Macquarie Group Foundation supports Opportunity International Australia

Opportunity International Australia has today announced that it has secured funding of AUD 238,000 from the Macquarie Group Foundation, to undertake the next phase of its Social Performance Management project over the next two years.

With more than 40 years’ experience working with the poor, Opportunity is a leading provider and pioneer of socially focused microfinance and support services. Its Social Performance Management (SPM) project commenced in 2008 and is a multi-year project aimed at enabling Opportunity’s microfinance institution (MFI) partners to gauge the effectiveness of their work in three areas:  delivery of services; their ability to reach target clients (those living in poverty); and the impact on clients’ lives.

Opportunity says that the effective delivery of services is dependent on robust up-to-date information on who is using the services and how their lives are changing as a result. However, with no standard methods of managing social performance, Opportunity’s MFI partners have struggled to assess their impact. Opportunity’s program provides this information and enables MFI partners on the ground to access and apply this information themselves.

So far the project has designed and piloted an innovative and effective program to assess client protection and outreach. The support from the Macquarie Group Foundation will enable Opportunity to roll-out these two elements across MFI partners’ operations, and to assist them in developing systems to assess how microfinance is transforming clients’ lives.

The project will be rolled out initially in India and has the potential to assist its partners across the other regions it operates, namely Indonesia, the Philippines and Africa.

Stephen Robertson, Philanthropy Director at Opportunity International Australia noted: “The successful deployment of this project will enable our microfinance partners to effectively monitor and implement their programs to achieve their overall mission to help people out of poverty. As a result of this project we expect our microfinance program will target the right people with best-fit services which will deliver lasting benefits to them, their families and their communities. We are enormously grateful to the Macquarie Group Foundation for their support.”

4 July 2012