Fonkoze and others are about to launch a new program named Zafen that will offer "a secure, easy and reliable online tool for making loans or donations to specific, viable projects in Haiti that has not before been available to those who wish to invest there."
Zafen will focus on donations and/or loans to groups, not individuals. Moreover, in contrast to some other microloan groups, Zafen says donors' gifts or loans will fund projects in "real time," meaning they will not gather funds in the name of an individual or group but really use the donation to backfill prior loans.
It is not clear yet how this all will work, but given Fonkoze's past great work, it will be something to watch (read about their general anti-poverty strategy here). Here are some photos from Jan. 25th showing Fonkoze staff working in open-air makeshift offices to help Haitians access their banking services. That their staff, in the midst of all that is going on around them in Haiti, can pull their organization out of the rubble (literally!) and put it back together so quickly is very heartening.
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