50 Weeks of Opportunity
Each week for the next 50 weeks, we will share a piece of Opportunity’s history—major or minor, sobering or inspiring, we have gotten where we are today by facing some of the world’s greatest challenges, with you by our side. Please join us in celebrating the many impactful moments that have built the foundation on which we will embark on our most audacious vision yet: ending extreme poverty.
The Power to Fight AIDS: A Mozambiquan Microfinance Client Shows His Strength
This week, Wednesday, Dec. 1 marks the 22nd annual World AIDS Day. Since 1988, it has become one of the most recognized international health days and provides a key opportunity each year to raise awareness, remember those who have been victims of AIDS, and celebrate progress in the fight against this devastating epidemic. We all know that HIV/AIDS causes incredible pain and strife around the world. In 2009, 1.8 million people died from AIDS, while 33.3 million were living with AIDS and 2.6 million…
Read MoreMama Rosemary Offers Hope & Education to Children Affected by AIDS
“Love for children is deep in my heart,” says Rosemary Namande of Uganda, affectionately known as Mama Rosemary. “God has blessed me with the ability to care for hundreds of them.” Forty years ago, Rosemary opened a school for infants in makeshift quarters. Today, thanks to tireless determination and Opportunity International loans, five permanent buildings house her elementary school and orphanage. Here Rosemary educates and cares for more than 900 children—many with discounted or free…
Read MoreOn Black Friday, Avoid the Malls and Fight Global Poverty
Today, avoid the long lines at the mall, and give the gift that keeps on giving with a holiday gift card from OptINnow. Gift cards start at $10 and come in holiday packaging. The recipient goes tooptinnow.org, chooses an entrepreneur and then uses the gift card to fund a microloan. When the loan is repaid, it’s loaned again and again to help many more people build businesses, making it a gift that really does keep on giving. To buy gift cards, visit optinnow.org/giftcard. OptINnow Gift Cards…
Read MoreThis Thanksgiving, What Are You Grateful for?
As you sit down to the Thanksgiving table this year, no doubt you’ll be thinking about what makes you thankful. Maybe you’re grateful for your family, your friends, good health, or a great Thanksgiving dinner. At Opportunity, our staff is grateful for these blessings but we’re also incredibly thankful for our clients. We feel privileged to partner with over two million hardworking people in more than 20 countries, offering them access to loans, savings, training and insuranceproducts that…
Read MoreEmpowering Rwandan Women in Microfinance
By Jeffrey Lee, CEO of Urwego Opportunity Bank (UOB) of Rwanda In Rwanda, gender equality is real. For example, more than 50% of the Rwandan senators are women. The chief justice is a woman. Approximately 40% of the state ministers are women, including the ministers of agriculture, of trade, of foreign affairs. Indeed, women are empowered in Rwanda. At UOB, we are also empowering women in several ways. To name a couple, more than 90% of our clients are women and 55% of our staff are women. Recently, Alice…
Read MoreONE Blog: “Day Two in Guatemala: An Inside Look at Health Programs that Work”
With World AIDS Day coming up on Dec. 1, celebrity activist Christy Turlington Burns reports on her ongoing work with (RED) and the ONE Campaign on the No Child Born with HIV campaign. At Opportunity, we’re inspired by her commitment to improving the lives of women in the developing world with these health initiatives. The following blog post, “Day Two in Guatemala: An Inside Look at Health Programs that Work,” written by Burns, was originally published on the ONE Blog, and it is Burns’ second…
Read MoreIn the News: NPR on Savings at Opportunity Malawi
The NPR website has included a story on Opportunity International’s work in bringing microsavings programs to the people of Malawi. The story featured Opportunity Malawi CEO,Aleksandr-Alain Kalanda, and our pioneering work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, including an example of just one of our many successful banking outlets in Malawi. As of June 2010, Opportunity Malawi had a total of 284,622 depositors, with savings accounts valued at more than $32 million. The story is based on…
Read MoreGates Foundation Summit: The Power of Savings
On Nov. 16-17, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation held its first-ever 2010 Global Savings Forum in Seattle, Wash. Heads of government, banking, technology and international development gathered from around the world to discuss how to bring financial access to people living in poverty, with a particular focus on helping people protect their futures throughsavings. The forum aimed “to identify new, viable approaches to deliver savings and other financial tools that meet the needs” of those…
Read MoreToday, We Celebrate Universal Children’s Day
Today, Saturday, Nov. 20, is Universal Children’s Day, as set by the United Nations. Time Magazine reports today on a new survey that gives voice to children living in poverty. The Small Voices, Big Dreams survey questioned children ages 10-12, in 30 countries throughout Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Conducted by ChildFund Alliance, a group of global child development organizations, the survey found that many of the world’s children are hungry, lack education and are engaged in work.…
Read MoreAndhra Pradesh: Will the Crisis Spread Throughout India?
In mid-October, the government of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh passed an ordinance severely restricting the operations of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the region. The controversial action was taken after local officials complained of wide-spread abuses in the rapidly growing for-profit microfinance sector; the MFIs have challenged the ordinance in the state’s high court. As confusion and uncertainty continue in the Indian microfinance sector, one thing is becoming clear: the…
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