This quarter the Women’s Opportunity Network (WON) and Opportunity International’s staff book clubs are diving into Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. A read that Melinda Gates calls “a brutal awakening and an unmistakable call to action”, Half the Sky captures one of our era’s most pervasive human rights violations: the oppression of women in the developing world.
Why Half the Sky: This remarkable story about suffering women in Africa and Asia captures the very essence of what the Women’s Opportunity Network is about; unleashing the potential of women around the world to make a difference- as leaders, clients, donors, supporters and mentors. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy, the best strategy for fighting global poverty.
Kristof and WuDunn introduce us to women restricted to a life of sex slavery, abuse, starvation and hopelessness. They vividly illustrate how taking a stand against the exploitation of women around the globe can turn despair into prosperity and empower them to improve their lives, their children’s lives and their communities.
“As an ardent believer that women and girls are the key to our future, I challenge you to do more than just read Half the Sky,” said Julie Hindmarsh, Women’s Opportunity Network (WON) leader and member of the Opportunity Board of Directors. “Post a review and share with others how Opportunity International’s microfinance solution is transforming the lives of women around the globe.”
To learn more about Half the Sky, or to buy your own copy, visit www.halftheskymovement.org
For more information on the Women’s Opportunity Network, go to www.opportunity.org/WON
Join us in reading this compelling book. Get involved in this critical dialogue.
It makes perfect sense to me that Poverty Eradication Day (Oct. 17) and World Food Day (Oct. 16) are just a day apart. Hunger is a direct result of poverty, so if we can help eradicate poverty, we can also make sure that people everywhere have enough to eat. Today, one-sixth of all humanity suffers from hunger. Every year, 15 million children die of hunger.
Here’s a simple but effective way to take a stand on global poverty and hunger. For $25, I purchased a patch on the Global Opportunity Quilt and received a $25 gift card to use at OptINnow.org. I will be helping to fund a business loan to Alicia Janea, 59, a resident of Pototan Iloilo in the Phillipines. (My sister-in-law is from the Philippines and I’ve heard her stories of desperate poverty.) Alicia needs additional capital to expand her business, which buys and sells vegetables, and to supplement the income her husband makes as a farmer. Because her current income is sometimes just enough to cover her business’s transportation expenses, Alicia dreams of purchasing her own tricycle for use in transporting the vegetables to more towns and markets. She also wants to keep her youngest daughter in school so she has a brighter future.
Now it’s your turn to buy a patch on the Global Opportunity Quilt and declare your commitment to help create a world without poverty. Spread the word by passing on your gift card to a friend or colleague so they can help fund a loan to an entrepreneur at OptINnow.org. My hope is that together we will be able to help many more people work their way out of poverty and feed their families.
One thing that I love about Opportunity International is that we listen to our clients. And when it comes to living sustainably, it’s a good thing we are because there is a lot to learn! In honor of Blog Action Day, I’d like to share what we are learning.
As Opportunity expands its services into new communities around the developing world, we often find that we are just catching up to our clients who, for generations, have been minimizing their carbon footprint by living as good stewards of their environment.
Take our operations in Malawi for example.
With the branch expansion of Opportunity Bank in Malawi (OIBM) in Zomba, we are providing financial resources to sustainable fish farmers so that they can grow and expand their operations.
There are about 700 fish farmers in the bush land settlements to the west of Zomba. Farmers dig small, rain-fed ponds of about 10×15 meters where the soil is suitable for retaining water. The farmers use the ponds to raise common fish species – which in Malawi means chambo (a species of tilapia) and mlamba (catfish).
The farmers harvest the fish as a staple for their family’s diet, which usually lacks meat, and sell or trade the remainder for maize, fertilizer and income. Farmers enrich the ponds with manure from their goats and chickens. When they empty the pond, a rich layer of silt can be dug from the base. The silt is used as fertilizer to grow maize, which in turn ensures that the goats and chickens produce manure for the pond.
This is simple and it is sustainable.
Thousands of miles away, our location in the Philippines, TSKI, has a Community Based Entrepreneurship Development Program that engages whole communities in making products from locally-based materials (examples include harvesting seaweed for pharmaceutical and beauty products; weaving from local fibers; etc).
By using locally-based materials to create such a wide variety of products, these communities decrease the need to import the same products over long, fuel-burning distances. Simultaneously, they are creating wealth that stays in the community and helps end the cycle of poverty.
Thank you Opportunity clients, for living in a way that respects our world, and teaching us to do the same!
Opportunity International is working to equip countries to be agriculturally self-sustainable through microfinance.
There is a green revolution occurring in the developing world led by passionate individuals with a heart for change. Within this revolution, Opportunity International is equipping nations to do something radical–to feed themselves.
