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.
Vote for OptINnow in the Paperless Choice Challenge
Opportunity International’s fundraising campaign,OptINnow, is entered in the Paperless Choice Challenge funded by the Overbrook Foundation. The contest is looking to reward non-profits with innovative digital fundraising techniques. The winners receive $5,000! OptINnow is an innovative, multi-functional digital fundraising campaign. Help optinnow.org win the contest, so Opportunity International can receive $5,000 to help end global poverty. Faster. How can you help? Here are several ways. Through…
Read MoreRwandan Women are Crucial to Economy — A Story on CNN.com
Check out CNN.com where Lisa Desai wrote a piece, accompanied by a video, that highlights the integral role that women play in the growing economy of Rwanda since the genocide in 1994. Today, women outnumber men in Rwanda and, according to the piece, “there are more women in Rwanda’s parliament than any other country in the world. Laws have been passed so they can own land and wives can legally keep their assets separate from their husbands. All steps the government is taking to help Rwandese…
Read MoreWhat We’re Reading: “Reaching the Unreachable” on Hunger & Undernutrition Blog
On Thursday, we wrote a guest blog post on The Hunger and Undernutrition Blog, talking about the impact of Opportunity’s innovations in agriculture finance, including crop insurance, savings accounts and lending–which all mitigate the challenges and risks of lending to smallholder farmers. But we are not the only organization to want to discuss agricultural sustainability. Go deeper and check out other contributors’ past posts about agriculture, hunger and poverty. We especially like…
Read MoreBe Inspired: A Traveler Meets Opportunity Uganda’s Microfinance Clients
Debby Farrington, a supporter of the Women’s Opportunity Network (WON) is visiting Uganda with her 16-year-old nephew Matt Statman. Yesterday, Matt sent us a post about meeting teenage students in Kampala, and today, Debby reports on their visits with Trust Group clients and some very inspiring women entrepreneurs. Today, we visited a Trust Group meeting and some very special clients of Opportunity Uganda. Teddy Ajiku, the Insight Trip coordinator for Opportunity Uganda, picks up my nephew…
Read MoreMeeting Ugandan Students: Reflections of an American Teenager
Sixteen-year-old Matt Statman shares his impressions of traveling to Kampala, Uganda with his aunt, Women’s Opportunity Network (WON)supporter Debbie Farrington. He sends us back this enthusiastic report on the connections he made and the lessons he learned by visiting with students through a local education NGO called Educate! Matt’s experience offers a window into the lives of Ugandan students, highlighting their ongoing engagement and need for educational opportunities. Today, on our…
Read MoreHappy 92nd Birthday, Nelson Mandela!
Happy birthday to the father of post-Apartheid South Africa. On Sunday, July 18th, Nelson Mandela turned 92. The South African leader andNobel Peace Prize winner, who had been imprisoned for 27 years and was the first South African president to be elected in multi-racial elections post-Apartheid, celebrated a happy 92nd birthday. His vision for peace and unity for his country inspires the world to this day, encouraging us to never give up hope that we will see the end to injustice, poverty and oppression…
Read MoreTop 5 Posts About Technology
Cell phone banking, smart cards featuring biometric technology,land-mapping using GPS: technology innovations are expanding the reach of microfinance in the developing world. Learn and go deeper intomicrofinance with five of our all-time favoriteOpportunity blog posts about technology: Chicago Microfinance Conference: Can Technology Innovations Transform Microfinance? (5/10/10) Ask a Microfinance Expert: M-Banking (2/9/10) Cell Phone Banking Technology Comes to Opportunity Malawi (5/10/10) The…
Read MoreSpotlight on Agricultural Finance: An Interview with an Agriculture Finance Officer
Through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the MasterCard Foundation, Opportunity is now offering greater financial tools to people in rural areas, including 90,000 smallholder farmers in the next three to four years. Opportunity has already launched a successful agricultural finance program in Malawi, paving the way for similar programs in Ghana and Mozambique, with Rwanda and Uganda to follow shortly thereafter. Opportunity‘s ag finance programs are growing so fast that our…
Read MoreSending Our Condolences to the Victims of Sunday’s Bombings in Uganda
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims of the two bombings that took place late Sunday night in Kampala, Uganda. The bombings were done in a synchronized attack on large gatherings of World Cup soccer fans watching the televised final game on outdoor screens. To our knowledge, no Opportunity Uganda staff or clients were injured in the attacks, yet we and our Ugandan brothers and sisters feel deeply the loss of the 74 local people and international aid workers who died. Among…
Read MoreSupporting Youth Groups with Microloans in Tanzania
AJ Renold, Opportunity Tanzania’s multimedia YAO reporter on the ground, sends us this report about a pilot microlending program for a Tanzanian youth group. This past Friday, Opportunity Tanzania lending staff visited the NGAO Youth Group, a group supported by Youth Initiatives Tanzania (YITA), to assess their business for the capacity for a loan. This meeting marked the start of a partnership between Opportunity Tanzania and YITA to provide business credit to YITA youth groups. YITA is…
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