Check out what over five years of Kiva microlending looks like:

The video was put together by Kiva’s staff, who cleverly termed it “Intercontinental Ballistic Finance.” It’s pretty neat to see how microfinance can cross geographical and political borders to connect far-flung parts of the globe.

As time passes, you see that more and more parts of the world join in the lending game. And it’s not just the Western world; loans come from cities all over, including Singapore, Hong Kong, and Dubai. You can also see through the nifty color-coding system that the types of loans come in waves: the screen flashes blue, red, and sometimes it’s a multicolored hodgepodge.

Kiva Microfunds is an American non-profit organization that allows anyone to make microloans to entrepreneurs around the world. The loans are then repaid over time. Since its launch in 2005, Kiva has loaned $241,348,975 to 625,153 people in 60 countries, and its repayment rate is 98.86 percent, and The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof included the organization in a 2010 list of the best ways that individuals can make a difference in the world.

Margo Conner is a senior at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, majoring in international affairs. Read her other contributions to Global Envision.

Lebanon’s banking system has helped ease the pressures of the financial crisis within the nation. Photo: thriol (flickr)

Lebanon’s economy grew by 9 percent last year, one of seven nations to show positive economic growth in the midst of a worldwide financial turndown.

This figure is especially surprising when you consider the amount of economic hardship Lebanon has endured recently — including attacks from Israel, strife between the nation’s two political parties, ongoing civil conflict, few natural resources, and a national debt of almost $46 billion.

Lebanon’s economic security has primarily come from its risk-averse banking sector. In 2007, the country’s chief banker, Riad Salameh, advised Lebanon’s commercial banks to "get out of all international investments related to the international markets." Conflict also contributed to what Salameh described to the BBC as the banking industry's "conservative reflex":

The system we created has been tested against wars, against instability, against political assassinations. And our sector would be much more developed if Lebanon did not have political and security risks, but it has also induced us to have a conservative reflex because we were always getting ready for the worst case scenario.

Lebanon isn't going to get through the global economic crisis unscathed — the economy is expected to grow by 3 to 4 percent this year. Still, due to its conservative banking sector, the Lebanese economy is in better shape than most.