Round 2 - Groups – vote for your favourite for the 2009 calendar

[Guest]

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[Christopher]

Welcome to the second round of voting for the 2009 Kiva Calendar.  There are 3 concurrent polls (Female individuals, Male individuals and Groups) – remember to vote in each one.

You have up to 3 votes in this poll. (Results will be available after the poll has ended).

Below are links to each  entrepreneurs' profile and a thumbnail (which in turn is linked to the full-sized image – be warned some are a couple of MB or more)

The entries from the second round of polls will go through to make a heirachical shortlist* (that ensures a balance of countries, genders, groups and businesses) and be passed to Fiona@Kiva to get the permissions required over photo use.

Kiva profile: Trabajando Unidos Group	Kiva profile: Twiga Group	Kiva profile: Abeli's Juhudi Group
Kiva profile: Untouchables (INTOCABLES) Group	Kiva profile: Ismanie Etienne's Group	Kiva profile: Martin Trust Group
Kiva profile: Estrellas del Cielo Group	Kiva profile: Unity and Strength Group	Kiva profile: San Cayetano Group
Kiva profile: Jamonoy tey de Kacoumpa Group	Kiva profile: Subgroup G of Salasala

*I am currently reserving the right that if there is a tie I will have the casting vote (I will not have voted in the poll, however tempting it might be).

Where possible the casting vote will be used to ensure:
- a balance of male and female entrepreneurs (as to the Kiva ratio)
- a balance of businesses (farming, shops, repairs, food, markets etc).

[KivanSteven]

Keep in mind that the write ups for the entrepreneurs will be a bit more difficult in the limited write up space for months represented by a group.  We couldnt do what we complain so much about the MFIs doing, which is focusing on a single person in the picture--I think the reaction to that would be a bit like ours in relation to those MFI's--asking, "what about the rest of them?"

Im not saying its impossible to place a group picture in the calendar, but there will just be a need to be a bit more creative and concise in the way the write up is handled.  I think the space we had last year for the write ups was somewhere around 65 words at most, and I can only speak for myself again, but the write ups were fairly easy because a lot could be said for one person--with a group it might prove a challenge.

A brief and incomplete example of a sentence in a group loan write up might read something along these lines:

"Bill, Joe, and Tom are spirited young men with a real passion for improving their standard of living, in spite of the obstacles they continually face.  Working in the service industry as a mechanic, furniture maker, and motorcycle taxi, these three men are dedicated to making their community a better place and finding a more accessible path to success and stability."

[KivanSteven]

Addition:  Are there plans to definitely include group loans in the calendar:  based on the even higher standard calendar quality, (not picture quality), I think these mostly sub-par pictures (with the exception of maybe 1 or 2). could knock out some incredible single entrepreneur favorites.  Last year we pretty much got all the best pics in the calendar that we could--maybe groups shouldnt be mandated, if they are, because most of these are really lacking...(Steve, who wants a group loan or two to make it through, but worried what makes it in from this selection--vote carefully).

...if group pics are not being mandated then disregard the mandated concern...

[cpbailey]

I didn't care for the inclusion of group photos, so I am protesting by not voting for any.  There are many single borrower pictures that I prefer.  This is a calendar which is used to promote Kiva to family and friends, and the pictures need to move people. 

Colette

[KivanSteven]

I somewhat agree Colette--not that it matters to you at all, lol.  Im not opposed to a group photo if its exceptional, but I am highly against making one or two mandatory--whose to say we dont get lucky and a sub-par group photo makes it through...are we to accept that at the price of an enormously better pic losing out? 

Its all objective, yes, and the beauty of these are in the eye of the beholder, but a calendar is half visual, and because of that needs to be as visually appealing as possible.  Honestly, much of what goes into a calendar pic needs to be absent of the whole "beauty in the eye of the beholder" thing because this is going out to the public and deserves to be top notch.  What I mean is if you see a pic you shouldnt have to find reasons to support placing it in the calendar based on its appearance--instead the picture should just tell you immediately one way or the other...there were plenty that caught my eye immediately so measuring the quality of pictures that way is an option to use personally.  What Kiva pics do for us they need to be able to do for the calendar users as well...the group pics dont do much of that for me.

Last year we made adjustments even after voting completed...maybe we can do that again if necessary this year...although last year was more a problem of diversity of gender/location/job type as opposed to sub-par pics.  The voting was much more difficult last year as well--there were far more 5 star pics, but I think, I hope still enough 5 stars this year to fill the calendar...I think we can make it happen--we have to.  Lets see what happens Colette and if something doesnt look right, we KF can pick it out like a sore thumb.

