It was International Women’s Day (IWD) a few weeks ago on March 8. A week prior I had been travelling with Pak Nico, an ex-board member of Good Return’s partner CUKK (Credit Union Keling Kumang) and owner of the local radio station. At Joni’s request I was interviewing some women about the role CUKK played in their lives. And Pak Nico’s ears perked when I...

For international development organisations such as Good Return, our focus is quite appropriately on the programs that we implement and the impacts we can create. I am convinced that our focus on supporting access to financial services and in building skills remain as relevant and necessary as ever. I know this from our monitoring and evaluation feedback, from my own...

We were up bright and early for a breakfast event that we hosted at the Clayton Utz offices in the Sydney CBD this morning! Called The Transformative Power of Digital: Building better futures for women through emerging technologies, we were very fortunate to have three women entrepreneurs to form a discussion panel (and I have a feeling there were a few more...

On Friday the 9th of March, Good Return’s partner South Pacific Development Bank (SPDB) in Tonga celebrated its members and their successes on the island of Tongatapu. The celebration started at 10 am with a parade (the Tongan love parades) lead by a local brass band throughout the streets of Nuku’alofa, under the smiles and waves of the kids and...

There’s a happy atmosphere surrounding the meeting between Credit Union Keling Kumang (CUKK) and Good Return. On 3 February 2012, Good Return’s Program Director, Shane Nichols, visited CUKK to discuss in detail the partnership that began between us in November 2011. The meeting was attended by Executive Directors, the General Manager, our Head of Departments,...

We leave the small city of Sintang and it is green everywhere. Here in Borneo, we are working in tropical rainforests which a man from the WWF tells me contains 40-50% of the world’s flora and fauna. People tell me of monkeys and orang-utans in their backyard. We transport turtles in our pickup, while constantly swerving to avoid snakes, as well as dogs, pig,...

The Saint Elizabeth Community Development Program, Inc. (SECDEP) is a microfinance institution in the Philippines that has partnered with Good Return Australia, a non-governmental organization (NGO), in providing loans to its members – mostly women – in the provinces of Iloilo and Antique in the central island of Panay. SECDEP has more than 8000 members,...