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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
Global Poverty: Melinda Gates Discusses What Can Be Done
In an interview with Melinda French Gates in the July/August issue of Smithsonian, the co-chair of the world’s largest philanthropic organization discusses what can be done and what is being done about global poverty and health. As part of the $22.7 billion the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given to development, education and health Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Children, Clients, Community, Education, Financial services, Health, Healthcare, Kenya, Malawi, MasterCard Foundation, Melinda Gates, MFI, Microfinance, Mobile Banking, Opportunity International, Opportunity Malawi, Poverty, Savings, Schools, Students, Technology, The MasterCard Foundation, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON
Harvesting Hope for Tomorrow: Women’s Role in Transforming Uganda
Guest blogger and Women’s Opportunity Network (WON) member Julie Hindmarsh sends us this report while on WON’s “Mothers, Daughters and Sisters” Insight Trip to Uganda. What is your greatest challenge in farming? That was the question we posed to a group of rural farmers in Buwenda, Uganda, when we visited them on Thursday. “Transportation,” one Read more…
Tagged Agricultural finance, Agriculture Microfinance, Children, Daughters, Farmers, Girls, Insight Trips, International Women's Day, irrigation, Microfinance Institution, Mothers, School fee loans, School fees, Sisters, Trust Group, Uganda, Weather-index crop insurance, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON, WON Uganda Insight Trip 2010
Crop Insurance: Protecting Farmers Against the Effects of Climate Change
Jeffrey Ebarrita (right) uses a GPS device to survey the land of Rodolfo Felipe, an Opportunity crop insurance policyholder in the Philippines. A recent UPI wire story, which highlights Opportunity International’s weather-index crop insurance, hails microinsurance as an exciting new tool to help communities in the developing world face the worst impacts of climate change. The article, Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Asia, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Climate Change, Drought, Farmer, Koko Warner, Malawi, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Opportunity International, Poverty, Shadreck Mapfumo, Smallholder farmer, United Nations, UPI wire story, Weather-index crop insurance
Food & Microfinance: Helping Farmers Reap Rewards
Opportunity International is prominently featured in an article entitled “Food & Microfinance: Helping Farmers Reap Rewards” in today’s Financial Times. The article highlights Opportunity’s leadership in providing both agricultural finance and microinsurance to smallholder farmers to help them increase production, support their families and feed their communities. It also references “Feed the Future,” USAID’s new Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Agrifinance, Climate Change, Education, Farmers, Financial Times, John Magnay, Leaders, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microensure, Microfinance, Microinsurance, Opportunity International, Opportunity International Microfinance Conference, Poverty, Roger Thurow, Savings, USAID, Women
USAID: "Agriculture Development is Springboard for Economic Development"
Opportunity International is attending today’s Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Keynote speaker Rajiv Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, unveiled the Feed the Future Guide, which details the implementation strategy for the U.S. government’s new global hunger and food security Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Children, Education, Farmers, Feed the Future Guide, Food security, Food Sustainability, Hunger, Loans, Opportunity International, Poverty, Rajiv Shah, Savings, Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security, Technology, The MasterCard Foundation, USAID, Women
Outrage & Inspire – All Efforts Great and Small by Roger Thurow
Roger Thurow, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal for three decades, spoke at Opportunity International’s recent microfinance conference in Phoenix. His subsequent post, “All Efforts Great and Small,” on the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Global Food for Thought blog, discusses Opportunity’s agricultural finance program and its big impact on farmers in Africa. Read it Read more…
Gates and Mastercard Foundations Partner with Opportunity International
In an effort to reach people living in poverty in rural areas, Opportunity International has researched and implemented new products and platforms such as mobile banking, savings services, agricultural finance, cell phone banking, education finance and much more. Because they believe in Opportunity International’s innovative model, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The MasterCard Foundation Read more…
