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Opportunity Staff Updates on Sustainable Energy Initiatives Around the World
Deborah Foy, Opportunity-UK’s International Programmes Director told me that 2012 is the United Nations’s “International Year of Sustainable Energy for All.” In the UN’s own words, “Energy is opportunity. It transforms lives. Economies. The planet.” Opportunity’s clients enjoy some of the world’s sunniest days–but they also experience the darkest nights. Lacking electricity, over a billion Read more…
Tagged Africa, alternative energy, Asia, Clean energy, Clients, Deborah Foy, Earth Day, electricity, Ending Poverty, environmental sustainability, Harry Turner, Jeffrey Lee, Leah Aguirre, Lydia Njoroge, Manfred Kuhn, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity Ghana, Opportunity International, Opportunity Kenya, Opportunity Philippines, Opportunity Rwanda, Opportunity South Africa, Opportunity Uganda, Opportunity UK, Opportunity-US, Rolando Victoria, Technology
What We’re Reading: A Microfinance, Poverty, Empowerment Reading List
Looking for your next big read? We’ve put together a list of compelling books we’re reading, running the gamut from microfinance and international development, to global aid and putting your faith into action. Check out our list and let us know what you think in the comment field below. What would you add, and what Read more…
Tagged Banker to the Poor, Daryl Collins, Dead Aid, Ghana, Global Poverty, Half the Sky, Jacqueline Novogratz, Katie Smith Milway, Kojo, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Muhammad Yunus, Nicholas D. Kristof, One Hen, Opportunity International, Portfolios of the Poor, Portfolios of the Poor: How the World's Poor Live on $2 a Day, Poverty, Sheryl WuDunn, The Blue Sweater, unpoverty, unpoverty rich lessons from the working poor, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON
Our Prayers for Victims of Monday’s Devastating Earthquake in Philippines
On Monday morning, a 6.7-magnitude earthquake (U.S. Geological Survey) struck central Philippines in a narrow strait just off Negros Island. The epicenter was closest to Tayasan, a coastal town of about 32,000 people flanked by mountains in Negros Oriental province. The quake could be felt in at least seven central provinces, including Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Cebu Read more…
Meet Our Staff: Why Do I Believe in Opportunity?
In May of 2010, I attended a luncheon hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs where Melanne Verveer, the first-ever U.S. ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues, spoke to the significance of investing in women as a means to drive economic growth in the developing world. Equally as captivating as Ambassador Verveer’s remarks was being Read more…
Tagged Ally Lynch, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Global Poverty, Meet Our Staff, Melanne Verveer, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Opportunity-US, Poverty, Women, Women's Philanthropy
What We’re Reading: “Ten Biggest Positive Africa Stories of 2011,” The New Yorker
“…Yes, there is tragedy in Africa, and you will always find it there, and we must take those tragedies seriously, but there is also extraordinary opportunity. And if you see this continent as the continent of the future, it sort of reframes it. This is a continent that, by 2050, will be the largest and Read more…
Tagged Africa, Arab Spring, Bono, Cell phone banking, DR Congo, elections, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, famine, Ghana, Healthcare, Horn of Africa, Kenya, Liberia, life insurance, M-PESA, Microensure, Microinsurance, mobile phone banking, Nobel Peace Prize, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, The New Yorker, Tigo, what we're reading
Solar Panel Loans Offer a Beacon of Light for Ugandan Families
In November, launched a solar energy loan to provide power to families currently living with no or unreliable electricity. Opportunity Uganda is now offering clients like Betty Aute (pictured right), a papyrus weaver and mother of two, a solar panel loan of about $300, which covers panels and installation and is repayable over two years, to Read more…
Tagged Africa, Clients, electricity, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Global Poverty, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Opportunity Uganda, solar panels, Technology, Uganda
Prayers for Peace in the DR Congo
We wanted to provide you with a brief update surrounding the situation that is unfolding on the ground in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in response to last week’s elections. International news agencies such as Voice of America, BBC, and United Press International (UPI) have reported that tensions surrounding the elections resulted in violence Read more…
Innovation to Aid the Horn of Africa: USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Last Thursday, USAID administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah spoke at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs lunchtime talk entitled “America’s role in Food Security and the Horn of Africa Famine.” Administrator Shah began with slides and stories from the amalgam of refugee camps that make up the Dadaab camps in Kenya. The camps, which were built for Read more…
Tagged Africa, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, China, Dadaab, Dr. Rajiv Shah, Ending Hunger, Facebook, famine, Feed the Future Guide, Haiti, Horn of Africa, Hunger, Kenya, Rajiv Shah, United Nations, USAID
A Call for Sustainable Development on Oct. 17, United Nations Poverty Eradication Day
“People living in poverty face increasingly difficult challenges as climate change, environmental degradation and rising food prices threaten their livelihoods and survival.” -United Nations’s Division for Social Policy and Development Today, October 17, is the United Nations International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP) and this year’s theme is “From Poverty to Sustainability: People Read more…
Tagged Agricultural finance, Alliance to End Hunger, Clients, Climate Change, Ending Hunger, Ending Poverty, Feed the Future Guide, Financial services, Food security, Global Poverty, International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, John Magnay, Julie Howard, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Richard Leftley, The Philippines, Tony Hall, United Nations, USAID, Weather-index crop insurance
Breakout Session: Innovating to Meet Community Needs
“The more you listen and respond… the way you increase your chances of success and long term benefit is dramatic,” stated Jim Frantz, chief transformation officer at Opportunity Colombia, speaking about the importance of having local input and ownership when implementing initiatives in impoverished communities. This breakout session highlighted just a few of the innovative solutions Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agriculture, Colombia, Community, Conference, Craig DeRoy, David Allman, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Ghana, Jim Frantz, Latin America, Nicaragua, OIC2011, Opportunity Colombia, Opportunity Ghana, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Opportunity Nicaragua, Poverty, roof and floor program, YAO, YAO - San Francisco, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
