than 10% of the country’s rice harvest. The floods have affected 1.2 million people across the country, but particularly those living along the Mekong River. Around 34,000 households have been evacuated to higher ground, and many roads, schools and homes have suffered damage.

Since early 2011 lendwithcare has been partnering with a local microfinance organisation, Cambodia Community Savings Federation (CCSF), which provides loans and other financial services to microentrepreneurs in the north-western provinces of Battambang and Banteay Meanchey, near the border with Thailand. While not as badly affected as other parts of Cambodia, many villages in the province remain isolated and under water. In some parts, cattle have been put in pens on small man made islands of earth, surrounded by flood waters. Many farmers have lost their entire rice crop as their farms have turned into lakes. In these situations, what happens to loan repayments?