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Hunger is Not a Game
My 14-year-old daughter Hannah was upset at me for failing to read the book before seeing the movie. At 12:01 a.m. on Friday, I was one of the thousands of people who turned out to view The Hunger Games on its opening night. Hannah had been encouraging me to read the book for several months Read more…
“The Hype is Long Over” – Microfinance CEOs Respond to Washington Post Article, “Microfinance Doesn’t End poverty, Despite All the Hype”
The following post was published today on the Center for Financial Inclusion’s blog. The Microfinance CEO Working Group consists of the CEOs of leading microfinance organizations ACCION, FINCA International, Freedom from Hunger, Grameen Foundation USA, , Pro Mujer, VisionFund International, and Women’s World Banking. In the post below, the CEOs respond to the recent Washington Read more…
Tagged Accion, Center for Financial Inclusion, Credit Suisse, David Roodman, David Simms, Ending Poverty, Financial services, FINCA, Freedom from Hunger, Grameen Foundation, Insurance, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Opportunity International, Opportunity Network, Pro Mujer, Savings, VisionFund International, Washington Post, Women's World Banking
Meet Our Staff: A Closing Interview with AJ Renold as He Prepares to Leave Tanzania
AJ Renold, mountain trekker, pizza maker, kite surfer, manager of business development and donor relations for Opportunity International Tanzania, hails from Chicago, Ill. He joined Opportunity-US as an intern in their suburban Oak Brook headquarters in 2009. That summer, he helped plan and traveled on the first-ever Young Ambassadors Insight Trip to Tanzania. AJ quickly Read more…
Tagged Abbi Antablin, Africa, AJ Renold, Arusha, Blogging, Dar es Salaam, Financial services, Insight Trip, international staff, Meet Our Staff, MFI, Microfinance, Mount Kilimanjaro, Opportunity International, Opportunity Tanzania, Peter Olivier, Ross Nathan, Social Media, Swahili, Tanzania, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity
A Photo Tour of Colombia & Nicaragua Insight Trip
In January we had the chance to visit Colombia and Nicaragua on one of our first Insight Trips of 2012. We could write pages and pages about the trip and all that happened, but sometimes, pictures just say things better than words. So here are a few pictures from the trip! We have more trips Read more…
Tagged Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Cartagena, Clients, Colombia, Community, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Granada, Insight Trip, Latin America, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Nicaragua, Opportunity International, Poverty, Trust Group, yucca
Partnering with Nicaraguan Yucca Farmers to Increase Their Profits
A pungent, unfamiliar, almost rancid but still sweet, scent hit my nostrils: freshly ground yucca meets a growling grinder. Five men man the contraption: one filling the large funnel, one jamming a large stick into the funnel to feed the yucca chunks into the grinder, one scooping the pulp out of the bottom, one shoveling Read more…
Tagged Agricultural finance, Agriculture, Asset-Based Community Development, Cargill, Clients, Community, David Kone, Ending Poverty, Farmer, Financial services, Insight Trip, Latin America, Microfinance, Nicaragua, Opportunity International, Opportunity Nicaragua, starch, Technology, Training, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity, yucca
What We’re Reading: Top 10 Posts on International Women’s Day
As we close out the week, I’m reflecting on some of the articles published in honor of yesterday’s International Women’s Day. Here are just a few of the provocative, interesting, inspiring and even maddening(!) ones I encourage you to read or re-read, in no particular order… “What if Mark Zuckerberg Were Born a Girl in Read more…
Tagged Africa, Agriculture, Climate Change, CNN, Community, Education, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Global Poverty, Huffington Post, International Women's Day, IWD2012, Kenya, Loans, Malawi, MFI, Microfinance, Mothers, ONE blog, Opportunity International, Oxfam, Poverty, Rural Outreach, Tanzania, The Guardian, The New York Times, Trust Groups, UN Women, Women, Women's Opportunity Network, Women's Philanthropy, WON, World Bank
How Will You Celebrate Women on March 8th?
In just one week, on Thursday, March 8th, the world will celebrate International Women’s Day 2012. On this day, organizations and individuals will gather to celebrate the economic, political, and social achievements of women past, present, and future. Here at Opportunity, where 85% of our clients are women, we’re passionate about equipping the next generation of women Read more…
Tagged biometric fingerprint technology, Clients, Community, DR Congo, Education, Ending Poverty, Facebook, Financial services, Global Poverty, Half the Sky, International Women's Day, IWD2012, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Mothers, Opportunity DRC, Opportunity International, Savings, School fee loans, Schools, Social Media, Students, Uganda, Women, Women's Philanthropy
Meet Client Monica: She is Clothed with Strength and Dignity
When I’m having a rough week, I take a quick break to remember Opportunity‘s clients, like Monica Koranteng, who is most definitely a Proverbs 31 woman. Meet Monica: she watches over the affairs of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Before being introduced to Opportunity Ghana, Monica worked as a “hawker,” Read more…
First Day of School in Nicaragua
The idea seemed almost too good to be true: a self-sustainable, private high school providing academic coursework in tandem with technical classes and apprenticeship within reach of people living in rural poverty. If it could be done, it would be completely in line with Opportunity Nicaragua’s Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) model. I was sold: hook, Read more…
Tagged Agriculture, Clients, Community, David Allman, David Kone, Education, Ending Poverty, Financial services, Geralyn Sheehan, Global Poverty, Granada, Latin America, Loans, MFI, Microfinance, Nicaragua, Opportunity International, Opportunity Nicaragua, Poverty, Schools, Students, Training, YAO, Young Ambassadors for Opportunity, Youth
