Opportunity International is one of the largest players in the global microfinance industry, and the world leader in micro insurance. We play an important role in advocating for microfinance and poverty alleviation in the UK and globally.

Opportunity International UK is a leading member of the UK Government’s All Party Parliamentary Group on Microfinance (APPG). Opportunity chaired the APPG when it was officially recognised by the United Nations as the UK National Committee for the 2005 Year of Microcredit. Through the APPG, Opportunity UK works closely with RESULTS, a nonprofit member of the Microcredit Summit Council of Advocates.

Opportunity also seeks to influence government policy within the UK Government’s Select Committee on International Development.

Other affiliations include membership of the Make Poverty History Campaign, BOND (British Overseas NGOs for Development), and the SEEP Network (Small Enterprise Education and Promotion), an association of more than 56 private and voluntary organisations that support SME enterprise programmes in the developing world.

Opportunity UK seeks to influence EU policy through its membership of the CONCORD working group on microfinance, where we are increasingly representing the NGO Platform at the European level as a “microfinance expert”.

Opportunity International works closely with the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest (CGAP - the microfinance division of the World Bank), which has commended Opportunity for its leadership role in providing financial services for the poor.

In 2003, CGAP made its first grant to a global microfinance Network serving poor entrepreneurs by pledging US$1 million to Opportunity over three years.

Our work is also recognised by several international fora including the United Nations General Assembly, the UNDP, the World Bank, and the International Labour Organisation.