News Blog
Announcing Our March Book Club Selection
Join us for the Opportunity Book Club and read with us! Each month, we will select a book about a country in which Opportunity works, an issue that is relevant to our clients, or a topic of interest. Read with us, join our discussions online, and broaden your perspective of the world. This March, in honor and celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, we are reading: Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn A #1 National Bestseller, Half the Sky serves as a “passionate…
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Meet and Greet with Chikondi Mpokosa
Meet & Greet with Chikondi Mpokosa February 22, 2018 // by Heather Kaczrowski I recently had the pleasure of sitting down to interview Chikondi Mpokosa, our new Programme Director for Women & Girls, when she was in our Chicago office during a whirlwind trip to the U.S. A few things about Chikondi: she was born and raised in Malawi, and she has worked in nearly 20 countries around the world doing development work, advocating on behalf of women and girls, especially with regards to gender equality…
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Transformation in Action: My Visit to Linda's Bakery
Transformation in Action: My Visit to Linda's Bakery February 14, 2018 // by Atul Tandon In my professional circles, my colleagues and I often use the word transformation. For those of us working in poverty alleviation and development, this word is the big end goal—representing lives, families, and futures that are forever changed. Yet often, transformation can feel vague. It can become a convenient term, rather than what it really is: a person’s life story. Transformation is my friend…
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Clients Who Inspire Us
Clients Who Inspire Us January 29, 2018 // by Katie Morgan Every day we are inspired by our amazing clients who are working their way out of extreme poverty. Meet three of these remarkable individuals who are creating opportunity for themselves, their families, and their communities. It is client stories from Caroline, Ben, Proscovia, and so many more that are made possible by incredible supporters like you! Proscovia, Uganda When Proscovia Kiweewa approached Opportunity…
Read MoreMeet David Bussau
This story was originally published by Opportunity International Australia. Starting life in an Anglican boys’ home, Opportunity International Australia founder David Bussau launched his career as an entrepreneur at age 15 with a rented hotdog stand. Twenty years later, and with numerous successful businesses to his credit, he reached what he refers to as the ‘economics of enough.’ In 1974, with his young family in tow, David traveled to Darwin, Australia, and headed up a national movement…
Read MoreFive Things I'm Grateful For This Year
As I reflect on this past year, I am filled with a combination of disparate emotions. Joy for another year of life surrounded by so many incredible friends and colleagues, excitement and anticipation for the year ahead, and heartbreak over the challenges Opportunity clients still face—poverty, pain, and suffering so severe that they turn my stomach just to read about them. But above all, I am overcome with gratitude and excitement. I am grateful to be alive at this exciting time—a season when,…
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The Power of Stories
The Power of Stories January 10, 2018 // by Abbie Condie As a researcher for Opportunity, I love any chance I get to visit our partners in the field and witness Opportunity’s transformative work first-hand! Days before Thanksgiving I had the chance to attend the Fifth Annual Leadership Congress – an event that recognizes the hard work and dedication of client leaders from our Trust Groups in Colombia. These are women (and a handful of men!) who have been recognized by their loan officers…
Read MoreTime Magazine: The Optimists, Edited by Bill Gates
It’s easy to think the world is falling apart. Our regular news cycles show us a constant barrage of tragedies, each one worse than the one before. Yet in this important issue of Time Magazine, Bill Gates draws our attention to something we often ignore: the world, as a whole, is getting better. Through a collection of articles written by thought leaders, activists, investors, and global change agents, Gates highlights an important truth: we can and should be optimistic because we are making…
Read MoreWorking for Dignity and Human Rights
Each year on December 10, we join with the global community to celebrate Human Rights Day—a celebration of the rights each of us is entitled to, not by nature of our religion, race, sex, profession, economic status, political opinion, or status, but simply our humanity. That shared experience of human-ness that, in and of itself, should elicit dignity, respect, and value. Seventy years ago today, the United Nations General Assembly drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The document…
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Reducing Inequality and Remembering the Forgotten
Exploring the Sustainable Development Goals Reducing Inequality and Remembering the Forgotten By Allison Kooser Originally published in 2017. Updated in 2021. The Forgotten | Remembering Those With Disabilities | Remembering Those With Chronic Illness | Remembering Those Who Are Widows | Remembering Those Who Are Left Behind | Moving Forward “Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person…
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