News Blog
World news on the fight to alleviate poverty – follow innovations in microfinance, technology and community development that are changing lives in developing countries.
Fishing for Success
Opportunity is now reaching 1,000,000 people in Indonesia with life-changing small loans. This has grown from only 30,000 people just six years ago – a testament to the commitment of our partners, the vision of our team, and the giving of our valued supporters like you. It’s life-changing for women like Oktavin. Oktavin met her husband Abraham, a Rote native, on her home island of Dao. He had come to the island to sell vegetables, which Oktavin found herself buying much more frequently after…
Read MoreSurvive to Thrive
How important is health? In the lead up to World Health Day, Opportunity's Asia Health Program Director, Jessica Carter, speaks about the importance of running health programs in conjunction with more traditional microfinance programs to help people lift themselves out of poverty. Poonam is a Community Health Leader who wanted to learn about health issues and use that knowledge to help her village. Here, she is surrounded by the women of her village following a talk she gave on women’s health. Photo:…
Read MoreWhy Women?
\"This shop belongs to me!\" As a female business owner, Anjali is part of the majority of Opportunity’s small loan recipients—over 95 percent are female. It’s a huge percentage, and one that stands out when you note the overall lack of opportunities for women in developing countries. But why does Opportunity focus so much on women? There are many great reasons—here are three: 1) Opportunity is passionate about empowering women and involving them in financial decision making. When women have…
Read MoreBalancing for Better
Like a vast number of professional women in the developed world, I have never felt that my life was threatened, my wealth was not in my control, nor that I would not be listened to on important matters. I won the lottery of life at birth and keep winning the lottery of life every day. Sure, I was born a female in the 1960s and have spent my career in a male dominated environment. I may have had to develop a very thick skin, but I’ve never experienced poverty – I don’t know what it’s like…
Read MoreEmpowerment: My Duty
Thousands of women in colourful saris forming a human chain. It’s a powerful image, and one that dominated our screens last week. The press reported the human chain was up to 620km in length, and may have involved more than five million women. Although social media is covered in conflicting data about how long, how many women, and even whether all women were voluntarily there, the photographs clearly show a multitude of women standing in protest. But what got them so passionate? In September 2018,…
Read MoreKnow your narrative
As a Clinical Psychologist I am often asked why psychologists spend so much time asking people about their history. Asking about someone’s childhood is a cliché but there is a reason why we do it. What I’ve realised over the years as a psychologist is the more you understand where you come from and who and what shaped you, the more you’re able to understand your strengths and weaknesses and develop compassion for yourself. Kirstin Bouse It also enables you to put events in your life into…
Read MoreThe Power of Choice
It’s not hard to figure out how families earn a living in rural Rajasthan. On the drive through India’s conservative north-east we pass marble quarry after marble quarry—a sea of white, with brightly-coloured saris a perfect contrast to the landscape. When we arrive at a local house, we’re welcomed through the front gate into a small compound with three small bedrooms, a tiny kitchen, and a shaded courtyard with a brilliant white marble floor. After a mat is laid out for us to sit on, the…
Read MoreBuilding Healthy Communities
Thanks to your support, over 50 women in West Java have become the first in Indonesia to undertake Opportunity’s community health leader training.The program in Indonesia draws on learnings from five years of working with families in northern India to improve health outcomes. In both countries, health can be a significant obstacle for families hoping to work their way out of poverty. Extensive community consultation informed the health leader curriculum which is tailored to local families, focusing…
Read MoreInternational Literacy Day puts the spotlight on digital skills
Saturday 8 September is International Literacy Day. The United Nations honours this day to remind us of the importance of literacy as a matter of dignity and human rights as well as the foundation for building a more literate and sustainable society. This year’s theme is ‘Literacy and skills development’, with a focus on youth and adults, lifelong learning and effective linkages between literacy and skills. Educators began linking literacy and skills in the 1950s, through the concept of functional…
Read MoreAn Educated Difference
On a road in Nagpur, India, Madhuri walks her children to school in their freshly pressed school uniforms, large backpacks engulfing their tiny frames. Ria (4) and Yesh (5) are two of the only children in the area able to attend the community school—many parents can’t afford to send their children anywhere other than the poorly resourced local public school, particularly at so young an age. But Madhuri has always wanted her children to receive a quality education, and, with your support, Opportunity’s…
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