Make the Sector and Activity fields useful

[Guest]

.

[Amy-in-PHX]

Often Field Partners seem to lack understanding, in the way they fill in the "Sector" and "Activity" fields when posting loans to Kiva.  In particular, Kiva ought to program in something that prevents a FP from filling in both Sector and Activity with the same word, as in "Retail/Retail" or "Services/Services."  Maybe Retail and Services ought to be ineligible words for the "Activity" field.  If someone is running a photocopying and Internet services business, then sector is "Services" and activity is "Internet cafe" or "Internet and copying," or something like that.  To call businesses "Retail/Retail," or "Services/Services," means the prospective lender has to open up the full loan description, when they could have learned more efficiently whether the loan was of interest to them or not, if the FP had used the Sector and Activity fields appropriately.

In addition, it is frustrating that the "Construction" sector has been rendered useless by FPs who use that box for loans that are really Personal Use loans (a borrower fixing up his or her personal residence).  Only borrowers who are in the business of construction, and using their loan in that business, ought to have their loans called "Construction" loans.

I think it would be helpful if Kiva were to develop a small manual for FPs to use, to learn how to use those "Sector" and "Activity" fields to communicate with prospective lenders.  And/or,  the Fellows could work with Kiva Coordinators of the respective FPs to help them do better in this regard.

On a related topic, this loan (http://www.kiva.org/lend/313961) was called by the FP, "Services/Services," when in fact the borrower is engaged in Manufacturing concrete blocks!  That is a Kiva Coordinator who really does not seem to understand the vocabulary s/he needs to use when posting loans.

My Kiva experience would be improved a LOT more by improvements in this regard, than by a new feature encouraging teams to monopolize selected loans.

[Amy-in-PHX]

http://www.kiva.org/lend/305268
This loan, designated "Services/Services" by the FP, is really being used by the borrower to fix up his house and to "cover some personal expenses."  So why didn't the FP put it under "Personal Use"?

[Amy-in-PHX]

http://www.kiva.org/lend/312019
This borrower's husband is a fisherman, and she sells fish wholesale.  She plans to use her loan to buy more fish to sell "to other sellers" (i.e., wholesale).  Yet, her loan was designated "Services/Services" by the FP.

[Amy-in-PHX]

http://www.kiva.org/lend/311564
This borrower earns an income by renting out rooms.  The FP called the loan "Services/Services."  It should be "Services/Rental Housing" or "Services/Rooms to Rent" or something similar.

[AccountAbility]

I absolutely agree with you that these designations really need some improvement.  I will admit that the fact that a loan is now listed as retail/retail is in part due to my earlier complaint to Kiva that the "sector" was a component by which both My Portfolio was measured as well as used as a search criteria--but there was no place on a loan where the sector was listed.  So now Kiva does list the sector just before the "Activity" which is good from that point of view.

There is such a wide disparity in how these are chosen, that I have a feeling that it is a fill in the blank field for the MFI Field Partner-- which as you point out makes for some interesting results.  I used to rely heavily on the "Activity" but it appears to have deteriorated over time--probably in keeping with the drift away from the borrowers as "entrepreneurs".  (It was easier to identify an "activity" of an entrepreneur than it is for a borrower who just needs credit.)

I personally think that a multiple choice field would perhaps be better for the sector (which really applies better to businesses than to other credit needs) along with some definitions for the person filling the field.  Personally I would like to see the sector only apply to business interests and other credit needs put in a sector called personal credit.

I used to be able to search by activity but that aspect of search is also broken.  I have often gone looking for loans to office supply businesses, but these are categorized all over the map so the search becomes more difficult.

Surely something constructive can be done to improve this situation.  So thanks for bringing it up (again).

Dan

[DoubleR]

Amy & Dan,

I wanted to take some time to respond with my volunteer hat on (instead of my Kiva Lender hat).  As part of our review process, the translators and editors are supposed to be looking at the Sector/Activity selected by the Field Partner to determine if it matches the purpose of the loan.  If the Sector/Activity is inappropriate, then we are allowed to change it to one that fits.  In most cases, it's obvious when there is an error but sometimes it's a judgment call.  If the FP selected "Retail: Retail", but the borrower is selling clothing and cosmetics -- do we keep it at "retail" or select either "clothing" or "cosmetics" at the risk of excluding the other activity?  As with any human activity, errors do come through, particularly when we have new volunteers who are still getting familiarized with the process. 

