I expect that like me, your inbox has been flooded with COVID-19 emails, and I have been very hesitant to add yet one more. However, you support Opportunity International because you believe in our clients, and we wanted to let you know how our Implementing Partners and clients are faring during this crisis.
Each country and government is handling the situation a little differently. We are hearing that many of the developing country governments and our Partners have put in place proactive and stringent measures to protect staff and clients as much as possible.
We have heard back from our Partners in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Ghana and India as recently as yesterday, and some of the proactive measures they are taking include the following:
- Encouraging staff to work from home as much as possible
- Pausing client group training sessions
- Encouraging clients to sign up for digital financial services and use mobile money apps from the safety of their own homes
- Relaying preventive health information such as:
– Giving orientation talks in communities
– Providing handwashing training in communities and schools
– Distributing Ministry of Health or World Health Organization guidebooks
– Using WhatsApp to message clients
– Including prevention messages into their regular radio programming
- Encouraging clients to sign up for digital financial services and use mobile money apps from the safety of their own homes
The countries our Partners are operating in have faced considerable crises over the decades — be they weather-related, economic, political, or health. One thing is certain — any crisis we experience in Canada hits the developing world even harder. Our Partners know that this will impact their growth and potentially the default rates. They have integrated financial and risk departments that will monitor the impact that the situation is having on their clients’ businesses, and thus on their operations. This is certainly a stressful time for all — but our clients and Partners are creative and will do their best to adapt to the changing circumstances.
We are in regular contact with our Partners, and they know we are joining with them in prayer.
Here at home, we are an organization that works virtually with team members spread across Canada who are used to working remotely, and thus we don’t have the threat of spreading the virus around the office.
Two weeks ago, we decided to proactively protect our staff by suspending all non-essential international and domestic travel, and replaced a scheduled in-person staff retreat in May with a series of virtual calls. We are also encouraging all donor meetings to take place over the phone or virtually as well.
All scheduled Insight Trips to visit our Partners and clients have been postponed until later in the year.
There are no significant fundraising events scheduled until the end of May. We will continue to monitor the situation and are prepared to cancel events if necessary.
Our e-newsletter will go out later this month, and I will provide another update at that time since the situation is changing on a daily basis. In the meantime, I would ask that as you pray for your families and friends daily, pray for our Partners and clients around the world.
As we face these uncertain times, we need to stick together and respond with creativity, courage and determination — in a word, with resiliency.
I’ll keep you posted as developments unfold with our Partners and clients. Thank you for your partnership and prayers.
Dan Murray, CEO
Opportunity International Canada