Kiva - Microfinance Data (Java Usage)

Contents

• Source
• Newest Loans
• Loan Lenders

Source

Kiva is a non-profit microfinance company with a “mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. By leveraging the internet and crowdfunding, Kiva allows anyone, for as little as $25, to help a borrower start or grow a business, go to school, access clean energy or realize their potential.” http://kiva.org

Kiva provides a wonderful, free data API at the site http://build.kiva.org/. For a complete list of all URL data access patterns, go to the https://build.kiva.org/api page. Since there are so many different ways to access data, below we only demonstrate a few.

Newest Loans

Returns a simple list of the most recent fundraising loans (up to 20 per page, multiple pages available). Here are the API docs.

Code

import core.data.*;

public class Kiva {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        DataSource ds = DataSource.connect("https://api.kivaws.org/v1/loans/newest.json");
        ds.load();
        
        Loan[] loans = ds.fetchArray("Loan", "loans/id", "loans/name", "loans/loan_amount", "loans/sector");
        for (Loan l : loans) System.out.println(l);
        
        System.out.println("Page: " + ds.fetchInt("paging/page"));
        System.out.println("Total pages: " + ds.fetchInt("paging/pages"));
        System.out.println("Loans per page: " + ds.fetchInt("paging/page_size"));
        System.out.println("Total loans: " + ds.fetchInt("paging/total"));
        
        ds.printUsageString();
    }

}

class Loan {
    int id;
    String name;
    int amt;
    String categ;  // category/sector
    
    public Loan(int id, String name, int amt, String categ) {
        this.id = id;
        this.name = name;
        this.amt = amt;
        this.categ = categ;
    }

    public String toString() {
        return "Loan [id=" + id + ", name=" + name + ", amt=" + amt + ", categ="
                + categ + "]";
    }
}

Output

Loan [id=1406599, name=Hien, amt=475, categ=Housing]
Loan [id=1404114, name=Rolando, amt=1500, categ=Agriculture]
...
Loan [id=1406590, name=Nickson, amt=425, categ=Agriculture]
Page: 1
Total pages: 280
Loans per page: 20
Total loans: 5585
-----
Data Source: https://api.kivaws.org/v1/loans/newest.json
URL: https://api.kivaws.org/v1/loans/newest.json


The following data is available:
   a structure with fields:
   {
     paging : a structure with fields:
              {
                page : *
                page_size : *
                pages : *
                total : *
              }
     loans : A list of:
               structures with fields:
               {
                 activity : *
                 basket_amount : *
                 bonus_credit_eligibility : *
                 borrower_count : *
                 funded_amount : *
                 id : *
                 lender_count : *
                 loan_amount : *
                 name : *
                 partner_id : *
                 planned_expiration_date : *
                 posted_date : *
                 sector : *
                 status : *
                 use : *
                 description : a structure with fields:
                               {
                                 languages : A list of:
                                               *
                               }
                 image : a structure with fields:
                         {
                           id : *
                           template_id : *
                         }
                 location : a structure with fields:
                            {
                              country : *
                              country_code : *
                              town : *
                              geo : a structure with fields:
                                    {
                                      level : *
                                      pairs : *
                                      type : *
                                    }
                            }
                 tags : A list of:
                          structures with fields:
                          {
                            name : *
                          }
                 themes : A list of:
                            *
               }
   }
-----

Code (paging parameters)

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        DataSource ds = DataSource.connect("https://api.kivaws.org/v1/loans/newest.json");
        ds.setParam("page", 42);
        ds.setParam("per_page", 30);
        ds.load();
        
        System.out.println((Loan)ds.fetch("Loan", "loans/id", "loans/name", "loans/loan_amount", "loans/sector"));
        
        System.out.println("Page: " + ds.fetchInt("paging/page"));
        System.out.println("Total pages: " + ds.fetchInt("paging/pages"));
        System.out.println("Loans per page: " + ds.fetchInt("paging/page_size"));
        System.out.println("Total loans: " + ds.fetchInt("paging/total"));        
    }

Output

Loan [id=1404063, name=Seremosi, amt=275, categ=Agriculture]
Page: 42
Total pages: 187
Loans per page: 30
Total loans: 5595

Loan Lenders

Obtain a list of (public) lenders to a particular loan. API docs.

Note: the loan ID can be extracted from loan data fetched as in the examples above, or you can browse Kiva website and note the loan ID in the URL of any particular loan that is accessed interactively via the links on the site.

Code

import java.util.ArrayList;
import core.data.*;

public class Kiva {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        
        int loan_id = 1406539;
        
        DataSource ds = DataSource.connect("https://api.kivaws.org/v1/loans/" + loan_id + "/lenders.json");
        ds.load();
        
        ArrayList<String> names = ds.fetchStringList("lenders/name");
        System.out.println(names);
        
        ds.printUsageString();
    }

}

Output

[Anonymous, Samantha, Mission Belt Co, Christelle]

-----
Data Source: https://api.kivaws.org/v1/loans/1406539/lenders.json
URL: https://api.kivaws.org/v1/loans/1406539/lenders.json


The following data is available:
   a structure with fields:
   {
     paging : a structure with fields:
              {
                page : *
                page_size : *
                pages : *
                total : *
              }
     lenders : A list of:
                 structures with fields:
                 {
                   name : *
                   image : a structure with fields:
                           {
                             id : *
                             template_id : *
                           }
                 }
   }
-----