In honor of www.blogactionday.org, I would like to introduce Lucas Chingore. Lucas is a farmer in Mozambique. His desire was to farm on a plot of land just outside of town. But his goal was always out of reach. He did not have the financial services that he needed to succeed. Finally, he found Opportunity International and his farm took root. He received a loan for an irrigation pump that brought precious water to his crops and greatly enhanced his yield. Another loan allowed him to diversify into poultry so that hundreds of chickens now populate his fields. And he opened an Opportunity savings account to protect his business profits and earn interest.
Lucas is now feeding his family, his community and his nation, thanks to a loan from Opportunity.
Two-thirds of the sub-Saharan Africa labor force is employed in agriculture. With this in mind, Opportunity institutions in eight African countries (Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda) are committed to addressing the issue of food security. Opportunity plans to solve this great agricultural conundrum through the success of people like Lucas.
The issue of food sustainability is not a new issue. It is, however, one of the most pressing problems in the developing world. With the global food crisis still a battle that the poor face daily, Opportunity International recognized the need for a long-term solution to this chronic problem.
Using technology, Opportunity has pioneered crop insurance that mitigates weather problems in farming. Using education, Opportunity is teaching farmers about the true market value of their crops. Using savings products, Opportunity is allowing farmers to manage their cash flow. Using new seeds, Opportunity is helping farmers to increase crop yields and decrease risk.
As Roger Thurow and Scott Kilman insist in Enough, this is a problem that can only be solved by creativity and commitment. Opportunity International has become a champion of the farming poor. And in doing so, Opportunity has equipped nations to feed themselves.
To read more about Lucas’ story, click here. To learn more about Blog Action Day and the topic of climate change, go to www.blogactionday.org.
The following is a guest post from Young Ambassadors for Opportunity supporter, Suzie Hofert:
It was just another class (at least that’s what I thought). It started at a grueling 8:30 in the morning, but the class was for my major, so I had to push through. My goal: figure out how to get an “A” from my favorite professor who just happened to be my advisor.
Like most first days, we went over the syllabus. Nothing too special, a bunch of reading and writing, the norm. Then we were handed an assignment for an advocacy project about women and/or girls. That made sense considering the class was “Gender, Politics, and Communication.” Our professor informed us that we were going to be contracting for a grade for this project. If we wanted an “A,” we would have to put on an actual advocacy event; if we wanted a “B,” we would have to do XYZ, and so on.
Of course I wanted an “A.” Two weeks before I had to present my advocacy project to the professor, I realized I better get going on planning/presenting it. One problem….I HAD NO IDEA WHAT THE PROJECT WAS GOING TO BE ABOUT! I was scrambling to figure out what I could do in such a short amount of time.
I wanted to a project that was encouraging and exciting, because I felt that everything we talked about in the class concerning women was so depressing. If only I had known what God had in store, I would not have been so anxious. The answer to my dilemma came from a phone call with none other than my mom. My parents had just been with Opportunity International Regional Director Sam Serio, who had shared that when young girls in developing countries get an education, it changes their lives and the lives of their families. “That’s it,” I thought. “I must do my project on these girls.”
I called Sam and he immediately filled my e-mail inbox with articles, videos and websites about a campaign by the Nike Foundation called “The Girl Effect.” I almost cried when I watched the video that explained the concept of “The Girl Effect,” which is that girls are one of the answers to ending the cycle of poverty.
“How is this?” you might ask. Statistics reveal that when girls are given the opportunity to have an education and/or become financially independent, it not only improves their lives, but the lives of their families and communities. In some countries, girls are just a commodity. They’re married off at a young age in exchange for livestock, but these are the same girls that could change the world. “The Girl Effect” mission is to get the message out that helping these girls can create a positive ripple effect through entire countries.
To make a long story short, I presented “The Girl Effect” at my advocacy event in front of about 20 friends. It was a huge hit and I realized I had found my passion. I wanted to be a part of really helping people around the world, especially girls!
This is where I began to really see God at work in my life. For my political communications major, I can do an internship for my Senior Capstone. I knew I didn’t want to intern for a politician, but I still had no idea where I was going to intern (and I was a junior). Then a brilliant idea came to my head…“What if I interned for Opportunity International?” I knew Opportunity would work with my passion because women make up a majority of the clients.
I got the okay from my advisor and e-mailed Opportunity. I got the internship and on top of that, I was invited to go on an Insight Trip to Tanzania and Rwanda with the Young Ambassadors for Opportunity. What an experience! When we were at an orphanage in Rwanda, I met a little girl who just clung to me when I picked her up. She is an example of a girl who, when given the chance, could help change the world. I am all the more energized to get her story out, as well as the message of “The Girl Effect.”
Interning for Opportunity International has been such a wonderful experience and I am so excited to see what God has in store for me next. To think it all started with a class assignment….and yes, I did get an “A” in the class!
Subscribe via RSS
Subscribe via Email
