Vietnam microfinance project. Vietnam 2005. Photo: Lorrie Graham / AusAID

Vietnam microfinance project. Vietnam 2005. Photo: Lorrie Graham / AusAID

Vietnam microfinance project. Vietnam 2005. Photo: Lorrie Graham / AusAID

Vietnam microfinance project. Vietnam 2005. Photo: Lorrie Graham / AusAID

Calma Arcala used a small loan to start a mushroom growing business and today employs 5 people. Philippines 2007. Photo: Opportunity International / DFAT

Water seller. New Delhi, India. Photo by Dirk Guinan. Contact [email protected] to request a high resolution original.

Boat market. Varanasi, India. Photo by Dirk Guinan. Contact [email protected] to request a high resolution original.

Local store. Rajasthan, India. Photo by Dirk Guinan. Contact [email protected] to request a high resolution original.

An Afghan woman can earn and income using a sewing machine purchased with one of the 1.4 million microfinance loans that have been provided through the AusAID-funded Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan. 2008. Photo: Imal Hashemi, Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund Photo: Imal Hashemi, Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund/AusAID; Contact [email protected] to request a high resolution original.

A women’s group in Manono, a small island in Samoa, received 20 manual sewing machines through the AusAID Direct Aid Program. The sewing machines and accessories will assist the women to improve their sewing skills and increase their potential to earn an income. The program is also supported by the Samoan Ministry of Women and Social Development. The Direct Aid Program provides support through a Small Grants Scheme for small-scale community development activities. Photo: Claire McGeechan, AusAID. Contact [email protected] to request a high resolution original.

Francis Kimani Kibogi feeds his hens on his farm near Gilgil, Kenya, on 16 March, 2009. Francis is part of the Self Help Development Initiative that is supported by AusAID that teaches farmers how to make their land more productive through protecting their environment and providing sutainable solutions to combatting environmental problems. Kenya 2009. Photo: Kate Holt / AusAID

Francis Kimani Kibogi holds up carrots that he has grown with the help of a drip kit that was supplied to him by the Self Help Development Initiative on his farm near Gilgil, Kenya, on the 16th March, 2009. Francis is part of the Self Help Development Initiative that is supported by AusAid that teaches farmers how to make their land more productive through protecting their environment and providing sutainable solutions to combatting environmental problems. Kenya 2009. Photo: Kate Holt / AusAID

Case Study 2 Beth Wanjero demonstrates how to irrigate her garden using a drip watering kit that was supplied by the Self Help Development initiative on her farm near Gilgil, Kenya, on the 16th March, 2009. Beth is part of the Self Help Development Initiative that is supported by AusAID that teaches farmers how to make their land more productive through protecting their environment and providing sutainable solutions to combatting environmental problems. Kenya 2009. Photo: Kate Holt / AusAID

Beth Wanjero demonstrates how to irrigate her garden using a drip watering kit that was supplied by the Self Help Development initiative on her farm near Gilgil, Kenya, on 16 March, 2009. Beth is part of the Self Help Development Initiative that is supported by AusAid that teaches farmers how to make their land more productive through protecting their environment and providing sutainable solutions to combatting environmental problems. Kenya 2009. Photo: Kate Holt / AusAID

Beth Wanjero tends toher seedlings that she has no planted under a shaded area to protect them on her farm near Gilgil, Kenya, on the 16th March, 2009. Beth is part of the Self Help Development Initiative that is supported by AusAID that teaches farmers how to make their land more productive through protecting their environment and providing sutainable solutions to combatting environmental problems. Kenya 2009. Photo: Kate Holt / AusAID

Beth Wanjero talks to an adviser from the sustainable development initiative about points raised in the training manual relating to her farm near Gilgil, Kenya, on 16 March 2009. Beth is part of the Self Help Development Initiative that is supported by AusAID that teaches farmers how to make their land more productive through protecting their environment and providing sutainable solutions to combatting environmental problems. Kenya 2009. Photo: Kate Holt / AusAID

Lifineti Elisa, 32 yo mother 0f four, Community Volunteer with VSL (Village Savings and Loan) program in the village of Mutambala, Karumba Traditional Authority, near Lilongwe Malawi, 2009. Photo: Tim Freccia

Lifineti Elisa, Community Volunteer with VSL (Village Savings and Loan) program with her family in the village of Mutambala, Karumba Traditional Authority, near Lilongwe Malawi, 2009. Photo: Tim Freccia

A microfinance client selling her crafts in the market in Nadi, Fiji, 2009. Photo: AusAID

Local villager, Tukijem, cuts dried cassava into small pieces to sell at market in her village near Yogyakarta. Tukijem and her fellow villagers recently received microfinance training through an Australian-funded local NGO, which has led to improved incomes and livelihoods. Photo: Ahmad Salman/AusAID

Andrianto examines dried cassava, known as Gaplek, at a market in Bantul, near Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Gaplek is the raw material used to make local homemade snacks. Photo: Ahmad Salman/ AusAID

Local villager, Tukijem, washes some dried cassava to sell at market in her village near Yogyakarta. Tukijem and her fellow villagers recently received microfinance training through an Australian-funded local NGO, which has led to improved livelihoods. Australia helped more than 150,000 people through water and sanitation, infrastructure and microfinance programs following a devastating earthquake in Yogyakarta in 2006. Photo: Ahmad Salman/AusAID

A villager uses a loom to weave silk yarn into tenun material in Klaten, Indonesia. An Australian-funded NGO helped restore livelihoods in the area through marketing and microfinance training following a devastating earthquake to the region in 2006. Photo: Ahmad Salman/AusAID

A villager uses a loom to weave silk yarn into tenun material in Klaten, Indonesia. An Australian-funded NGO helped restore livelihoods in the area through marketing and microfinance training following a devastating earthquake to the region in 2006. Photo: Ahmad Salman/AusAID

Misobah sews in her tenun workshop in Tlingsing village, Indonesia. The 36-year-old was recently trained in marketing and microfinance through an Australian-funded NGO following a devastating earthquake to the region in 2006. Misobah now sells her successful products across Indonesia. Photo: Ahmad Salman/AusAID