In Kenya, it is estimated that 3.5 million people are in a humanitarian crisis due to the drought — the largest number of any East African country. In Turkana, one of Kenya’s hardest hit areas, malnutrition rates have risen from 15% in 2010 to 37% today. Kenya is also struggling to accommodate the more than 1,000 people that cross the Somalia-Kenya border each day to reach the Dadaab refugee camp. At 19 square miles and close to half a million people, this camp resembles a large city. Somali citizens are walking days to reach this camp in order to escape both the drought and the civil war that until recently prevented humanitarian intervention. These new arrivals exacerbate the problems for people in Kenya, and the increased numbers of people make conditions in the refugee camps even more difficult.

Although governments and humanitarian organizations have pledged millions in aid, efforts must be made to prevent future crises of this magnitude. Kevin Cleaver of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) argued that although governments and their partners cannot make the rain fall, they can minimize the effects of such droughts. He emphasizes that research into drought-resistant crops and livestock fodder is needed.

For farmers in many of these regions, their crops and livestock are crucial to their livelihood. All of a family’s savings are invested into a cow or in the seeds planted each year. This makes Opportunity International’s goal of expanding weather-index crop insurance all the more important. Weather-index crop insurance, already established in Africa in Malawi, Tanzania and Rwanda (and in Asia in India and the Philippines), provides protection against crop failure caused by drought or excess rain. It also enables farmers to access credit in order to purchase quality seeds and fertilizers in order to maximize output. This insurance protects farmers who may lose an entire season’s crops to drought, and it ensures that they do not need to short-sell their harvest at a loss mid-season in order to pay bills and make ends meet.

At Opportunity, we look to the future, continuing to develop the tools to mitigate the effects of natural disasters and droughts, to help prevent such a humanitarian crisis from occurring. Our deepest sympathies go out to every one of the more than 10 million people affected, and we hope that you will join us in keeping them in our thoughts and prayers.

For a map of the areas affected by the drought, click here to see interactive map from The Guardian. For photos, click here to see a slideshow from the BBC, and see photos of Somalia from The New York Times by clicking here.

This post was written by Jacqueline Ryan, an intern in Opportunity’s Outreach & New Initiatives department. Jacqueline is an undergraduate student majoring in international studies at the University of Chicago.

The "Getting 'Techy'" Panel (left to right): Scott Bellows, Regional Director, Asia Pacific, Kiva Microfunds; George Conard, Executive Director, Technology for Microfinance, Grameen Foundation; John McMahon, Salesforce; Sarah Rotman, Associate Microfinance Analyst, Consultative Group to Assist the Poor

At the 6th Annual Chicago Microfinance Conference on Friday, a panel of experts explored the possibilities and pitfalls of ever-changing technology in the microfinance industry. Moderator Preeth Gowdar, Kellogg School of Management, led the session entitled “Getting ‘Techy:’ Can Technology Innovations Transform Microfinance?”

Gowdar started out with a story about when he was working in microfinance in India, and his institution was debating whether to move from a paper-based system to a computer system.

Now, even five years after many institutions moved to computer-based systems, the questions have become more complex: Can we bank without a branch? Should we develop our own cell phone banking if there is not a system available? Is cloud-based technology going to revolutionize the way we do business?

On Friday’s panel were: Scott Bellows, Regional Director, Asia Pacific, Kiva Microfunds; George Conard, Executive Director, Technology for Microfinance, Grameen Foundation; John McMahon, Salesforce; and Sarah Rotman, Associate Microfinance Analyst, Consultative Group to Assist the Poor. Each panelist brought a unique perspective to the table.

Rotman, who had previously interned for Opportunity‘s bank in Rwanda, emphasized the importance of technology in reaching out to the rural poor. For a client who cannot access a bank branch, a cellular phone might be a lifeline to financial services. Mobile banks can also be an important tool in accessing rural areas.

Cell phones, coupled with cloud technology, can indeed make a great impact on the rural sector. McMahon discussed how tools used in the for-profit sector such as SalesForce can help to manage customers without the burden of bulky software while providing a complex client-management system that translates well into the microfinance sector.

However, in the midst of evolving and advancing technology platforms, Bellows and Conrad made the case that organizations and institutions need to ensure that their back-end systems have a great deal of integrity–otherwise the front-end system will not function properly.

In the end, technological advances will not be as important as the way each one integrates with existing technology. What will be important to consider is how the microfinance industry can continue to build on its success.

