Blog
Joining Forces Against the COVID-19 Pandemic in Tanzania
In a bold effort to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Tanzania, PCI Tanzania and the Mara regional government have teamed up to jointly implement interventions that will contribute to slowing spread of the disease. More than 55 million cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed worldwide, and the last publicly released data from Tanzania showed…
Read MoreWorld Toilet Day Highlights Global Sanitation and Health Crisis
By Eddy Perez, Global Communities Technical Director for WASH With billions of people lacking access to the safe, sustainable sanitation essential for public health and for eradicating extreme poverty, World Toilet Day is not a day for celebration, but rather a day to sound the call for action on the global sanitation crisis. Global Communities…
Read MorePCI India and ‘Mobile Vaani’ Answer Call for Action Against COVID-19
When much of the world came to a standstill in the wake of COVID-19, one Indian social tech company rose to the challenge. Gram Vaani, which means “voice of the village” in Hindi, adapted its mobile phone-based social media platform—Mobile Vaani—to reach low-literacy, rural and remote audiences across India with important coronavirus prevention messages. Prior…
Read MorePainting it Forward with Eric Sanders
Eric Sanders is no stranger to the concept of ‘return on investment,’ having spent more than 30 years as a successful entrepreneur in the manufacturing industry. Still, when the California-based businessman started shifting his focus toward philanthropy, he never imagined it would also help him recover a long-lost passion. “I knew there was a space that I wanted to fill in my life,…
Read MoreDisabling Myths with Abled Minds
USAID SCORE supports persons with disabilities start livelihoods By Kathya de Silva Senarath Thirty-three-year-old Isuru Piyumal, from the rural village of Nugeyaya in Sri Lanka’s most marginalized Moneragala district, had been a dependent all his life. His parents realized when he was just three months old that he had an intellectual disability, and they did…
Read MoreYouth Echo their Voices and Reach New Heights
Young woman uses her education to empower youth to be involved in decision-making processes. Marah Bani Nasr, 25, holds a degree in Law from University of Yarmouk in Irbid. Marah has practiced law for nearly two years, specializing in Statute and Sharia Law. Though in her community in Ajloun studying Law is not typically favored…
Read MoreYouth Pave Their Way to Decision-Making
Empowered youth pave the way for involvement in the decision-making process Bilal Khalid, a 24-year-old chemical engineer, resides in Burma in Jerash governorate, north of the capital. Since 2008 Bilal has been a volunteer at Burma Youth Center, which aims to empower the youth of Burma. In 2017-2019, he was nominated by his fellow youth…
Read MoreGoing Digital Empowers Female Youth to Achieve
Digitally educating parents of children with disabilities to conduct educational activities at home Maha Yamen, 28, lives in Al-Hashmi area in Zarqa and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Special Education and a Master’s degree in Psychological and Educational Counseling. She currently works with The Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development (JOHUD) and is heading the…
Read MoreEmpowering Youth to Engage in the Local Tourism Scene
Female youth empowers other youth to generate income through local tourism Lubna Hijazeen, a 25-year-old youth residing in a small village North of Karak governorate. Although she holds a Bachelor’s degree in Banking and Finance from Mutah University in Karak, she was unable to get a job after graduation, like many young people in the…
Read MoreUSAID SCORE Seizes Opportunity for Reconciliation through Channel Repair in Aathiyammankerni
By Kathya de Silva Senarath Tamil and Sinhala villages of Aathiyammankerni and Samagipura in the Trincomalee district have been directly affected by the country’s 30-year conflict that continues to inflame tensions between the two communities. Tensions were aggravated further in 2006 when the LTTE blocked the Mavil Aru sluicegates that brought water to thousands in…
Read MoreSchools 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 MoreDriving Women’s Financial Inclusion Forward with Digital Technology
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the world online, a digital shift was taking place in rural Tanzania, and indeed around the world. In August 2019, following years of design and prototype testing, Project Concern International (PCI), a Global Communities Partner, and DreamStart Labs, a financial technology firm, piloted the DreamSave mobile app with 16…
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…
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