The Americas
Global Communities' 2021 Annual Report
"Together we have faced difficulties and together we have learned from them. We are building our dream together – at each meeting, through each idea and through each action."
Eduardo, community leader and program partner, Brazil
Our Work in the Americas
In 2021, Global Communities partnered directly with local leaders, governments, schools, businesses and civil society organizations to bring sustainable and positive change, improving the lives and livelihoods of people in eight countries across the Americas. From our efforts to eliminate malaria to providing support to birthing families and helping households affected by drought and hurricanes, Global Communities is continuing to save lives, advance equity and secure strong futures.
Snapshot of Our Results in the Americas
700
residents benefiting from a revitalized
neighborhood green space in Brazil
430+
transitional shelters provided to
disaster-affected families in Honduras
215,776
family members protected through Indoor Residual Spraying against malaria in 39,232 homes in Honduras
Learn More About Our Work in the Americas
Humanitarian Assistance
Honduras
The Americas | Humanitarian Assistance
Honduras
In 2021, Global Communities continued to address urgent needs of people made vulnerable by droughts and hurricanes Eta and Iota, which affected Honduras at the end of 2020. The Honduras Emergency WASH and Shelter (HEWS) program worked to enable families to return to safe and habitable living conditions and provided emergency shelter and shelter non-food items while improving settlement conditions. The program also improved access to safe water supplies, emergency sanitation facilities and critically needed WASH non-food items. Program staff delivered critical hygiene promotion messaging while helping to improve the environmental health conditions of disaster-affected people and provided support to help individuals restart their livelihoods.
Fast Facts:
- 922 families received shelter repairs in Cortés and Copán
- 430+ transitional shelters provided to disaster-affected families
- 160 latrines installed, benefiting 618 individuals
- 890 households received multi-purpose cash assistance, for a total of $342,900 between April-October 2021
Sustainable Development
Honduras
The Americas | Sustainable Development
Honduras
In 2021, we continued to be at the forefront of eliminating malaria in Honduras with a goal to fully eradicate the disease in the country by 2022 and obtain malaria-free certification from the World Health Organization by 2025. Global Communities has been working with the Honduran government and other partners while using all the elements of a robust malaria elimination program including surveillance, case management and vector control.
Fast Facts:
- 18,863 insecticide-treated mosquito nets installed in homes, protecting 69,718 individuals and 12,676 families, with a focus on the Miskitu Indigenous populations in Gracias a Dios and communities in Islas de la Bahía
- 215,776 family members protected through Indoor Residual Spraying against malaria in 39,232 homes
- 150,229 individuals living in high- and moderate-risk areas solicited detection and diagnostic services at their local health centers or through community health volunteers
United States
The Americas | Sustainable Development
United States
Through our Healthy Start program in San Diego, California, Global Communities aims to give every child a strong start in life. Healthy Start currently serves approximately 300 birthing families in San Diego County each year, more than 80 percent of whom are Black. In 2021, we facilitated access to midwifery services, doula support, mental health counseling and various social services through strategic partnerships and robust screening and referral processes. To improve equity in birth care in San Diego, Global Communities has facilitated trainings for more than 40 community-based doulas from diverse communities (Black, Latina, Haitian Creole speaking) who have attended hundreds of births in the last decade.
Fast Facts:
- 2 new grants helped expand doula work, supporting 94 families to have a doula-supported birth
- 34 percent of Healthy Start clients received midwife care at some point in their pregnancy
- 82 percent of Healthy Start babies were breastfed or fed breast milk at 6 months, up to 24 percent higher than the national average
Brazil
The Americas | Sustainable Development
Brazil
In Brazil, some low-income families make ends meet through recycling. ‘Catadores de materiais recicláves’ are informal waste pickers, or trash recyclers, who spend long, back-breaking hours scouring the streets of their urban communities for discarded materials they can turn in for a profit. Most municipalities in Brazil do not operate official recycling or waste management programs, so trash recyclers often carry out a crucial public service for their communities. Even so, their labor remains largely unrecognized and undervalued. In October 2021, to improve trash recyclers’ living and working conditions in the city of Montenegro in Rio Grande do Sul, the John Deere Brazil Foundation, Biocitrus, Poker and Tanac companies teamed up to support Global Communities’ Projeto Reciclar (“The Recycle Project”). Global Communities designed the project in partnership with community members and is responsible for its coordination and implementation.
In addition to supporting the socioeconomic development of 30 trash recyclers and their families, the project aims to address solid waste management and the circular economy in Montenegro.
Fast Facts:
- 30 trash recyclers and their families are participating in Projeto Reciclar
- 106 community and corporate volunteers
- 85 tree seedlings planted
- 700 residents benefiting from a revitalized neighborhood green space
Financial Inclusion
Guatemala
The Americas | Financial Inclusion
Guatemala
Guatemala has the highest number of women who do not generate their own income in the Latin America region (51%), meaning that about half of all women depend on others for their own subsistence. Global Communities continued implementing our Women Empowered (WE) initiative, which establishes business and economic development platforms entirely managed by WE group members.
In addition, Promundo-US and Global Communities introduced the Journeys of Transformation curriculum in the municipality of Huehuetenango, Guatemala. Women participating in our WE savings groups were invited to participate in the curriculum with their male partners. The goal of this program was to engage men in critical reflection and hands-on activities to promote women’s economic autonomy and participation in income generating activities, more equitable division of domestic labor and caregiving work, improving couples' communication and balanced decision making and reduce intimate partner violence perpetrated by men.
Fast Facts:
- 120 active Women Empowered participants now have at least 3 income producing activities in 16 communities
- 120 participants received resources to help strengthen their ability to produce, including artisans, farm animal breeders and farmers, among others
- 326 workshops conducted involving men, with a 24 percent reduction in support of the attitude that if there are children in the household, women should not work outside of the home
Read About Our Work in Other Regions
Africa
Across 10 countries in Africa, Global Communities worked with communities to bring sustainable access to school feeding programs, women’s financial empowerment, sanitation & hygiene and local governance.
Middle East, Europe & Asia
In 2021, Global Communities worked alongside communities in more than a dozen countries in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, connecting young people with economic opportunities and the tools to lift their own voices for positive change.