Just outside of my office at BancoFie is a poster that caught my eye on my first day of work as a Vittana Fellow. It says:“La Paz no es un obyecto encontrado por casualidad. Es el producto de la igualidad entre los hombres.” – -“Peace is not an object found [...]
The other day, I came across a what seemed like a strange clause in the policy for ASKI and Vittana’s pilot Loan for Educational Development Program (LEAP): Only third and fourth year students would qualify for a loan. I found myself wondering, what kind of impact are we making when [...]
We’re floored on a daily basis by students who have struggled against all odds to finish their education, lenders who time and again come back to change yet another person’s life, and Fellows who dedicate a portion of their own lives to bringing microloans to more students in developing countries. [...]
I must admit I knew very little about the Philippines before I arrived. What I did know was that it’s an archipelago in South East Asia and the only Christian nation in Asia. I knew basically nothing about what the people, politics, economy or food was like. It was a [...]
For me, it was never really a question of whether or not I could go to college. Sure, money has always been tight in the Foster household and finding a way to pay for college for their four sons was never easy for my parents, but it wasn’t optional either. [...]
I am stationed at an ideal place to measure the impact of Vittana loans on students and their families. AFODENIC in Nicaragua is one of Vittana’s most established partners, having worked together since 2009. More than 100 students have graduated college because of Vittana loans through AFODENIC. I’ll tell you [...]
Every once in a while an idea comes along that makes so much sense, you wonder why no one thought of that before. It just seems so obvious. That was my reaction when I first heard about Vittana — through a commercial on Hulu of all things. It was a [...]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InQFuOkoLZQ&feature=youtu.be[/youtube] More than one in ten African girls drop out of school. Why? Tampons. As a woman, this infuriates me. Around the world, girls are still pulled out of school earlier than boys, are denied a family voice, and live with the daily risk of emotional and physical abuse. Even [...]
What comes to mind when you hear the name Jordan? While Americans might reminisce about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, those outside the U.S. will think of a small country in the Middle East near nestled between Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia and the West Bank. Steeped in thousands of [...]
We continue to be humbled and honored by the support of Seattle’s tech community. Two weeks ago, we won the Seattle 2.0 Award for Best Nonprofit Startup. Over the weekend, TechFlash ran this great article on Vittana. Here’s a favorite quote about how our CEO Kushal Chakrabarti sees the world and how [...]