Everything in life happens through relationships and the best relationships are based on mutuality and trust. Authenticity and passion. At Opportunity International Australia, we form long term relationships with our local program partners in India, the Philippines and Indonesia. They’re the experts. They’re the ones who know the families in these countries and assess with them whether it’s a good business proposition for a family to receive a small loan to kick start or expand a little business.

Opportunity's partner in the Philippines, ASKI and the Santa Monica Loan Group

In selecting local program partners, we search for immensely talented individuals and organisations whose capabilities we respect; who are amazing at what they do; who will make great things happen. We select socially aligned individuals and organisations who want to change the world and who are dedicated to helping families lift themselves out of poverty.   

This was the case with Praseeda Kuman, one of our program partners in India. Praseeda left India as a university student to study in the US, where she built a successful corporate career. In her 30’s she felt compelled to return to India to contribute to the growth of India’s microfinance sector. I met Praseeda when she pitched a business plan to members of the Opportunity Board several years ago. She was seeking funding to kick-start a microfinance organisation in a remote location in Riwar in Madhya Pradesh, a location where no other microfinance organisation was present. It’s a challenging area. It’s a part of India where the people are so poor they keep goats because they can’t afford to buy cows.

Health Leader, Navihan and members of her local community

Thousands of families live in tiny pitch-black adobe huts and they struggle to survive from one day to the next on their meagre earnings.

At the meeting, a Board member asked: “Praseeda. Why this part of Madhya Pradesh? There are other places that are less difficult.” And her memorable response totally humbled and flawed the Board members: “Well, if I don’t go and serve the families in this area, who will?” The Board was so compelled by her passion and commitment, they agreed to fund establishment of her microfinance organisation and Opportunity’s partnership with Samhita continues today.

With Praseeda’s strong leadership, Samhita grew rapidly and over the years has provided small loans to more than 150,000 families. Families who are building small businesses, earning regular incomes, eating nutritious food, sending their children to school, accessing health services and saving for emergencies. Such a different picture to the one that existed when Praseeda started Samhita.

We select two types of organisations with which to partner – large, capable, well run organisations that have a substantial client base and represent low risk and start-ups that are going into locations with poor infrastructure and a lack of microfinance institutions. We support our local program partners by funding them and by encouraging others to fund them.  We are a strategic steward, a navigator, and influence rather than control their strategies because they are the ones with the local knowledge, skills and relationships and they know how best to help families break the cycle of poverty.

Our local program partners are driven by the situation of each family. They think of the family as an equal. As a business partner. They design their engagement with each family by asking: “What’s their journey to freedom? What’s their pathway out of poverty? What will give them choices? What will give them purpose in their lives?”

As well as partnering with financial organisations that make loans, we partner with family violence counsellors, health education organisations and schools. We fund water and sanitation programs. The pathway out of poverty is complicated and it’s different for different people in different environments. There’s no silver bullet and that’s why when we look at impact we look at the whole impact of our programs on families living in poverty rather than just the economic impact. We measure movements out of poverty and use a raft of social indicators because poverty is much more than a lack of income.