Opportunity International Australia Blog

Photo of the week: Something to smile about! The success of Elma’s sari-sari store has enabled her to provide her four children with an education! She was able to improve her business with a small loan from Opportunity International Australia’s partner in the Philippines, TSKI. In the future, Elma hopes to open her own restaurant!

Tomorrow all around the country, Australian’s will be celebrating all things great about Australian history, culture and development. While this national celebration is a great time for summer fun, Opportunity International Australia would like to honour those passionate and dedicated Australians who are living and working abroad in support of a greater cause. Many of these people work hard in often difficult places, separated from their friends and family to make the world a better place.

AusAID, the Australian Agency for International Development, has recently developed a television series called ‘Changing Lives’, paying testament to the work of dedicated Australians doing extraordinary jobs around the world. One episode features Mark Daniels, Opportunity’s East Asia Director (watch video below). Mark and his family moved to the Philippines more than two years ago to support Opportunity’s microfinance programs in the Philippines.

This Australia Day we would also like to acknowledge another staff member – Chris Murdoch, Opportunity’s Strategic Services Director, who relocated to Hyderbad, India with his family two years ago. Chris’s work in the area is incredibly valuable as he investigates a range of community development initiatives to support local communities.

A big thank you to all our staff working abroad this Australia Day (and those supporters, staff and volunteers working locally) and another thank you to AusAID for their continued support and the inspiring ‘Changing Lives’ series that encapsulates the incredible lives of Australians working overseas.

Happy Australia Day!

The village on the outskirts of Varanasi can only be described by pictures. It comprised of mud huts with dirt floors, straw as bed, basic agriculture and animals everywhere – even in the bedrooms. I felt like I had walked into the stables where Jesus was born! The only resemblance of the 21st Century were mobile phones and one florescent light bulb!

We were visiting this village with Cashpor, Opportunity International Australia’s microfinance partner in Varanasi. Cashpor serves women living in extreme poverty, in one of the poorest states of India – Uttar Pradesh. The state’s population exceeds 180 million which includes more than 90 million people living on less than $2 per day. In most cases, the women that Cashpor serves are making less than A$1 per day.

We sat down in a community group meeting and the level of excitement was high. The first thing the women did was sign their name on the loan register. These women are illiterate, yet Cashpor has taken the time to teach every one of them to sign their own name – no finger print; no X; but their own name. This seems insignificant to us, yet for the women of this village it represents dignity and empowerment.

This year Cashpor is launching a new service focused on community health. Opportunity is supporting this initiative. Microfinance is more than lending, it’s about helping communities to prosper in a number of ways.

You can help by providing a donation of just $200 to help women like this to educate their children and to progress out of poverty. Click here to donate today.

Stephen Robertson
Opportunity International Australia
www.opportunity.org.au

Did you know over 70% of the world’s poor are women and girls? This March, in honour of the United Nations International Women’s Day (8 March), Opportunity International Australia is raising much-needed awareness and funding for women living in poverty.

Opportunity invites you to host your very own Opportunity Swap clothes swap anytime throughout the month of March. Invite your friends, recycle your wardrobe and empower women in desperate need.

How does it work?
- A clothes swap works by people bringing items of clothing they no longer wear and are willing to swap for garments brought by other guests. Guests arrive with their clothes, receive tokens for each item, and then are able to exchange their tokens for the garments that take their fancy!
- You can swap women’s fashion, guys’ threads, children’s clothes, shoes or even accessories.
- Raise funds by asking guests to make a donation before attending the swap –  these funds will then be directed to Opportunity’s work with people living in poverty.
- Choose to invite friends and family to ‘swap’ at your home; or perhaps host a swap with co-workers after work. For those who like thinking big, get the local community involved with a clothes swap at your church, sports club, school or university.

Hosting an Opportunity Swap couldn’t be easier! Just follow these three simple steps…

Step 1 Register your event at www.opportunityswap.org.au
Step 2 Take a look at our toolkit to help make hosting your event as easy as possible
Step 3 Recycle your wardrobe and empower a woman!

To get started and create your own Opportunity Swap, visit www.opportunityswap.org.au. Or, for more information, please contact us on 1800 812 164.

Want to raise funds but a clothes swap’s not for you?
You can still get involved and help empower women this International Women’s Day. How about…
- Running a stall at your local markets to sell unwanted clothes or other items
- Hosting a garage sale at home
- Selling unwanted items on eBay or Gumtree
- Running a fun run or marathon and choosing Opportunity as your charity of choice

By giving the proceeds to Opportunity’s work, you can still help empower women in need this International Women’s Day. Or, if you want to skip the fundraising event altogether, you can donate directly at www.opportunity.org.au

I have been in India for the last two days hosting a small group of donors from Australia to show them the appalling living conditions in the slums of Delhi and how they can enable the people living here to have a better life.

I want to share with you the life of one woman that we met today in Seemapuri, in north-east Delhi. To meet her, we had to walk down a narrow, claustrophobic alley way, stepping over raw sewerage in the drains, ducking regularly to avoid the live electrical wires crossing overhead. I had to breathe through my mouth to avoid smelling the stench. As I walked, it struck me that this was one of the most appalling slums I had ever seen.

After a few minutes of waiting, we were ushered into a small room to meet some women who are microfinance clients. One of the clients we met was Samhita (middle front).

