Opportunity International Australia has an exciting future and it’s made possible by the generosity of you, our supporters. You are helping families make the journey out of poverty through small loans to grow businesses, health education programs, school fee loans, digital financial services and loans to access clean water and build toilets. As an Opportunity supporter, you’re partnering with families who are working their way out of poverty and we are immensely thankful to you.

We see major growth ahead in our programs and you’re vital to our growth. We use your donations to expand our programs. To reach more families living in poverty and give their kids a better future. We’re looking to take our programs into additional countries in Asia and we’re designing specialised programs like funding schools and providing specialist agricultural financial services.

Our programs are sustainable because loans are recycled and lent to other families when loan recipients pay back their loans. But there’s so much more progress we can make in helping families break the cycle of poverty. More than anything, we are using the mobile phone to reach more families and offer them a greater range of services.

Everything in our world revolves around the mobile phone – even in developing countries where intense competition amongst telcos has lowered the price of handsets and call costs. Most families living in developing countries have access to mobile phones – either within their household or in their local community. And so, digital financial inclusion is a massive aspect of what we’re doing going forwards.

Everything will come on the mobile phone in the future and its already changing a lot of what we do. And what all this means is that more and more families will have their lives changed. Kids will be healthy and educated. Families will progress from hopelessness to real freedom and choices. We see this played out over and over again.

When you sit with women in India and talk about their lives, you realise they are just like you and me. Their circumstances are vastly different but they’re still like us. They want better lives for their kids. They want their kids to grow up and be good people. Have choices and not be desperate. I’ve seen little girls making road base breaking rocks with huge hammers. I’ve seen men just sitting unemployed. On the ground. Staring into no-where. Because they have no hope. They have no choices. This is how a large part of the world lives and together we can make a lasting difference in their lives.

You give families the tools to progress out of poverty. You are integral to helping families break the crippling cycle of poverty in which they’ve been trapped for generations. Thank you.