SDG #4 Quality Education

This is the fifth in a series of blog posts reflecting on the connection between some of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the work of Opportunity International Canada. This post explores SDG #4 – Quality Education. 

For more than 50 years, Opportunity International has been helping people build a better future for their families through the power of financial inclusion, training, and other support mechanisms. Microloans, savings, and insurance services made available to those without access to the formal banking sector have transformed the lives of millions. 

Clients demonstrate incredible resilience and initiative as they build microenterprises that provide a sustainable livelihood. Common among all clients is a strong desire to provide a better future for their children, and at the top of this list is ensuring they have a quality education. 

Common among all clients is a strong desire to provide a better future for their children, and at the top of this list is ensuring they have a quality education. 

We have seen clients make incredible personal sacrifices so that they can afford the small fees required to send their kids to school. The growth of a successful sustainable microenterprise provides the income needed to meet basic needs, including school fees. 

But what happens if a quality education isn’t available? In many places where Opportunity International serves there is a shortage of schools, or the local government cannot afford to properly fund the public schools resulting in large classes, teacher shortages, and sometimes even the prevalence of gang violence. 

About 12 years ago, two microloan clients entered a branch in Ghana and asked for a loan to start a new business. It was larger than the usual loan, more the size a small-to-medium-sized enterprise client might request. The business? A new low-fee non-state school to meet the need to provide quality education in their neighbourhood. 

That one loan and the subsequent successful launch of the school was the genesis of what has grown to be the Opportunity International Education Finance and Education Quality program. 

The program started as Education Finance, with two levels of loans – loans to school proprietors to start or grow a low-fee non-state school, and short-term school fee loans to parents to cover low-income periods, especially helpful for smallholder farmers whose income tends to be seasonal. This helps keep kids in school the whole school year. 

The school fees cover the operating costs, such as teacher salaries, lighting, and resources, making each school sustainable. Over time, with increasing series of loans, additional grades or classrooms are added and many schools have become significant employers in their community. 

Just as training is provided to microentrepreneurs so that they can run their business (and make loan payments), we learned that training was needed for school proprietors and teachers to run an effective operation and provide a quality education. This has evolved into the Education Quality program. 

…we learned that training was needed for school proprietors and teachers to run an effective operation and provide a quality education. This has evolved into the Education Quality program. 

Cumulatively, since 2008, the program has helped more than 10 million children gain access to a quality education that would have otherwise been unavailable.  

Along with a sustainable livelihood, an education is one of the more powerful pathways out of poverty. I have heard from clients who went from abject poverty to seeing some of their kids graduate from University – breaking the cycle of poverty in less than one generation! 

As is the case with each of the SDGs, it will take several different organizations all working hard to address the many challenges. I am amazed to see the impact of bringing the power of microfinance to the challenge of education and am inspired by the millions of kids that have already been helped. And it is growing so fast that surely the greatest impact lies ahead! 

Dan Murray, CEO