Blog
School Meals Expand the Right to Food for a Better Life and Future
By Joseph Bangnikon, Sr. Technical Advisor, Food Security Many children in low-income countries endure their entire school day without a nutritious meal, a situation that demands urgent attention. They arrive at school hungry and struggle to concentrate. Some even miss entire school days due to lack of food. This cycle of childhood hunger leads to…
Read MoreWomen Forward: Closing the Gender Gap in Agricultural Productivity
By Chloe Pan While many traditional approaches to improving food security outcomes focus on addressing farmers’ agricultural knowledge and access to productive resources, they may not always use a gender lens to understand the different needs, challenges and capabilities of women farmers. As climate change continues to threaten global food security, it’s crucial to use…
Read MoreStrengthening Partnerships and Governance for Sustainable WASH Solutions in Indigenous Communities: Deepening Our Understanding of Local Needs and Challenges
By Gigi Dupuy & Marc Valentin While most people have access to basic drinking water in Guatemala, many rural areas, especially those that are home to Indigenous Mayan communities, do not. In these communities, water is not just a resource but a sacred part of their culture and a living entity, influencing how they manage…
Read MoreCelebrating 10 Years of Positive Impact in Brazil
In 2014, Global Communities arrived in Brazil in partnership with the John Deere Foundation to implement the Sowing Futures program in Horizontina (RS). Since then, we have expanded our operations to promote sustainable development in 8 Brazilian states and supported community development through the mobilization of more than 9,000 volunteers and the training of more…
Read MoreHumanitarian Photographer Steven Wade Adams on Preserving the African Pastoralist’s Way of Life
By Steven Wade Adams Africa is filled with a vast, rich mix of people and cultures, each with their own traditions and customs. For millenia, pastoralist communities have played an integral role in this highly complex ecosystem, and today are important guardians of an ancient lifestyle shaped by a close bond with their animals and…
Read MorePass the Mic: Localizing Child Protection Interventions in Ukraine’s Humanitarian Context
By Paula Rudnicka, Sr. Manager for Public Affairs Global Communities has a rich history of implementing Child Protection in Emergencies programs. Our interventions are multifaced, ranging from psychosocial counselling and art therapy classes to life skills, literacy and parenting sessions. In countries where institutional services are weak, Global Communities delivers these services directly, including through…
Read MoreBridging the Digital Divide for Rural Youth in Sri Lanka with New IT Center
By Rebecca Jayatissa Perched on a hill 13 kilometers away from Deniyaya town in Sri Lanka, MR/Ensalwatta Tamil Vidyalaya is a school where the challenges of accessing education are palpable. The narrow, rough pathway leading to the school barely accommodates vehicles, making the journey difficult. Students travel from distant areas to attend classes, many of…
Read MorePromoting Evidence-Based Approaches to HIV: Our Posters at AIDS 2024
By Paula Rudnicka, Sr. Manager for Public Affairs In July 2024, more than 11,000 people attended AIDS 2024 – the largest gathering on HIV and AIDS in the world. Global Communities and our subsidiary IntraHealth International showcased our work through five posters, which highlighted the results of studies conducted by our HIV projects in Central…
Read MorePutting People First in the HIV Response: Reflections from AIDS 2024
By Paula Rudnicka, Sr. Manager for Public Affairs It has been more than 40 years since the first cases of HIV and AIDS were identified in the early 1980s, marking the beginning of one of the most serious global health crises in modern history. Over the decades, scientific advances have transformed HIV from a fatal…
Read MoreThe Role of International Organizations in the Localization Movement: Insights from Our Partnership with Project Concern Zambia
By Chioma Okafor, Senior Technical Advisor, Local Capacity Strengthening The global development community has reached the consensus that local leadership is vital to achieving greater equity, effectiveness and sustainability of development programs. Local actors are closer to the issues, understand local needs and priorities, and can more efficiently address barriers to accessing services, including health…
Read MoreAdapting for the Future Defined by Locally-Led Development: A Q&A with Our President Carrie Hessler-Radelet
By Paula Rudnicka, Sr. Manager for Public Affairs. Video production by Kallista Zormelo and Michael Kamel. Localization is one of the most significant movements shaping our industry today. Major donors are beginning to focus their philanthropy on those who are closest to the knowledge, action and impact. The shift towards localization is reshaping the role of…
Read MorePromoting Bilingual Education in Multicultural Societies to Enhance Student Literacy
By Leonel Arguello, Director of Integrated School Feeding Programs As a Nicaraguan, I grew up in a multiethnic, multicultural and multilingual country with a large Indigenous population. English and French were the mandatory languages in public and private schools during my school years. Sadly, we were never taught our Indigenous languages, not even simple phrases…
Read MoreShifting Tides: Advancing Locally-Led Development & Humanitarian Action
By Paula Rudnicka, Sr. Manager for Public Affairs The concepts of localization and locally-led development are deeply woven into the current discourse about the state and the future of global development. Rooted in social movements that fought to end colonization, the localization agenda gained global traction in 2016 at the World Humanitarian Summit. Its two…
Read MoreDSG Hub: Our Journey to Promote Safe and Gender-responsive Digitization of Savings Groups
By Paula Rudnicka, Sr. Manager for Public Affairs Across the globe, savings groups are increasingly using digital solutions – such as digital ledgers and wallets – to manage group records and conduct financial transactions. This leads to the emergence of digital savings groups (DSGs) whose procedures, records or transactions are digitized in some way, typically…
Read MoreWomen-Founded Cooperative Leads Solar Energy Innovation in Kenya
By Maryangela Amendola One phone call changed Jacinta’s future. In 2015, a college friend told her about a renewable solar energy training program provided by Arizona University and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). She left her career as an engineer and aviation teacher in Mombasa County, Kenya, to pursue the…
Read MoreIgniting Children’s Potential, One Bite at a Time: Reflections from the International Food Aid Showcase
By Paula Rudnicka, Sr. Manager for Public Affairs Last month, Global Communities participated in the 2024 International Food Aid Showcase at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The showcase brought together diverse stakeholders representing all segments of the U.S. food assistance value chain—from farmers to implementing partners and government agencies. At the beginning of…
Read MoreMarÃa’s Harvest: Empowering Sustainable Farming and Drought Resilience in Honduras
MarÃa MartÃnez is a wife, mother, grandmother and producer of basic grains living in the Zacatustal, San Ramón, Choluteca community in Honduras. Her home is far from central markets which makes access to nutritious food a challenge. MarÃa received fencing wire, seeds and fertilizers from the United States Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian…
Read MoreThe Role of Mianatra in Enhancing School Attendance and Health in Madagascar
Until early 2023, EPP Toby Mahatsinjo, a primary school in the chronically food insecure Androy region of Madagascar, faced significant challenges related to water, sanitation and hygiene, nutrition and the overall health of students. The school lacked onsite access to water or latrines, and students were expected to use a shared latrine housed at the local…
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