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.
Poverty Eradication Day: Education for a Better Future
Though few need a day to remind them that people around the world live in extreme poverty–in fact, more than half the world lives on less than $2 a day–today is the UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, to raise awareness of and support for the issues that cause and result from chronic poverty. "Rampant poverty, which has festered for far too long, is linked to social unrest and threats to peace and security. On this International Day, let us make an investment in our common future…
Read MoreToday on World Food Day, there’s Hope for an End to Hunger
"Globally, nearly 870 million people are undernourished–about 12% of the world’s population." It’s World Food Day and social media is buzzing with challenging facts and stats about hunger, like the ones in this post. This information is important. There’s no doubt that it’s one of the great injustices that children anywhere go to bed hungry, that women compose a disproportionate amount of malnourished people, and that smallholder farmers make up half of the world’s hungriest people. But…
Read MoreBlog Action Day: Beduith from Colombia and “The Power of We”
Today, a total of 2,100 blogs, from 111 countries, using 43 different languages, are participating in the fifth annual Blog Action Day. Together, we’re all blogging today about one topic, to raise awareness and participation in an issue for good, and this year’s theme is, “The Power of We.” The theme is described as “a celebration of people working together to make a positive difference in the world, either for their own communities or for people they will never meet halfway around the…
Read MoreToday is the First-Ever United Nations International Day of the Girl
Today marks an exciting event! It’s the first official UN International Day of the Girl Child, a day to highlight, celebrate, discuss, and advance girls’ lives and opportunities around the globe. The campaign to establish this day was led in the U.S. by School Girls Unite, and internationally by Plan International and CIDA. The Day was officially enacted by a UN General Assembly Resolution this past March, which recognized that the “empowerment of and investment in girls” is “critical to…
Read MoreWhat We’re Pinning: Powerful Women of the World
The following six women are some of the most celebrated, powerful and inspirational women around. But women and men everywhere–in every country and in all walks of life–can and do make a difference every day because every person can do one thing, big or small, to change the world around them. Check out these pins, learn about these women, and be inspired to take action yourself, to do just one thing to empower women, whether they’re in your neighborhood or on the other side of the world. You…
Read MoreWhat We’re Watching: Last Chance to Watch Half the Sky Movement’s Documentary Online
If you missed the chance to watch the tear-jerking, moving, and inspirational Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide when it aired on PBS last week, the videos expire in the next two days. Part 1 closes tomorrow (Tuesday, Oct. 9) and part 2 closes the following day on Wednesday. It’s a great opportunity to catch up on this wonderful series, and get inspired to empower women around the world. Episode 1 (Original Airdate: Monday, October 1) Episode 2 (Original Airdate:…
Read MoreIt’s World Teachers’ Day!
“Take a stand for teachers!” is the slogan of World Teachers’ Day 2012 today, which UNESCO celebrates with its partners, the International Labour Organization, UNDP, UNICEF and Education International (EI). Opportunity is so proud to honor teachers like Rosemary Namande, who educates hundreds of kids at the Nadulu Infant Primary School in Kampala, Uganda, boarding many who are orphans, and taking care of a number with HIV/AIDS. Rosemary explains that “love for the children is down in my heart.”…
Read MoreWhat We’re Reading: CEO Vicki Escarra’s Post on Women, the Half the Sky Movement & Ghana in The Huffington Post
The following post, “Empowering the Bigger Half,” by our CEO Vicki Escarra was published on The Huffington Post on Thursday, Oct. 4. Nearly 2.5 billion people live on less than $2 a day, and I am astounded and truly horrified that in 2012, women represent 70% of this number. Knowing this statistic, it’s not a surprise that women disproportionately suffer from the chronic effects of poor nutrition, insufficient healthcare and limited educational opportunity. Historically, women face discrimination…
Read MoreWhat We’re Watching: Documentary Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide on PBS
We’re tuning in tonight to PBS to watch the long-awaited documentary, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. (Airing in two parts, tonight and tomorrow, October 1 and 2, at 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT.) With Nicholas Kristof as your guide, as well as Sheryl WuDunn, Hillary Clinton, and activist celebrities America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union, and Olivia Wilde, providing insight, emotion and expertise, the documentary promises to introduce…
Read MoreSpotlight on Tanzanian Mother and Baby on Child Health Day
In the past, if a family member needed healthcare, Theresia John Kombe of Pangara, Tanzania, had to sell one of her chickens to pay for it. But as a coffee grower with the Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union (KNCU), Theresia was able to join a MicroEnsure health plan that is connected to a network of clinics. Now, she pays an $8 annual premium that covers her whole family. That insurance coverage was vital one night when her baby, Loreen, was vomiting and had to be taken to the hospital, where she…
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