We have in the past had campus chapters even prospect entrepreneurs in the community that have gone on to receive loans through our domestic platform Kiva US. Loan for America is a similar program that also teams up with us for loans: http://www.lendforamerica.org.
The Cal Poly Social Science club does have a Kiva account but it has been inactive for some time- setting up a new one, possibly more rooted in the Appropriate Technology class, may find more productivity as it is a great hands on tool in learning more about micro-finance. You mentioned that a couple students are possibly interested in using this as a project; they can be creative with it by either spearheading a class initiative to fulfill a borrower’s loan, do some local entrepreneurial prospecting if they wish or a more generalized Micro-Finance Institution project. I can talk to them more about their ideas and what support or materials I can provide them with.