Welcoming the Association for Rural Development (ARD) to Kiva!

Kiva is thrilled to welcome a new microfinance partner from Sierra Leone to the website, the Association for Rural Development (ARD). ARD is an indigenous Sierra Leonean microfinance institution registered as an NGO and begun in 1986 as a multi-sectoral NGO. The organization has an outstanding loan portfolio of Le 3,667,545,109 ($1,220,485) as of end-FY2008 and a client base of 12,666 active borrowers. Since mid-FY2007, ARD has maintained extraordinarily strong PAR30 (delinquency) figures with low writeoffs driven by a strong credit methodology. Their current branch network includes Freetown, Kenema, Bo, and Makeni.

Sierra Leone is a country still emerging from a devastating civil war with one of the lowest human development indices in the world. The microfinance industry in the country is emerging and well supported by donors and international networks such as the Microfinance Investment and Technical Assistance Facility (MITAF). Kiva is thrilled to expand in Sierra Leone and welcomes ARD borrowers, ARD staff, and new lenders to these businesses to the Kiva community!

To see the first borrower funded from ARD, Yabom Bangura, click here.