Opportunity International Australia Blog

On 13 April, Opportunity International Australia will be celebrating World Entrepreneurship Day.

While you might not hear about them in the glossy pages of the ‘rich lists’, there are entrepreneurs living in developing countries doing incredible things for their communities.

Opportunity sees this entrepreneurial potential everyday in its clients throughout Indonesia, India and the Philippines. People like Ambotuo (pictured below) who use their small businesses to not only improve the lives of their  family members, but also make a significant impact on reducing poverty in their communities.

After taking out a small loan from Opportunity’s microfinance partner in Indonesia, TLM, Ambotuo’s dried-fish selling business grew. He even had to employ three people from his village to support the demand for the fish– enabling another three families to benefit from a new income and work their way out of poverty, too.

A small loan can enable someone living in poverty to turn their business idea in to a reality and give them the tools they need to provide for their family. With an average small loan size of $200, it doesn’t take much to give someone a start.

If you would like to provide an opportunity to an entrepreneur living in a developing country, please donate today.

With an average small loan size of $200, entrepreneurs living in poverty like Ambotuo can rewrite their family’s future, all they need is an opportunity.

For many of Opportunity International Australia’s clients, this is a reality.

Often families are faced with the sudden and unexpected illness of a family member that could easily be treated with basic healthcare. However, for many people living in rural regions with limited money, even minor illnesses that they are forced to leave untreated can be devastating.

In India, Opportunity is partnering with a strategic and technical partner in healthcare to address this issue - The Healing Fields Foundation. Opportunity plans to educate 70 women in basic healthcare procedures and disease prevention methods, empowering them to become Community Healthcare Facilitators (CHFs).

These CHFs will each educate approximately 250 households in their community about personal healthcare and imparting crucial information about the state-provided facilities which many families are unaware they have access to.

Microfinance is effective in giving people a chance to increase their income by growing a small business but in some cases, a small shock such as ill health can push a family back into poverty. The sustainability of income improvements as a result of microfinance is therefore challenged and its long term positive impacts can become unstable.

To combat this, the CHFs will also encourage collectives of families to establish health savings groups which can be accessed should a group member become ill and be faced with healthcare costs.

The program has the potential to reach over 87,500 people (70 CHFs reaching 250 households of five people) and educate them on the importance of healthcare and saving for these incidents. The program aims to reduce mortality rates, lower the incidence of disease, increase income security and bring communities together in collectives.

Programs like this offer Opportunity’s clients a more holistic approach to reducing poverty. If you would like to help support Opportunity’s programs and give families a greater chance at overcoming poverty, please click here to donate today.

Did you know that 70% of the world’s poor are women and girls? Even more shocking is that women perform 66 per cent of the world’s work and produce 50 per cent of the world’s food, yet earn only 10 per cent of the income and own only 1 per cent of the property. Today on 8 March, United Nations International Women’s Day celebrates the progress that has been made in the recognition of women while also highlighting concerning statistics like these ones.

This year, the theme for International Women’s Day is ‘women’s economic empowerment’. Although women are disempowered all over the world, this is particularly true for women living in developing countries. For women, having access to a quality education, meaningful employment, land and other resources reduces gender inequality and contributes to sustainable development.

What can be done?

For women living in poverty, having access to financial services means being able to improve their economic security. A small microfinance loan can enable a woman to start a business, earn an income and provide for her family through increased financial stability.

With this, women are given new choices and new hope – they are able to take control of their family’s future, investing their income into nutritious food, healthcare, sanitation and an education for their children.

Many even grow their small businesses to the point of employing other people. As a result, microfinance has flow-on effects for local economies – increasing employment and providing incomes for other poor families in the community. In doing so, microfinance provides a sustainable, long-term solution to poverty that is felt throughout a nation.

So what can we do?

Opportunity International Australia provides microfinance and support services to people living in poverty throughout the Philippines, India and Indonesia. 94 per cent of our clients are women.

This March, in honour of International Women’s Day, you can reach out to women in need by donating in support of Opportunity’s work at www.opportunity.org.au

By providing a hand up through microfinance and not a hand out, you can help empower a woman, a family, a community and even a nation.

Sources: UNWomen, www.internationalwomensday.org.au

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!

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