When Annie Crawford, Opportunity Ambassador and founder of Can Too Foundation, visited the Philippines with Opportunity International Australia in 2014, she saw the value of little things.

In a country like the Philippines where nearly half of the 97 million residents live in poverty, microfinance provides a more sustainable means to helping break the poverty cycle by giving people a ‘hand up, not a hand-out’.

It all starts with a loan as little as $200, which allows people to start their own business and truly break the poverty cycle.

Women are so often the ‘change agents’ for this journey. In fact, 91 per cent of Opportunity’s clients are women. Those I met were able to set up tailoring shops, vegetable farms and a fishing business.

One woman I met used her loan to set up a weaving business. With the money she earned she was then able to educate her three kids and save up to purchase a concrete floor for her business. Previously, they only had a mud floor, and in an area where monsoons and typhoons are common, her family and business would struggle.

Annie also saw the value of small loans not just for individuals or families, but for communities as a whole.

I really appreciated meeting communities who had been recipients of microfinance for a few years and then at the other end of the spectrum; communities who are still preparing to receive loans. The difference between the two communities in terms of confidence levels, sense of self-esteem and empowerment was striking. It just shows the impact is so much more than in pure dollar terms.

If I had my life over again – I think I would love to work with these communities. It would be so rewarding, so inspiring with so many laughs along the way, despite poverty and the tough living conditions. What wonderful people…. We can learn so much from them.

At the end of the day, when people think about global poverty, they think the issue is too big. But if we change the life of one mother, or change the life of one child, we can actually begin to rewrite the future for generations.

To change the life of a mother, her child and her community for generations, please donate just $70 today.

This blog includes content first published in Renegade Collective Issue 17, 2014.