Opportunity International Canada 2023 Impact Report

2023 Impact Report

A Message from the CEO

As I flip through the pages of this 2023 Impact Report, I am filled with an overwhelming sense of encouragement. For over 25 years, the mission of Opportunity International Canada has been to empower individuals on their pathway out of poverty towards a sustainable livelihood. With your help we are seeing lasting, sustainable change.

It’s my hope that as you read through this report, you see past the numbers to the tangible change in the lives of people like Christiana. More than 20 years ago, Christiana was at a low point in her life, having escaped an abusive marriage and being left to raise three children on her own. Born into extreme poverty, she had already faced her fair share of hardships.

One day, her life took a pivotal turn when she received her first microloan of just $20 from our partner in Ghana. She invested her loan to start a small business selling groceries from a roadside stall. Through subsequent loans, Christiana was able to transform her business into a beautiful market shop which she operates today. Offering a wider selection of products and neater in appearance, her shop stands apart from all the others around her.

As she recounted her story to us, she was overjoyed with the knowledge that the cycle of poverty has ended with her generation. Her children, who are the first in their community to receive a university education, are already assured of a better future for

themselves and their own families.

Christiana’s story, and the countless others represented by these numbers, give me hope that through our collective actions we can see poverty alleviated in our lifetime.

Thank you for your vital role in making our vision a reality.

Our Approach and Where We Work

Opportunity International works in 31 countries—including 14 of the 20 countries with the highest number of people living in extreme poverty—where we partner with experienced in-country staff to enable people living in poverty to build sustainable livelihoods.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

Theory of Change

Opportunity International’s theory of change asserts that engaging in core activities—mobilizing finance; building capacity through training, mentorship, and technical assistance to financial institutions; and strengthening networks/group support—implemented through core program areas—microenterprise, agriculture, education, health, and graduation—will bring about enabling outcomes for our clients. As a result, our clients will achieve ultimate outcomes of resilience and opportunity.

Our end goal: pathways out of poverty towards sustainable livelihoods for individuals, families, and communities. In partnership, we nurture an inclusive financial sector and an ecosystem which supports the participation and economic integration of people living in the deepest poverty. We seek to ensure that marginalized populations have access to the tools they need so they can feed their families, afford decent healthcare, provide education for their children, live in safety, and enjoy adequate shelter.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Having a structured learning agenda is important to us to assess the extent to which we are achieving our vision. We are continuously improving our approach to monitoring and evaluation. We need proof that our programs work before we reshape strategies and allocate resources, and this means having a strong evidence base. We seek alignment between what we are doing today, tomorrow, and next year. Alongside our new theory of change, we are developing a multi-year roadmap to accelerate investments and activities for continuous evidence generation and operational improvement that are grounded in each program’s operational reality and learning agenda.

2023 Canadian Impact

The Opportunity International Global Network catalyzed $1.85B US to sustainably serve the financial needs of 20M clients in 31 countries in 2023. Together, through our partners and supporters, Opportunity International Canada (OIC) stewarded your generous donations to support holistic programs that empowered at least 3.1 million marginalized people directly and indirectly around the world. In collaboration with Opportunity International in US, Australia, Germany, and UK, you helped OIC equip women to become agents of economic change within their businesses, families, and communities.

IMPACT AT A GLANCE

• 3.1 million people reached along their pathways out of poverty including family members and other indirect beneficiaries.

• • 48,417 new jobs created, sustained, or improved through client business growth.

$3.14 million* total capital disbursed for good to our Implementing Partners (includes grants, loans, capacity building, loan guarantees, equity investments and shares – does not include loan recycling ).

• 10 UN Sustainable Development Goals addressed.

*Stated in CAD

MICROFINANCE

With your help, clients like Byron in Nicaragua are earning and saving their way out of poverty and improving the lives of their families and communities.

2.28 million people made progress along their pathways out of poverty.

In 2023, OIC reached 2.28 million marginalized entrepreneurs and family members with microfinance and support, specifically in Ghana, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, and Honduras Our focus is ending extreme poverty by fostering financial and social inclusion through access to business capital, world-class financial literacy and life skills training, and support and mentoring. Access to the safety nets of microinsurance and saving improve resiliency, ensuring unexpected events do not result in setbacks.

EDUCATION FINANCE AND QUALITY

366,888 marginalized learners were set on a path for future success.

In 2023, OIC funded the EduFinance and EduQuality programs globally and in Colombia and Pakistan, helping 366,888 learners improve education outcomes and build hopeful futures. In 2024, OIC will continue to support Opportunity International’s efforts to address the global Education crisis with increased focus in India, Pakistan, Dominican Republic, and Colombia.

RURAL AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE RESILIENCE

811 farmers increased incomes, grew more food, gained climate resilience, and created jobs for neighbours.

