Sydney, 1 May 2017 - Opportunity International Australia Ambassador Suzzanne Laidlaw says when you break your big dreams into small actionable steps you can achieve success in your own life and bring about transformational changes for families living in poverty. Suzzanne will explore a process for achieving your dreams at the Inaugural Opportunity Women4Women conference in Perth on 13 May 2017.

Opportunity Chief Executive Officer, Robert Dunn, said: “I’m greatly looking forward to Opportunity’s conference, which will celebrate women from all walks of life and acknowledge that everyone has the right to exercise choice, experience social and economic empowerment and pursue their dreams.

“Suzzanne will share her family’s story of tragedy and resilience to inspire conference participants to take charge of their dreams by creating goals and making action plans,” he added.

Suzzanne said achieving your dreams involves a process of creating goals, plans and most importantly, actions. “There are things that people have been wanting to achieve for a long time but there’s that missing link, and often that’s the action.

“People have the goals; they have the dreams but they forget to put time in their diaries to actually take the actions necessary to realising their dreams,” she explained.

Suzzanne hopes she can give conference participants a simple structure to help them achieve their dreams, and hopes they can be inspired to transform their actions to make a difference in their own lives and the lives of women living in poverty.

“What I want is for us to inspire conference participants enough so they act now, go out and achieve their own goals and in so doing help women living in poverty to achieve their dreams,” she said. “Just like us, these women dream of caring for their family and educating their children and they dream of the empowerment that comes with a steady income. But women living in poverty often need a hand up to reach their dreams.

“We might ask ourselves: how can I, as just one person, help a family free themselves from poverty? But it’s simpler than we think. A small gift of $70 can provide one woman living in poverty with a small loan. With this loan, she can start a business, earn a regular income, buy nutritious food and send her children to school.

“The small action of a loan has a lasting impact on the life of a woman, her family and her community. The small action of providing a loan grows into a plan, which can realise a dream.

“The dream of poverty alleviation may seem daunting, but when people like us take small actions towards change, like providing a loan to a woman living in poverty, progress is made and the dream becomes more and more achievable,” she exclaimed.

EVENT DETAILS
DATE: Saturday 13 May 2017
TIME: 9am-3pm
WHERE: Lifestreams Christian Church, Murray Street, Como, WA
All profits from the event go towards empowering women through Opportunity International Australia.
TO REGISTER click here.

Media contact

Marie Kelly-Davies
Media and Communications Manager
Opportunity International Australia
02 9270 3332; 0408 256 381
mkelly-davies@opportunity.org