Kiva - Lend for Good
Search for people to help with micro-loans around the world.
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Kiva - Lend for Good
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this app.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that the Kiva is a nonprofit that enables people to make loans to small business owners around the world, including in the United States. Prospective lenders can use the app (or the nonprofit's website) to browse borrowers by geography, focus area (like education or agriculture), and other descriptive categories (like mission-driven enterprises and eco-friendly loans). Loans can start at $25, and there's lots of information about prospective borrowers and their plans for using and repaying their loan. The app isn't geared toward kids, but families could use it together to explore ways to make an impact on people in need. Read the developer's privacy policy for details on how your information is collected, used, and shared and any choices you may have in the matter, and note that privacy policies and terms of service frequently change.
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What’s It About?
KIVA - LEND FOR GOOD enables people to invest as little as $25 in people and projects around the world. To get started, prospective lenders can browse borrowers by a series of categories that describe borrowers' locations, backgrounds, and plans for using their funding. Each borrower has a profile that displays their story, their progress toward meeting their goal, and some details about the loan and the local field partner that will facilitate its payment. While Kiva may be best known for loans in the developing world, there are borrowers from nearly 80 countries, including the United States. Risk and repayment rate (96.8% at the time of this review) are easy to find.
Is It Any Good?
While this lending app isn't necessarily geared toward kids, there's a ton of learning potential for kids to explore their world and empathy for others. The fill-in-the-blank search tool makes it especially easy for families to talk about who they might want to help. Since there's a lot of text in these profiles, it will probably work best for kids and adults to browse them together, especially so adults can help talk through the steps for receiving and repaying a loan and the kinds of needs that borrowers describe.
Kiva - Lend for Good is a great way to involve the whole family in exploring social responsibility and making a difference. As they explore the profiles, families can talk about what it takes to make a small business grow, the difference between giving and lending, what it means to lend money to those in need, and, when loans get repaid, personal accountability. Kids and adults alike will appreciate the details of each person's story, making lending through Kiva seem personal and real. Plus, when a loan is repaid, families can choose a new person or business to share that money with. There's something powerful about seeing your money continue to help people in need around the world.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the challenges that some borrowers on Kiva - Lend for Good may face (extreme poverty, no clean drinking water, etc.) that kids may not fully understand. What would be different about starting a farming business in Nebraska versus Namibia?
Talk about the difference between giving and lending. What are the advantages and disadvantages of both?
What are some different ways that people make a living? How do you think they got started?
Talk about the kinds of things that borrowers choose to fund. How might purchasing particular items (like a vehicle or supplies) transform their business or their lives?
Organizations like Kiva address a major need both in the developed and developing world: offering funding to people who are "unbanked," or who do not have bank accounts or access to funding through similar financial institutions. With older kids, talk about how banks work, and talk about the challenges that people might face if they don't have access to financial tools like banks, loans, or credit cards.
App Details
- Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad
- Skills: Responsibility & Ethics: fiscal responsibility, respect for others
- Pricing structure: Free
- Release date: March 28, 2020
- Category: Other
- Topics: Activism
- Publisher: Kiva
- Version: 1.0
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 12.2 or later.
- Last updated: April 2, 2020
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