Hello Kiva World --
I wanted to highlight a loan that was recently posted by AMK – our largest microfinance partner in Cambodia. This loan is the first made by AMK's Special Interest Group Unit (SIGU) – a department within AMK designed to serve more ‘vulnerable’ groups that are currently underserved by microfinance services. These groups include women who are victims of trafficking, domestic violence and other gender-based traumas, people living with HIV/AIDS, street people and children and people with disabilities. AMK is currently focusing on assisting women who are victims of trafficking, domestic violence and other gender-based traumas.
Anyways, the loan below is made to a group of 5 women who were rescued from exploitative working & living conditions and who are now using loans from AMK to start their own sewing business. Eventually, their products will be available for purchase through www.ahkun.org – a website created by ex-Fellow Sanjaya Punyasena which sells products made by Kiva borrowers.
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=153589
Big kudos go to KF7 Fellow Katie Davis who spent much of her Fellowship helping AMK design this product with SIGU along with University of Melboure PhD Candidate Jolyanna Sinanan. The SIGU loans are one of the first in Cambodia to ex-trafficked women and so groundbreaking that both Katie & Jolyanna were asked to present at a UN conference in Cambodia about these loans. Just another example of a Kiva Fellow having a major impact in the field. Current KF9 Fellow James Han recently interviewed Katie for the Fellows blog which details more about the SIGU loans (http://fellowsblog.kiva.org/2009/11/17/using-microfinance-to-combat-human-trafficking-spotlight-on-katie-davis-kf7/) or you can check out AMK’s blog here which talks in detail about SIGU (http://amkmicrofinance.wordpress.com/).
Although this loan was fully funded in less than 12 hours, AMK is planning to post more of its SIGU loans in the future so please keep your eye out. In the meantime, please consider lending to other AMK loans currently on the Kiva site (please click here to see all fundraising AMK loans).
Happy lending everyone!
Darren Miao
Senior Portfolio Manager - Asia Pacific Region
