Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Field Team Blogs”
Photo at the top of this post: Social distancing measures implemented at a bakery in Yaya Centre in Nairobi. Photo credit: Zoe So. Kenya confirmed a first COVID-19 case on March 13. The number of known cases has by now passed the 200 mark. The country has shut down in …
ID Ghana is helping build strong foundations to help them weather tough times. This is a photo of a loan group called Unity Group made up of microentrepreneurs in the poor, northern Accra suburb of Pokuase served by Whole Planet Foundation’s Ghanaian microfinance partner ID Ghana. I visited this group …
J.P. Kloninger is the Programs Manager for Whole Foods Market Team Member Giving and Whole Planet Foundation’s North America microfinance portfolio. He previously served as Program Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, and as Administrator of Finance and Business Analysis. A native Californian who grew up in Costa Rica, J.P. …
At the end of 2019, WPF invited all partners in the Asia/Pacific region to participate in the field officer appreciation award. After a WPF community vote, there are five grand prize winners and twelve honorable mentions. You’ll notice that all three of WPF’s partners in Vietnam received the top recognition! This …
In Ukraine, Whole Planet Foundation is helping local Credit Union Anisia to better serve very small rural enterprises with financing that adapts the successful group loan methodology used internationally, but rarely in Central and Eastern Europe. Anisia launched this new outreach strategy to Ukrainian entrepreneurs by partnering with an innovative …
During this year’s Financial Inclusion Week, Accion’s Center for Financial Inclusion asks, “Financial Inclusion for What?” In other words, what are the main goals that financial inclusion is striving to achieve? Whole Planet Foundation (WPF) has been a unique capital provider in the financial inclusion space for almost 15 years. …
Whole Planet Foundation’s funds are provided to our partner microfinance institutions (MFIs) to be distributed to borrowers as microloans or in-kind productive assets (like cows, sewing machines, or solar lamps). For most of our partners, the loan is given in a “credit-plus” context. This means that the MFI would provide …
Last month I went Cote D’Ivoire to visit WPF long-time microfinance partner PAMF, who administers group microloans to rural entrepreneurs and farmers. This visit allowed me to observe the initial roll-out of a new mobile phone-based platform that WPF provided grant funding to help build. The platform will allow anyone …
At a microfinance group meeting, you might see a lot of paper: piles of cash, thick record books to record attendance and meeting minutes; repayment schedules; group loan balance reports; passbooks. At the branch office, too, more paper: stacks and binders and file cabinets full of applications and loan contracts. …
“Microfinance has always been a high-touch business, with personal contact playing an indispensable role in the delivery of financial services for low-income clients. Human relationships and values like trust and empathy are crucial in determining whether a microfinance institution (MFI) will be able to grow and remain sustainable. And it …