And that is a truth we can bank on.

Check back in tomorrow to read the next in our series of blog posts from the 2010 Chicago Microfinance Conference. Tomorrow’s topic: ”Microfinance in the United States: Where are We Now and How Far Can We Go?“

The following is a guest post from Andres Hammer, an intern at MF Transparency.

Our mid-February #mifimon topic was: “microfinance and higher education.” One of the panelists was Chuck Waterfield @chuckwaterfield, who has 25 years of experience in microfinance, is on the faculty of Columbia University/SIPA, and is CEO & president of MicroFinance Transparency. Chuck’s course at SIPA teaches “how to build an MFI” and focuses on business planning, decision making and financial modeling software for MFIs.  Alexandra Fiorillo@alexfiorillo, vice president of MF Transparency, also participated in the discussion.

Questions discussed:

What are some education programs that highlight microfinance? What schools?

Various graduate programs in the U.S. either focus on microfinance or include it in their curriculum. Graduate programs with specialties in microfinance include: SIPA at Columbia University and SAIS at Johns Hopkins University. Microfinance and social entrepreneurship programs are also offered by:

• Business schools at Columbia, Harvard, Duke, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, and Evans School @evansschool at the University of Washington
• The Kelley School of Business at Indiana University offers a class in social entrepreneurship
• University of Colorado at Denver, University of Oregon, and Brown University offer anthropology programs with an emphasis in microfinance

For programs in Europe, the suggestions were “University Meets Microfinance” and European Microfinance Programme at Solvey School in Brussels, and for Africa, The School of Applied Microfinance in Kenya.

What about programs teaching only microfinance? Do they provide good professional training?

One example is Boulder MFT, which was discussed as a good, but costly, program. It’s not a degree, but consists of approximately three weeks of classes focused heavily on microfinance commercialization.

Programs like Boulder MFT give real-world material to supplement academic classes. On the same topic, participants asked: what are the strengths of a graduate degree vs. a professional degree like Boulder MFT? A graduate degree allows students to work in broad topics, including microfinance, whereas, a short-term program like Boulder is more of a crash course. Both are great and complementary.

Can you give us any suggestions on getting hands-on experience in microfinance prior going to graduate school?

A great microfinance learning experience is to find an internship overseas that complements classwork. “Books give foundation, but internships give substance.”

One participant suggested the Kiva Fellowship Program as a good way to explore microfinance before going to grad school. The progam is unpaid, but sometimes support can be raised. However, don’t expect to find support equal to a paid job. Another person suggested serving an internship in a country where the cost of living is cheap, and doing fundraising events to help raise money.

 Is it a must to be a business generalist in implementing microfinance?

For some practitioners, it is better to get experience in accounting, finance, law or other specialties before seeking a career in microfinance. Adding many courses in some hard skills like finance while in school can help tremendously when entering the microfinance field. Language skills are also a plus. 

Imagine a B.S. in microfinance, does that exist? Should microfinance be a major at undergraduate level or is it a concentration? Should a degree be that narrow?

An undergrad microfinance degree might be too narrow and it might be too soon for a student to focus on such a narrow field. For undergraduates, it would be better to get economic, development, finance or business degrees and include some microfinance courses. It’s important to have microfinance and microfinance-related courses in the curriculum. Undergrad is a good time to build foundation and look for summer internships related to microfinance.

Another approach to integrating microfinance into undergraduate studies is through expanding microfinance principles beyond the economic/business classes to women’s studies, community development and other areas.  To believe that one understands microfinance simply because he or she has an MBA can be dangerous; there are more options available to get involved in the field.

Participants mentioned several good examples of ways to integrate microfinance into school programs, such as the Social Enterprise program at Seattle Pacific University Business School.

What is your experience with education networks, microfinance groups of students/faculty, etc.?

Student networks have great energy and are an excellent way to pull in outside experts, share job/intern ideas and build long-term relationships. SIPA at Columbia University has a very active and large student group studying microfinance. Check out the Microfinance Working Group (MFWG) for more info.

The problem with student networks is that they tend to be short-lived because students graduate and there is no continuity in the work done. The MFWG at Columbia University has created a succesful  system of first-year board members to deal with continuity issues. For more information on student resources, visit NetImpact, a national organization that provides great resources to students interested in social entrepreneurship via college chapters. On the same topic, the participants asked: Should there be some sort of consistent faculty sponsor? The answer is definitely yes.  It is critical for momentum and for students to have an ally lobbying for curriculum.

