Macro for Micro is four young Canadian people cycling across the southern edge of Australia to raise money for a microfinance NGO, Opportunity International. They started in Sydney on 2 March and have been cycling for 43 days. Current position is Ceduna, a town about half way across South Australia.

Their progress and bios can be seen on the website. To date, they have raised over US$26,000 and are now aiming for a round fifty.

Opportunity International was founded by two businessmen - an American, Al Whittaker, and an Australian, David Bussau - in the 1979. Its network includes source organisations on three continents and it loans money to almost three million people in 25 developing countries.

Microfinance is an innovative method of helping poor people raise themselves out of poverty. Small amounts of money can be deployed in individual cases and invested in a business. Opportunity International also provides business training. Like the Grameen Bank - established in Bangladesh in 1977 by scholar Dr Muhammad Yunus - the overwhelming majority of loans are repaid - 97 per cent in the case of Opportunity International.

Pic credit: Macro for Micro.