Samhita is 19, a year younger than my daughter. She was enthusiastic, smart and engaging. She explained to us that she completed year 9 at school, married at 16 and has two children. She and her husband migrated from the east of India to find work in Delhi – her husband still hasn’t found employment. Their home is two small rooms, each about 2.5 by 4 meters, with just a door and no windows.

Samhita has an ambition to educate herself further and to educate her children. She wants to have a better life. She started a business 18 months ago and has taken two small microfinance loans. Her current loan is about 19,000 rupees (A$380). With this loan, she has set up a recycling business where she collects recyclable waste such as plastic and glass bottles, to then sell. She collects the waste from a rubbish tip which is literally outside her back door (See photo below).

Her business generates an income of about 3,000 to 4,000 rupees (A$60-80) per month, and she’s saving money to she send her children to school and continue her own education. She also tells me that she is a dancer and loves music.

Despite the appalling living and working conditions that surrounded her, Samhita was full of hope. She told us that without the help of her small loans, she could not have started her business. In fact, she is now asking for a larger loan so she can expand her business and increase her family’s income even more.

In Delhi today, there are more than 300 people like Samhita ready to receive a loan. A donation of just $200 can help someone like Samhita set up a business and enable them to provide a secure future for their family.

Meeting Samhita, I’m reminded just how much of a difference you can make through microfinance..

Stephen Robertson
Donor Relations Director
Opportunity International Australia
www.opportunity.org.au

Photo of the week: Nice threads! Thanks to a small loan from one of Opportunity International Australia’s partners in India, Margdarshak, Shabeena was able to buy the equipment she needed to start her own weaving business. She has tripled her family’s income and can now afford to send her two children to school.

At present, the tropical storm Washi, locally known as Sendong, has killed more than 1,250 people, when rivers overflowed and inundated coastal cities in mid December.

The focus is now on managing disease outbreaks, as reports suggest that at least 171 people are being treated for leptospirosis (an infection transmitted by contaminated water). Close to 8,000 families are temporarily living inside cramped evacuation centres with poor sanitation.

Opportunity International Australia has set up a relief fund in support of the Mindanao crisis.  All donations raised will be directed to Opportunity’s implementing partners who work in the region and go to support those affected with food, clothing and shelter.

If you would like to provide emergency support to affected families living in the Mindanao region of the Philippines, please click here.

Photo of the week: Papaya, corn, chilli, coriander…the list of fruit and vegetables goes on and on for Eny Lestari – and she couldn’t be happier! With a small loan from Opportunity’s partner in West Timor, Indonesia, Eny has been able to improve her small business; increase her income and enable a secure future for her children.

Opportunity International Australia’s implementing partner ASKI in the Philippines has been awarded the 'Seal of Transparency' by MF Transparency, a global initiative for fair and transparent pricing in the microfinance sector.

In the story by Microfinance Focus, ASKI Executive Director Rolando B. Victoria states, “Being a champion in promoting client protection, we keep our clients informed on the different loan products and services of the organisation as well as the charges and other fees incurred when they avail of these products.”

ASKI also received the award of `Most Outstanding NGO` in October for their outstanding achievements by the National Livelihood Development Corporation (NLDC).

By providing financial services, technical expertise and various community enrichment activities, ASKI is helping to secure the futures of close to 80,000 Filipino families living in poverty. With this support and access to small loans, these families are able to start a business, earn an income and afford safe drinking water, nutritious food and an education for their children.

Read more...
• Full story and release on Microfinance Focus here.
• Latest ASKI partner profile
• Opportunity’s partner ASKI wins most outstanding NGO in the Philippines

This story was originally posted on the Opportunity International Canada blog and can be read here.

This means many isolated villages – where many people live in poverty – have limited access to financial services, creating many difficulties for people when managing what little finances they have. They tend to keep their money in unsafe places, such as around their home or hidden in holes.

Opportunity International Australia’s microfinance partner in West Timor, Tanaoba Lais Manekat (TLM) is working to increase access to financial services for the poor in West Timor through a pilot program using mobile ‘banking vans’. The specially designed vans travel to strategic locations in remote areas (such as markets), offering access to savings and loans for people who live out of reach of TLM’s standard microfinance branches.

The vans play educational videos, teaching the importance of savings and addressing local issues, and the project will also see a number of Electronic Delivery Channels (similar to EFTPOS machines) placed with loan officers or in strategically selected locations so that locals can deposit and withdraw money easily. So far, the vans have taken deposits from 219 clients like Amos (pictured).

Amos’ Story
In an isolated area of West Timor, Amos supports his wife Yumince and their three children, Gerson, Dorancy and Leni, with a small farm of just 30x30 metres. Totally dependent on the plot of land, Amos’ income fluctuates throughout the year. Sometimes there isn’t enough money to afford the basics, like food, while a well next to his bamboo house only supplies water during the wet season. At other times, Amos has to walk a kilometre to fetch water from a spring.

Poverty is a reality for Amos and his family, but microfinance is helping him break the cycle. He has recently opened a savings account with TLM’s mobile banking van (pictured), and is putting money away to ensure that he always has enough money to feed his family. So far he’s saved Rp.15,000 (A$1.65) – not a lot in Australia, but for someone who has never had the ability to save before – this savings account symbolises a world of new opportunity and security.

If you would like to help make a lasting difference in the life of someone like Amos, you can support Opportunity’s programs here, or, if you would like to learn more about microfinance and how Opportunity provides small loans and support services to people living in poverty, please click here.