by Deborah Foy, Executive Director Opportunity International UK
Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world, with more than 75% below the age of 30. It also has one of the highest youth unemployment rates in sub-Saharan Africa. Young people struggle to find decent work and opportunities – especially in rural areas. In early 2020, Opportunity International began working with a number of youth-focused partners providing services and support to rural youth in the Mityana District, near Kampala.[1] To date, we’ve trained more than 1,440 youth in entrepreneurship…
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by Opportunity International
Do you feel like life is moving forward? That maybe the UK can start thinking about things other than Coronavirus? It looks positive, right? You can go to a wedding with more than 30 people, stadiums are filling up, and lots of us are fortunate to have had our first vaccination against Covid-19. But the story is very different for the hundreds of thousands of the people we work with across Africa. Our clients in Uganda are in the middle of a strict six-week lockdown that was imposed so quickly people…
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by Opportunity International
The difficult life of a refugee living in Uganda just got harder. Covid-19 created a poverty crisis for refugees that will take longer to overcome than the health crisis threatened by the pandemic. It exacerbated all the challenges that refugees already face: fewer children will return to school, business instability will increase, and with the UK Government recently announcing cuts to their Aid Budget the challenge of social and economic inclusion for refugees is growing. Our innovative programme…
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by Opportunity International
Opportunity International recently hosted the first in a series of roundtable events. We brought together user experience experts from technology companies and business and venture capitalists, for different perspectives on digital financial inclusion. With an estimated 2 out of 3 Opportunity clients having challenges with literacy, this roundtable comes at a key moment. As our services and outreach become increasingly digital, we want to tap into attendees’ breadth and depth of experience to gain…
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by Opportunity International
What compels us to give our time and money away? Is it because we’re nice people, or we’re trying to be better people? Is it because we’re grateful for what we have and want to share it? Or is it faith or values that motivate our giving? There are a number of reasons why we give, and whatever your reason is for supporting us or even just reading this, we are grateful. Without the generous donations of Opportunity International UK’s supporters, we wouldn’t be able to achieve the impact we…
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by Opportunity International
This year we celebrate 50 years of Opportunity International Since 1971, Opportunity International has served more than 19 million hard-working families in over 20 countries around the world. This video will take you on a tour of Opportunity’s journey from 1971 to 2021. The historical highlights are a reminder of our resilient clients and their inspiring entrepreneurial innovation. As well as our generous supporters who have made these achievements possible. Watch and enjoy the celebration of…
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by Opportunity International
2020 was difficult, but it also gave us a lot to celebrate. In a year of many challenges we were still able to continue supporting our resilient clients thanks to our wonderful supporters. Our programmes have helped farmers in Uganda create sustainable livelihoods, provided jobs for young people across Africa and introduced thousands of refugees to digital financial services. Read about the impact of Opportunity International in 2020 in our update and annual summary publications here. Benefiting…
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by Sam Bickersteth, CEO
Challenging gender stereotypes at a global, national and individual level For 50 years Opportunity International has been championing the role of women in poverty alleviation and we continue to challenge bias and stereotypes, as highlighted by International Women’s Day 2021’s call to challenge. The majority of the 1.7 billion unbanked* adults in the world are women. Our work empowers women with financial education, training and digital financial services. We know that when we invest in a woman's…
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by Emily Wilson, Communications Officer
We don’t need any excuse to lift up women. Opportunity International empowers and respects women in every programme we design, donation we receive and plan we make. This years' theme for International Women’s Day #ChooseToChallenge inequality aligns with everything we stand for. It’s the perfect time to celebrate the women who are already forging an inclusive world. Introducing Agnes, Janet and Irene, nominated by our staff, for challenging gender bias and everyday stereotypes... Noah, our…
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by Nicole Baldev, Philanthropy Assistant
This month (and to our delight!), Opportunity International UK was selected as the partner charity for Oxford Forum for International Development's annual conference - one of the largest student-led development conferences in Europe. Since 2008, OxFID has facilitated conversation and collaboration between students, researchers and professionals in the international development sector. The conference inspires engagement across a number of disciplines and fosters important dialogue to address major…
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