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Back-to-School for Children Living in Poverty
School administrator Jacinta Njoki, of the Wisdom Junior Educational Center in Kenya, works with her students in the schoolyard. She started her school in 2001 with a $375 loan from Opportunity, and now has 150 kids and six teachers. Welcome back to school. It’s an exciting time for kids of all ages: new teachers, new Read more…
Tagged Africa, Banking on Education, Board of Governors Conference, Children, Clients, Community, Conference, Dominican Republic, Education, Education finance, Ending Poverty, fall microfinance conference, Financial services, Ghana, IDP Foundation, IDP Foundation Rising Schools Program, India, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Microfinance Conference, opportunity dominican republic, Opportunity Ghana, Opportunity India, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Opportunity Malawi, Opportunity Uganda, Poverty, Scholarships, School fee loans, School Proprietor Loans, Schools, Students, Uganda, Washington D.C., Youth
Agricultural Advisor John Magnay Talks Food Security in Africa, and How Agricultural Finance Can Feed a Continent
“Africa is capable of sustaining its food needs,” said John Magnay, Opportunity’s senior agricultural advisor. “[But] if you look at [crop] yields in Africa, it is at 40% of what it should be.” Magnay, a British-born, 33-year veteran of the agricultural development sector in Africa, has worked with several African governments to develop agricultural advancements, and Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Agriculture Microfinance, Agrifinance, Clients, Ending Hunger, Ending Poverty, Financial services, food, Food security, Food Sustainability, Ghana, Hunger, John Magnay, Loan Officer, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Mozambique, northwestern university, Opportunity Ghana, Opportunity International, Opportunity Malawi, Opportunity Rwanda, Opportunity Uganda, Rwanda, Technology, Uganda, UN
What We’re Reading: World Finance Magazine Discusses Opportunity’s Agricultural Finance Program
Amosi Kasamira’s face lights up as he shares his plans for the next season. ‘My vision is to replace the grass roof of our home to better protect us from the sun and rain,’ he explains, ‘and I intend to cultivate ten acres next season.’ –Excerpted from: ‘There is Still a Lot of Work Ahead,’ World Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Agriculture Microfinance, Agrifinance, Blog, Blogging, Blogs, Clients, Community, credit life insurance, Crop insurance, Education, Ending Hunger, Ending Poverty, Financial services, food, Food security, Global Poverty, Hunger, hunger and undernutrition blog, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microensure, Microfinance, Microfinance Video, OIBM, Opportunity Blog, Opportunity International, opportunity international UK, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, Professional training, Savings, Technology, the true impact of crop insurance, Training, Weather-index crop insurance, world finance magazine
We’re Expanding Financial Access to Rural Malawi. Here’s How You Can Help.
Travel in your mind to the shores of Lake Malawi. In this remote region, extreme poverty is widespread. But because of the donations, hard work and advocacy of Opportunity supporters and staff, the Malawians here have been empowered financially. To reach the unreachable, Opportunity International[/intlink] Malawi has replicated its successful “hub-and-spoke” approach by opening a Read more…
Tagged Africa, Branch staff, Conference, credit life insurance, Crop insurance, Ending Poverty, fall microfinance conference, Financial services, fundraisers, Fundraising, Insight Trip, Insight Trips, Insurance, Latin America, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Mobile Banking, mobile banking vehicle, mobile branches, Online fundraising, Opportunity International, Opportunity Malawi, opportunity microfinance conference, OptINnow, Poverty, Satellite bank branch, Savings, Savings account, small business loans, Training, Transportation, Washington D.C.
An Unforgettable Family Trip to Kenya and Malawi
Opportunity supporter and member of the Board of Governors, Rich McClure, writes of his experiences on the July 2010 Family Week trip to Kenya and his visits to Malawi: Visiting eastern Africa, we met women and men who have enterprises fueled by , who are selling their goods in crowded, dirty marketplaces in Nairobi and Lilongwe. Read more…
Tagged Africa, Banking on Education, Board of Governors, Clients, Education, Education finance, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Insight Trip, Kenya, lilongwe, Loan Officer, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Nairobi, Opportunity International, Orphans, Poverty, Schools, Trust Groups, Youth
Melinda French Gates on the Impact of Agricultural Finance
Want to do more to impact global poverty? In an interview in the August issue of Smithsonian magazine, Melinda Gates outlines the techniques the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is using to fight global poverty in the 21st century. (“Melinda French Gates on Saving Lives,” by Terence Monmaney) It’s part of the magazine’s 40th-anniversary issue, featuring ”40 Things You Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Agriculture Microfinance, Agrifinance, Asia, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Cell phone banking, Clients, Community, Crop insurance, Education, Ending Hunger, Ending Poverty, Farmer, Farmers, Financial services, Green Revolution, Healthcare, Hunger, Insurance, Loans, Malawi, MasterCard Foundation, Melinda Gates, MFI, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Mobile Banking, Opportunity International, Savings, Schools, Smallholder farmer, Students, Technology, The MasterCard Foundation, Training, Weather-index crop insurance, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON
What We’re Reading: “Reaching the Unreachable” on Hunger & Undernutrition Blog
On Thursday, we wrote a guest blog post on The Hunger and Undernutrition Blog, talking about the impact of innovations in agriculture finance, including crop insurance, savings accounts and lending–which all mitigate the challenges and risks of lending to smallholder farmers. But we are not the only organization to want to discuss agricultural sustainability. Go deeper and check Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, agriculture finance, Agriculture Microfinance, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Blog, Blogging, Bread for the World, Education, Ending Hunger, Ending Poverty, Food security, Food Sustainability, G8, Hunger, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Millennium Development Goals, Opportunity Blog, Opportunity International, Technology, the micronutrient initiative, Un millennium development goals, United Nations
Spotlight on Agricultural Finance: An Interview with an Agriculture Finance Officer
“Most of the world’s poor are smallholder farmers and their families. By targeting them, we can dramatically reduce extreme poverty and food insecurity.” -UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, addressing the Malawian parliament on May 29, 2010. Through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the MasterCard Foundation, Opportunity is now offering greater financial Read more…
Tagged accra, Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, andrew koehler, Ban Ki-moon, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Clients, Community, Education, Ending Poverty, Farmer, Farmers, Financial Times, Ghana, Insurance, Loan Officer, Loans, Malawi, MasterCard Foundation, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Opportunity International, Poverty, Savings, Smallholder farmer, Technology, The MasterCard Foundation, Training, Uganda, United Nations
What We’re Reading: Roger Thurow Encourages Rwandan Farmers to “Keep Up the Momentum”
This week, Roger Thurow, Senior Fellow on Global Agriculture and Food Policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, posted a blog reporting on an unusual situation for farmers in Kirehe, Rwanda — an agricultural surplus. Thurow examines the situation, interviewing Agnes Kalibata, Rwanda’s minister of agriculture, and discusses the positive impact of USAID’s Feed Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Conference, Enough, Enough: Why the World's Poorest Starve in an Age of Plenty, Feed the Future Guide, Financial services, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Microfinance Conference, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Poverty, Roger Thurow, Rwanda, Savings, Technology, Training, USAID