[Diane R]

I want to see on the calendar, and will vote for, photos that show the borrower in some context of their loan use.  I do not vote for nice photos of people who aren't shown in some way associated with their participation in Kiva.  For that reason, I will also not be voting for any group photos, and would encourage us not to force ourselves to include one or more in the final calendar.  (The exception might be Trabajando Unidos Group, but there are plenty of better single-borrower photos in small shops which would be more effective and striking, I think.)

--Diane.

[KivanSteven]

Hehe, geesh Diane, I didnt even like that one...you probably wouldnt like my favorite of the bunch then, if you can call it that...the last one...but I agree with your assessments as well.

I guess the only reason Im not fully opposed to a group loan making it into the calendar is because it conveys another aspect of Kiva and lending, which is group loans.  Is that message worth a less than striking picture?  Who knows.

[wthepoo]

Well, I'm torn, somewhat...

First of all, I agree that we should not feel forced to include a group photo just because it is a group photo - just the same as I don't think we should feel forced about including only one photo per country, a certain relation of male or female photos, only a certain number of farmers, bakers or whatever. IMHO we should "just" try to put together the best possible calendar representing Kiva in the most appealing way. This will take 13 or 14 particularly good photo-story-combinations, and it should - if possible - reflect the variety of borrowers and projects funded via Kiva.

Having said this, I feel that in terms of this variety it would be nice (IMHO, not more, not less) to include at least one farmer, one grocer, one borrower producing something (tailor, baker, ...), at least one female and one male borrower, at least one Asian, one American, one African and one European borrower, and so on - and, yes, at least one group. So if I had to decide - which luckily enough I will not -, a (just) slightly less appealing group photo would win over the umptieth individual farmer - because groups belong to Kiva, probably more than ever.

And whereas I agree, Diane, that I also prefer photos that relate to the loan use, it's not a condicio sine qua non for me. Some of the group photos I have seen (not necessarily these here - but some of them also fare quite well) I find particularly appealing for the expression on their faces and for the apparent interaction and friendship and bond between the group members. Here, I have found three group photos that I would not mind or better I would appreciate having in the calendar on my wall... I quite hope that at least one of them will make it (and yes, Trabajando Unidos is one of them).

About the write-up/accompanying text - I agree, Steve, that this could get difficult and that we should not focus on one borrower. But if we include (just) one group we could remain rather vague in the description of that particular group (focusing on location, number of members, possibly their relationship [members of a village bank, etc.]) and use the remaining space to highlight why group loans are such an important method in micro-finance and how they work (joint-liability).

Just my 2 cents,
take care,
Wolfgang.

[Alphecca]

I didn't care for the inclusion of group photos, so I am protesting by not voting for any.  There are many single borrower pictures that I prefer.  This is a calendar which is used to promote Kiva to family and friends, and the pictures need to move people. 

Colette

I agree with the sentiments in this thread, expressed by Colette et. al., but did exercise my right to vote in the group section.
Although in principle, I really like the community spirit / solidarity in group loans, the group pictures are not so compelling as the individuals in their work environments.  Also, it is difficult to "explain" a group loan in the limited space available on the calendar.

These pictures were all so good; the only way I was able to come up with a final selection, is to make sure I didn't vote for the same country twice.... so I did have a few regrets because of some really hard choices.
If I had liberty with the 3 group votes, I probably would have put them on the individuals that I regretted.

I'd also like to see, maybe on the back of the calendar, that each loan is featured on a web page, and how to find them.
Then someone who has a calendar and curiosity can pull up a particular web page and see these real people, their details and their lenders.

Alph

[KivanSteven]

Thats a great idea Wolfgang--a great post, but pariticularly the part about explaining a group loan and giving the whole concept an introduction, because truth of the matter is that a non Kiva member would probably be at least a little confused by a group picture.  Im not sure it can be done in 65 words, but if so then Im all for that should a group loan make it through--the positive is that its another side of Kiva that is getting out to the public.

As far as gender and countries though, since microfinance and Kiva are so female orientated, I think the gender mix needs to be an honest representation of just who is most often the primary beneficiary of a microfinanced loan.  

Last year it was 10 female and 3 males I believe, but I believe in the world overall, females are at least a 5 to 1 majority over males...so we are already slightly skewing the gender reality of microfinance.  Kiva's own gender gap, which is currently around 78% female, or in other terms just above a 3 to 1 margin, was very well matched in last years calendar.

To have half male and half female or an even more inaccurate depiction, more males than females, would skew part of the true meaning and purpose of microfinance which is empowerment of women, a greater responsibility with loans by women, and a greater benefit for the overall family when a woman is the recipient of the loan.

The only reason I am for one photo per country if possible is because once again it expands upon the message of Kiva to others.  We have almost nowhere to write anything on the calendar, (but for a small section on the back as of the most recent calendar), nowhere to verbally share the details of Kiva,  one detail of which is how many countries Kiva works in.  The more countries we can include in the calendar, the more we can say and are saying about the number of countries Kiva is working in.