What is the Two Dollar Challenge?

The Two Dollar Challenge is a way for students to engage in microfinance by living on only $2/day in support of Opportunity International’s work in Kenya and Colombia.

• $2 Challenge needs to factor in buying power of $2 in developing world. Could be equivalent of $10 or $20 in the U.S.
• It’s an education tool for students to help identify more with the developing world
• If it’s educational, then all the more reason to factor in the ‘exchange rate’ buying power, metrics
• The education factor comes in throughout the week through educational programs that include PPP. It is a platform.

 Participants:

@alexfiorillo, @chuckwaterfieldo, rarenaud, AJRenold,amycarolwolff @MFIConnect, @ReVisionLabs, @GrameenFdn,@mifos, cajames1, @kivafellows, @mgray2, @SeaMoMicro jeffzanatta,@OptINnow, zyozyfounder

MF Transparency is a non-profit agency established to promote the welfare of poor micro-entrepreneurs, and to promote the integrity of microfinance as a poverty alleviation practice by promoting pricing transparency throughout the sector. MF Transparency’s mission is to be the venue for the microfinance industry to publicly demonstrate its commitment to pricing transparency, integrity and poverty alleviation.

It was just another class (at least that’s what I thought). It started at a grueling 8:30 in the morning, but the class was for my major, so I had to push through. My goal: figure out how to get an “A” from my favorite professor who just happened to be my advisor.  

Like most first days, we went over the syllabus. Nothing too special, a bunch of reading and writing, the norm. Then we were handed an assignment for an advocacy project about women and/or girls. That made sense considering the class was “Gender, Politics, and Communication.”  Our professor informed us that we were going to be contracting for a grade for this project. If we wanted an “A,” we would have to put on an actual advocacy event; if we wanted a “B,” we would have to do XYZ, and so on.  

Of course I wanted an “A.” Two weeks before I had to present my advocacy project to the professor, I realized I better get going on planning/presenting it. One problem….I HAD NO IDEA WHAT THE PROJECT WAS GOING TO BE ABOUT! I was scrambling to figure out what I could do in such a short amount of time.

I wanted to a project that was encouraging and exciting, because I felt that everything we talked about in the class concerning women was so depressing. If only I had known what God had in store, I would not have been so anxious. The answer to my dilemma came from a phone call with none other than my mom. My parents had just been with Opportunity International Regional Director Sam Serio, who had shared that when young girls in developing countries get an education, it changes their lives and the lives of their families. “That’s it,” I thought. “I must do my project on these girls.”

I called Sam and he immediately filled my e-mail inbox with articles, videos and websites about a campaign by the Nike Foundation called “The Girl Effect.” I almost cried when I watched the video that explained the concept of “The Girl Effect,” which is that girls are one of the answers to ending the cycle of poverty.

“How is this?” you might ask. Statistics reveal that when girls are given the opportunity to have an education and/or become financially independent, it not only improves their lives, but the lives of their families and communities. In some countries, girls are just a commodity. They’re married off at a young age in exchange for livestock, but these are the same girls that could change the world. “The Girl Effect” mission is to get the message out that helping these girls can create a positive ripple effect through entire countries. 

To make a long story short, I presented “The Girl Effect” at my advocacy event in front of about 20 friends. It was a huge hit and I realized I had found my passion. I wanted to be a part of really helping people around the world, especially girls! 

This is where I began to really see God at work in my life. For my political communications major,  I can do an internship for my Senior Capstone.  I knew I didn’t want to intern for a politician, but I still had no idea where I was going to intern (and I was a junior). Then a brilliant idea came to my head…“What if I interned for Opportunity International?” I knew Opportunity would work with my passion because women make up a majority of the clients.

 I got the okay from my advisor and e-mailed Opportunity.  I got the internship and on top of that, I was invited to go on an Insight Trip to Tanzania and Rwanda with the Young Ambassadors for Opportunity. What an experience! When we were at an orphanage in Rwanda, I met a little girl who just clung to me when I picked her up.  She is an example of a girl who, when given the chance, could help change the world. I am all the more energized to get her story out, as well as the message of “The Girl Effect.”

Interning for Opportunity International has been such a wonderful experience and I am so excited to see what God has in store for me next.  To think it all started with a class assignment….and yes,  I did get an “A” in the class!   

-Suzie Hofert

Watch The Girl Effect: