Democratizing Capital': Digital Lending Networks, Mobile Technologies and Women's Solidarity Groups in Chiapas, Mexico and Guatemala
Title
Democratizing Capital': Digital Lending Networks, Mobile Technologies and Women's Solidarity Groups in Chiapas, Mexico and Guatemala
Project Year
2009
Region
Latin America and the Caribbean
Country
Mexico, Guatemala
Project Description
This project investigates how new technologies are reshaping the provision of micro loans to the poor by focusing on the work of kiva.org, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that uses the Internet to establish person-to-person digital lending networks. The study will conduct ethnographic among poor women?s lending groups in Chiapas, Mexico, and Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, who receive money from kiva lenders to expand their small businesses in the areas of food preparation and sales, retail and crafts.
Researcher(s)
Anke Schwittay, Paul Braund
About the Researcher(s)
Anke Schwittay is the co-founder and Director of Research of RiOS Institute. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley, where she also has been lecturing on capitalism, development, technology and social entrepreneurship. She is the author of Silicon Valley's Emerging Markets: Global Corporate Citizenship and Entrepreneurship in the IT Industry, which is based in several years of ethnographic research among high-tech corporations in Silicon Valley, as well Latin America and India. She is currently conducting research on social innovation in Silicon Valley and Central America.
Researcher 2
Paul Braund is the co-Founder and Executive Director of RiOS Institute, a partnership organization of the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development. Mr. Braund began his career in Design and technology development with a leading international consulting group in Silicon Valley, Europe and Asia, and worked for 20 years with startups, multinationals and government agencies. He is a lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley, focusing on ICT and Development and Social Entrepreneurship, and an adviser to the World Bank Institute. Mr. Braund has an MA and MPhil from the Royal College, London, England.
Link to Researcher Outputs Page
Collection
Citation
“Democratizing Capital': Digital Lending Networks, Mobile Technologies and Women's Solidarity Groups in Chiapas, Mexico and Guatemala,” Institute for Money, Technology & Financial Inclusion (IMTFI) Research Projects, accessed March 28, 2024, https://imtfiresearch.omeka.net/items/show/6482.