Opportunity International Australia Blog

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

Every year, 17 October marks the United Nations International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, recognising the billions of people around the world who live in poverty. Aiming to raise awareness of the need to eradicate poverty in all countries, the day encourages the global community to join together to do just that.

This year has the theme From Poverty to Sustainability: People at the Centre of Inclusive Development, highlighting the importance of poverty eradication for building sustainable futures for all. Today, people living in poverty face increasingly difficult challenges as climate change, environmental degradation and rising food prices threaten their livelihoods and survival. 17 October provides a platform for their voices to be heard.

Working in developing countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines and India where poverty levels are as high as some 75% of the population, Opportunity empowers poor families by giving them a hand up not a hand-out so that they too can benefit from secure livelihoods and have the capacity to build a sustainable future. 

In honour of the occasion, Opportunity is aiming to empower 3,500 women in India with small loans, allowing them to start a small business, earn an income and afford proper food, shelter and an education for their children. If you would like to make a significant difference in honour of 17 October, click here to give a hand up not a hand-out to 3,500 women who desperately need your help.

Sources: http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/poverty/, http://social.un.org/index/Poverty/InternationalDayfortheEradicationofPoverty/2011.aspx

What a day Friday was. On the road at 7am for four hours, to attend an expo in a remote village where 1,000 female clients of our microfinance partner in Chennai, GO Finance, were meeting. It didn’t disappoint. The morning featured speeches from advocates for women’s rights, like a young local female police chief who encouraged the women to take all the opportunities they are given.

Microfinance itself is a powerful tool for poverty alleviation. Just as powerful is the sense of community it generates amongst women and the empowerment and solidarity they can achieve as a group through it.

You didn’t have to speak a word of the local language (my Tamil is a bit rusty I must admit) to feel the energy, passion and pride in the room. I also often forget to think about the staff at our partner microfinance institutions. We spent time with the staff of two branches at the expo and they spoke about the massively positive change working for GO Finance has made in their lives. One of them started to get quite emotional when talking about how GO Finance had changed their circumstances. These are incredible people who work tirelessly to serve the clients. We should honour them more.

Staff from GO Finance

Stephen Penny
Chief Financial Officer
Opportunity International Australia