I have had to make Sector/Activity changes on several occasions and we do alert our Team Leaders whenever we see a Field Partner make the same type of error repeatedly so that Kiva staff can establish communication to prevent a recurrence in the future.  I hope you find this information from our perspective helpful.

Regards,
Ronan

[AccountAbility]

Thanks for the explanation, Ronan.  As is frequently the case, the fields don't necessarily fit into clear categories but the computers and statisticians need apples and apples to compare, and apply percentages and so forth.

One issue that comes up over and over was brought up by Amy.  Is the activity supposed to be the means the borrower has for repaying, i.e. in the entrepreneurial sense of an income producing activity, or is it the activity into which the borrower will direct the loan proceeds.  Construction regrettably seems to go both ways.

There are many vestiges of Kiva origins in the way these are laid out. Are these next in line for extinction, following after "business name" (to use one example)?

Dan

[DoubleR]

Thanks for the explanation, Ronan.  As is frequently the case, the fields don't necessarily fit into clear categories but the computers and statisticians need apples and apples to compare, and apply percentages and so forth.

One issue that comes up over and over was brought up by Amy.  Is the activity supposed to be the means the borrower has for repaying, i.e. in the entrepreneurial sense of an income producing activity, or is it the activity into which the borrower will direct the loan proceeds.  Construction regrettably seems to go both ways.

There are many vestiges of Kiva origins in the way these are laid out. Are these next in line for extinction, following after "business name" (to use one example)?

Dan

Hi Dan,

You bring up a good question.  The Sector/Activity should reflect the purpose of the loan.  My understanding is that anything labeled under the "Construction" sector should be for loans that are used for construction-related businesses.  If construction materials are being used for home building or improvements, then it should be "Housing: Personal Housing Expenses".  Finally, if construction materials are being purchased for improving the infrastructure of a business, then the Sector/Activity should reflect that business. 

I frequently have to make updates to housing loans that are mislabeled by the Field Partner as "Construction: Construction Supplies" (which by the way should be used for businesses that sell construction supplies).  Most of these are "one-off" errors made by the FP, but since encountering this thread, I have sent a note to my Team Leader of at least two FPs I know of that continue to be repeat offenders of this type of error. 

I have already shared this thread with others on the translation/editing teams, so hopefully we on the volunteer teams will be more vigilant and do a better job of identifying and correcting these errors.  Thanks to Amy for bringing this to our attention.

Regards,
Ronan

[Kestrel]

Just drafted a response on behalf of volunteer editors, but Ronan beat me to it and did a better job!!

As observed, our accuracy is not 100% and sometimes the best sector/activity classification is either not obvious, or not a terrific fit. We do try our darndest, as I expect the MFIs do as well!   



~ Laurie

[AccountAbility]

Hi Dan,

You bring up a good question.  The Sector/Activity should reflect the purpose of the loan.  

You introduce still another word into this discussion of terminology-- "Purpose"-- which isn't used in the headings by Kiva at all.  It sometimes can be inferred from the write up, but sometimes there is both an immediate and longer term purpose.  For instance I regularly see borrowers desiring a loan to buy goods for resale so that they can earn enough to have their kids attend school (or some other such need).  Is the purpose buying goods for resale or is the purpose to send their kids to school?

At least in that example the sector should be clearly retail.  But then you find a loan where the borrower is a worker in a manufacturing plant and the sector is listed as "manufacturing".  Maybe that's not the right answer, but the "right" answer is sometimes elusive.

My hat's off to all of you volunteer translators, so please don't think I am dumping on you.  As lenders, we are looking for the most information and clearest descriptions. It's just that these concepts on Kiva do not seem to be consistently applied--and maybe they even defy forced categorizations.

Dan