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News Blog

CEO Vicki Escarra Blogs about Agriculture Finance for Huffington Post

by Lauren Williamson

Africa has enough arable land to feed a population of 2.5 billion—yet millions of its 1 billion people go hungry every day. But at Opportunity International, we believe equipping farmers in Africa with the funding and market connections to stabilize their production is key to breaking the cycle of hunger. It’s a message Opportunity International CEO Vicki Escarra underscored in her most recent Huffington Post blog about the link between agriculture finance and food security. The blog post spotlighted…

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Faith in Action: Nonprofit Microfinance in the News

by Professor Emeritus Martin E. Marty

The following is a post written by Professor Emeritus Martin E. Marty for Sightings, a blog from the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School. A prominent interpreter of religion and culture, Marty is the author of more than 50 books, as well as a speaker, columnist, pastor and teacher, and was a professor of religious history for 35 years at the University of Chicago. His original post was published on Monday, Dec. 13, entitled ”Microfinance.” Sightings has…

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Opportunity International Announces New Unified Vision

by Lauren Williamson

At Opportunity International, we’ve worked for 42 years to achieve our mission of giving people in the developing world the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty. Now we have a stronger way of sharing that mission with the world. Opportunity International announced last week unified messaging that clarifies our vision, mission, motivation, values and methods throughout our worldwide organization. Our work hasn’t changed—just our way of sharing it with the world. Watch Opportunity…

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Pope Francis: ‘Where there is Work, There is Dignity’

by Lauren Williamson

Pope Francis shared a simple but powerful message during a Sept. 22 visit to the Italian island Sardinia. “Where there is no work,” he said, “there is no dignity.” That philosophy drives Opportunity International every day. Our work isn’t about handouts. We empower people in the developing world to lift themselves out of poverty. Opportunity International loans, training and other services have generated roughly 10 million jobs across more than 22 countries since 1971. But we’re just…

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Proper Healthcare – A Prerequisite to Economic Development in Africa

by Opportunity International

Monday October 7 is Child Health Day. A day intended to raise people’s awareness of how they can protect and develop children’s health. The following post is by Christie Lacey. Christie was an Intern with Opportunity International in the Summer of 2013. Imagine living in an area where you are lucky to live past 45, the infant mortality rate is 17 percent and more than 34 million children are orphans due to poor healthcare. This is the reality of life in sub-Saharan Africa. The African continent…

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‘I Want My School to be Big’: Educator Shares Dreams on ‘GOOD’ Blog

by Lauren Williamson

Comfort Appiah was so secretive when she started a school in her home, she didn’t even tell her husband. Fifteen years later, that school now serves 800 children in Accra, Ghana. (And yes, her husband knows.) An Opportunity International loan allowed Comfort to grow the school from its humble roots to approach her goal of educating thousands.Comfort wrote about her journey from underground educator to official school proprietor for the online community GOOD. “I want my school to be big,” she…

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An Unstoppable Loan Client

by Steph Jimenez

Steph was an Intern with Opportunity International in the Summer of 2013. Opportunity International works in more than 20 countries including the Philippines. Manila businesswoman, Concepcion Valenzuela, makes 10 types of ceramics products in her small rented shop. With the help of several Opportunity loans, Concepcion purchased clay, paint and equipment such as a mixing machine and rented a larger shop. She now employs seven workers and produces an inventory of hundreds of products, including delicate…

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Why Private Schools Matter in the Developing World

by Natalie Hornsby

Natalie Hornsby is a member of Young Ambassadors for Opportunity. All children must have access to primary education, as set forth by the UN Millennium Development Goals. This is an incredible goal from a macro perspective—no one can argue against the value of educating children. But the unintended consequences of this universal policy have been devastating, as I recently witnessed in Rwanda. Student-to-teacher ratios have shifted from roughly 30-to-1 to 80-to-1. School days were divided into two…

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Changing the Face of Education

by Opportunity International

Opportunity International’s loyal supporters have partnered with us over the past 40 years to help more than five million people in more than 20 countries break free from poverty. And we know from our experience that one of the best ways to fight poverty is through education. With the help of our loyal partners and supporters, Opportunity International is changing the face of education in the developing world by confronting the major obstacles standing between a child and a classroom. Here’s…

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Educating Students Is a Worthy Investment for All

by Christie Lacey

Christie was an Intern with Opportunity International in the Summer of 2013. Primary School Students at The Ridgway School in Uganda.  In high school I remember bemoaning 7:15 a.m. classes, the monotonous homework assignments, strict teachers and subject matter I never found applicable to my life. It never occurred to me, of course, that I was privileged, that if I had been born in another place I might not have the opportunity to attend school at all. In the U.S. most teenagers see school as…

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