In 2023, OIC supported 511 women farmers in Ghana, improving productivity and climate resilience, creating jobs for neighbours, and growing more food for their families and communities. We positively impacted 11,242 people including family members and the families of neighbours, through newly created jobs. OIC also responded to a coffee farmer relief initiative in Honduras to help 300 coffee farmers rebuild following the devastation of flooding, positively impacting 1,500 people, including family members. In 2024, OIC has committed to funding young adult farmers in Malawi to increase food production, adapt to climate change, and create jobs for neighbours.

COMMUNITY HEALTH

376,500 people living in poverty improved their health to build productive, resilient households.

In 2023, OIC supported Opportunity’s health initiatives in India’s most vulnerable communities, providing last mile health care and education, and health-related income-generating opportunities through locally-led programs at the intersection of health, social, and financial inclusion. In India, you helped OIC train 300 women microloan clients to become Community Health Leaders and Community Health Entrepreneurs who reach 250 families each within their respective communities, delivering life-changing and life-saving health education and links to formal health care institutions. In 2024, OIC will extend its outreach through Health Initiatives in Indonesia, Bangladesh, and India.

INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS

101,787 people living in extreme and ultra-poverty lifted themselves up from the bottom of the poverty pyramid.

In 2023, OIC funded inclusive, innovative programs including the Youth Apprenticeship and Women’s Business Mentorship Programs in Ghana, the Aspiring Together Women’s Groups Program in Dominican Republic and the Ultra-Poverty Graduation Programs in both Colombia and Haiti. Additionally, OIC continued to fund a program to support refugees who fled to Uganda for safety and opportunity.

Microfinance

OVERVIEW

Opportunity International pioneered microfinancing for people living in extreme poverty. We developed innovative financial services, training, and group support that continue—53 years later—to help entrepreneurs and small business owners grow their businesses, provide for themselves, and help their families thrive. Through a comprehensive, high-touch, high-tech approach with financial institution partners and local training staff, we connect families to the tools and training they need to build bright futures for their families. Opportunity has tailored this approach based on what we’ve heard about clients’ needs. This includes the strong need for savings and the importance of focusing on the female entrepreneur.

In 2023, our clients opened twice the number of savings accounts compared to loans. Securing a savings account has proven to be paramount to our clients as they build sustainable livelihoods.

MICROENTERPRISE IMPACT IN 2023 CY23 Actual Jan ’23 – Dec ’23 Outcome Measure

Program-level data

Lending sustainably to low-income clients

value of loans made by Opportunity’s partners

Financial Institution partners

% of clients with loans that are women

% of clients with loans from rural areas

Increasing financial resources and/or resilience

% of clients who reported business income increasing because of Opportunity

% of clients who reported increase in savings balance because of Opportunity

% of clients who would find it easy to pay a major, unexpected expense:

% of clients who report a positive change in the number of paid employees because of Opportunity (for those that have paid employees)

Education Finance and Quality

OVERVIEW

Opportunity’s Education Finance program objectives are clear: get more children in better schools. We break down two obstacles to education: access and quality

Access means enabling more ways for children from low-income communities to safely attend school. We increase education access by connecting affordable non-state schools with financial institutions which provide school improvement loans for school facilities—more classrooms, school buses, computers— and school fee loans which allow parents to send all their children to school.

Quality means students have a safe, child-centered learning environment using best teaching practices so learners can be successful. School leadership professional development training allows school leaders to improve their schools both as places of learning and businesses. Teacher mentor professional development training helps schools build their capacity to provide regular, evidence-based teacher training and coaching to all their educators using a mentorship model. Opportunity also offers Pathways to Excellence, a guide for school leaders to self-diagnose the quality of education at their schools using 18 measurable indicators of school quality and then develop an action plan.

Knowledge and confidence in managing financial resources

% of clients who reported a positive change in their ability to manage their finances

Agriculture Finance

OVERVIEW

Opportunity’s Agriculture Finance program’s goal is to enable farmers to increase production, income, and employment to build thriving and resilient households in rural communities. We want farmers to grow more and earn more income.

Our AgFinance model brings scalable, tailored, high-impact training and loans to rural families living in poverty in hard-to-reach regions of sub-Saharan Africa, bringing three critical components to break the cycle of generational poverty:

1. Technology-enabled training in critical skills to increase knowledge of agricultural best practices, increase farm productivity, improve financial literacy, strengthen credit-readiness, gender awareness and family farming, and climate resilience

2. Tailored agricultural loans to maximize the quality and quantity of what farmers grow, consume, and sell

3. Empowering farmer groups to maximize profit from their crops

These programs help rural families increase agency and transform their small farms into more resilient, productive, lucrative, and effective enterprises. AGRICULTURE FINANCE

Community Health

OVERVIEW

Just as Opportunity increases access to economic and education opportunities for people living in poverty, improving health for families enables them to move out of poverty into productive and resilient households. We focus on primary health in vulnerable and rural communities in Asia (India, Bangladesh, and Indonesia), through community-based, locally-led programs at the intersection of health and financial inclusion. Our three flagship programs—Health Leaders, Health Entrepreneurs, and Health Finance—improve access to healthcare, change health attitudes in the community, and provide income-generating opportunities for local women.