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Schools Use USAID SCORE-donated COVID-19 Protective Equipment to Ensure Safety to Children Facing Crucial Government Examinations
Sri Lanka is gripped by another wave of the COVID-19 pandemic as children prepared to face crucial government examinations of Grade 5 Scholarship and the Advanced Level on October 11 and 12 respectively. The former enables children, especially those in rural areas, the opportunity to attend better schools with more facilities while the latter selects…
Read MoreWorld Mental Health Day 2020: It’s Time to Scale Up Investment in Mental Health
By Rebecca Wener, Global Communities Program Officer for Governance and Global Health Read original article on Medium.com October 10th marks the 28th annual World Mental Health Day, and this year’s theme is a call to scale up investment in mental health. Mental health disorders represent a critical yet under-emphasized component of the global public health burden. The World…
Read MoreDetermined Youth Engage Persons with Disabilities
Youth empowering persons with disabilities to engage them in their communities Sarah Abusall, 20, resides with her family in Al-Qasabeh in Jerash governorate north of the capital. She is currently studying for her Bachelor’s Degree in Special Education at Al Albayt University in Mafraq. Her father is a person with a disability, and her sister,…
Read MoreUSAID SCORE-Donated Equipment Helps Keep School Dengue-Free
By Kathya de Silva Senarath, Reporting Officer, USAID SCORE/Global Communities A public school in Gintota in the South of Sri Lanka is one of the schools that benefitted from USAID Social Cohesion and Reconciliation Activity (SCORE)’s COVID-19 island-wide response in mid-August. The school authorities struggled to clean and disinfect their premises due to lack of…
Read MoreUSAID SCORE/RDF-established Water Purification Plant in Vavuniya Provides Clean Water to Residents
N. Sridevi, a single mother of two from Maharambaikulam in the conflict-affected Vavuniya district in the North of Sri Lanka, had been concerned over the area’s drinking water for many years. The people in the North and North Central Provinces have been experiencing high levels of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) for the last decade, and…
Read MoreThe Pioneer E-Executive Public Policy Making Process Training Virtual Graduation Ceremony
At the Strathmore Business School (SBS) in Nairobi, 55 trainees successfully graduated with a certificate in Public Policy Making Process (PPMP). The first of its kind program was designed and delivered by Global Communities’ USAID-funded CLEAR Program in collaboration with Strathmore University Business School. The training, which ended on September 14, was officially opened by…
Read MoreIn Sri Lanka, Youth Social Media Group Combats Hate Speech and Misinformation
The USAID-funded Social Cohesion and Reconciliation Activity (SCORE) provided training to 28 youth leaders from diverse ethnic backgrounds in the Monaragala District to counter the spread of fake news and hate speech online that became rampant following the Easter Sunday bombings, the group learned how to educate people on deciphering legitimate from fake news, in…
Read MoreYouth-led Advocacy Initiatives Creating Communal Harmony and Positive Changes
There are various instances in Sri Lanka’s history when tensions between ethnicities have resulted in turbulence and bloodshed. Over the years, instances such as the insurgencies, three decades of armed conflict and the Easter attacks last year increased distrust and disharmony among ethnicities. Politicians take advantage of ethnic divisions for their political objectives which causes…
Read MoreLike Mother, Like Daughter: Building Toward Peace in Burundi
When an ethnic civil war broke out in Burundi in 1993, Odette Habonimana learned firsthand how peace begins at home. Only 9 years old at the time, she watched her mother welcome frantic neighbors, Hutu and Tutsi alike, to shelter with their family of 12 as chaos ensued around them. “People were killing each other…
Read MoreMaking Schools Safer for Children to Return During COVID-19 in Sri Lanka
By Kathya de Silva Senarath, Reporting Officer, USAID SCORE Program in Sri Lanka As thousands of children returned to school in August following five months of closure, an initiative supported by the United States has helped disinfect schools and ensure a healthy learning environment for Sri Lankan students. In cooperation with regional health and education directors, medical officers,…
Read MoreAddressing India’s ‘Shadow Pandemic’ of Violence Against Women and Girls
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, women and girls face a heightened risk of domestic violence and exploitation. According to UN Women, this “shadow pandemic” is the result of economic, health and security strains brought on or worsened by movement restrictions, crowded homes and reduced access to peer groups and social networks. In two blocks of…
Read MoreEman’s Resilience Sets an Example for Women in Peacebuilding in Yemen
Eman Mohammed, a 31-year-old Yemeni woman who is the sole breadwinner in her family, works, studies, takes care of her elderly parents and her brother who has a disability, and fulfills societal roles expected of her. Eman is one of the two female members in a nine-member Community Enhancement Committee (CEC) in Aden’s Ibn Albasir…
Read MoreMeet Stacey Williams, PCI Changemaker
Less than a month ago, Stacey Williams packed up her life on the East Coast and moved to San Diego with three teenagers in tow to begin work as the new Director of Human Trafficking Prevention Programs at PCI, a Global Communities Partner. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has upended how she is able to…
Read MorePandemic response in Granadero Baigorria Leads to Strong Bonds and Cooperative Efforts
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought growing challenges to communities around the world. Many vulnerable communities and citizens are stuck in a state of social isolation and economic crisis. Even though that is the reality in many communities, in Granadero Baigorria, Argentina, where the John Deere Foundation-funded Sowing Futures program operates, a group of people did…
Read MoreGuatemalan Youths Cultivating Hope in the Face of COVID-19
For five consecutive years, farming families in the dry corridor of western Guatemala have watched their primary sources of income and food wither and die from severe drought. Season after season, failed harvests of maize and beans have led to grinding poverty and crisis levels of hunger and malnutrition among vulnerable households. These persistent challenges…
Read MoreEffective Health Care Delivery Made Easier for Nine Health Care Facilities with Provision of Water
“At about 12 midnight in June 2019, a baby boy was born to a young couple at the Tutukpene Health Center in the Oti Region. Unfortunately, there was no water to wash the mixture of blood and amniotic fluid off the baby and the equipment used for the delivery. Relatives of the newborn’s mother had…
Read MoreIt’s time for an African woman to head the International Finance Corporation
By Peter Woicke and Daniel Runde, opinion contributors to The Hill. Originally posted on The Hill. Peter Woike is the Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee for the Global Communities Board of Directors The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an arm of the World Bank Group and is the largest development finance institution devoted…
Read MoreKosovo Youth Contribute to Their Communities During the Pandemic
Read original article on USAID website As a long-time youth activist, Drita jumped at the chance to join the Emergency Response (ER) Team in her community. She has been actively involved in USAID’s Up to Youth activity as a Youth Advisory Board member, and understands how vital it is to volunteer in her community. Thus,…
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