Blog
Sowing Futures in Brazil: Joining Forces, Realizing Dreams
Students Step Up to Make a Difference When Wesley Carneiro da Silva entered the public school of Benedicta de Salles Pimentel Wutke, located in the neighborhood of Jardim Nova América, in Campinas/SP, he never thought he would end up contributing so much to its development. “I started attending the school very young. At the time,…
Read MoreCreating a Sense of Pride in Communities in Brazil through Community Engagement
The Sowing Futures program in Brazil is the product of a partnership between the international development organization, Global Communities, and the John Deere Foundation, and was created in order to provide members of John Deere home communities with the tools and connections necessary to improve their own socio-economic conditions. The strand uniting Sowing Futures’ successes is…
Read MoreWomen Helping Women in Business During a #SheMeansBusiness Workshop in Egypt
In Egypt, women entrepreneurs are often overlooked for funding by financial institutions in a male-dominated business world. Ensuring these women have access to financial skills and loan opportunities is a priority of CHF Management and Consulting Services Egypt SAE, which is Global Communities’ development finance consultancy in Egypt. In order to achieve this priority, the…
Read MoreFrom Mosques to Barbershops: Unconventional Allies in India’s Immunization Efforts
When India experienced a polio resurgence in 2001, those working to end the disease had to take a leap of faith. In western Uttar Pradesh, the majority of the cases were concentrated in poor Muslim communities, where access to sanitation and health services was low and suspicions about the vaccine were high. This created the…
Read MoreCooperatives Going Further Together in Mongolia
Since 2002, Global Communities has been working in the peri-urban communities or “ger” areas surrounding Mongolia’s largest cities. Ger areas are usually made up of thousands of small, fenced-in plots of land that remain isolated from the area’s main commercial activity and public services. These rural smallholders often struggle to produce high agricultural yields as…
Read MoreGhanaian Interior Designer Benefits from Global Communities’ Business Incubator Program
Gloria Anang is a 28-year-old resident of Accra and owner of Gloo Gallery. She graduated from YIEDIE, a Global Communities that creates economic opportunities in Ghana’s construction sector for economically disadvantaged youth. Soon after she went on to start a successful business in interior decorating. Her store can be found in Teshie, a coastal town…
Read MoreMeet Tanzania’s Safe Water Superhero
Yvonne Mwakisyala understands firsthand how access to clean water and sanitation is critical to keeping girls healthy, safe and on track with their education. “My mum makes a joke that I hated dirty floors so much as a child that I never crawled and moved straight to walking,” says Yvonne, who serves as a construction…
Read MoreFor a DREAMS Graduate, an Entrepreneurship Course Provides Steps to a Better Life
In Rwanda, HIV prevalence is highest among youth aged 20-24. It is against this background that the PEPFAR-funded DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS Free, Mentored and Safe) program was launched in five districts to address structural drivers of HIV among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW), which includes poverty, gender inequality, sexual violence, and a…
Read MoreUS-funded Projects Ease Drought for Farmers in Honduras’ Dry South
For Honduras, a reliable water supply in the impoverished, dry south is the key to prosperity that keeps families together, stabilizes impoverished communities and gives its most capable people reason to stay in the region rather than move to cities or head north to the United States. “We have the land, but without water, we…
Read MoreSmall Change Adding Up for Children in Rural Guatemala
If money talks, then it’s never too soon to start a conversation about savings. And in the Cruz Regional community of Cuilco, Guatemala, a small group of children were the first to speak up. After watching their mothers form a savings and loan group through PCI’s Women Empowered (WE) initiative, five curious kids asked if…
Read MoreAIYD Calls on Congress and the Administration to Continue Support for US Government-funded Programs in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador
Washington, D.C. – The Alliance for International Youth Development, a group of leading US-based international development organizations, calls on Congress and the Administration to continue support for US government-funded programs in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. No one wants to flee their homes, but many young people are desperate to find alternatives to lives of…
Read MoreNew School Libraries Help Unlock Literacy Among Students in Tanzania
If books open new doors to learning, then libraries hold the key. Yet, neither were within reach to students attending the schools where Project Concern International (PCI) works in the Mara Region of Tanzania. In fact, prior to PCI’s first program interventions in 2016, none of the 231 primary schools in Bunda, Butiama and Musoma…
Read MoreSarah’s Season of Growth: Forging a Path Out of Poverty
As a farmer, Sarah Ben understands there is a season for everything. Even so, she has known more than her fair share of loss—from the passing of three of her children to multiple years of failed crops. Despite these hardships, the mother of now five has continued to work towards building a better life for…
Read MoreForeign Assistance Helps Give Hondurans Hope
By David Weiss, President & CEO, Global Communities Global Communities has been working in Honduras for more than 30 years. We help Hondurans develop sustainable solutions for unemployed youth who often have little choice but to join a gang. We help Hondurans to combat Zika, Malaria, and HIV health crises. And we help their farmers…
Read MoreCREATE Program in Yemen Empowers Youth to Challenge Themselves
By Asmaa Uqba, Reporting & Communications Officer, Global Communities Yemen During my visits to the Vocational Training institute, I encountered some trainees that caught my attention. These young people came from different villages in the Lahj governorate, which is located in the southern part of Yemen. Global Communities, through the USAID-funded Continued Recovery, Emergency Assistance,…
Read MoreHow Global Development Leaders Think Their Field is Changing
Originally from the Brookings website. By George Ingram and Kristin M. Lord A survey of 93 leaders, representing a wide range of organizations working to advance human well-being and economic development, reveals a global development sector in transition and perhaps even turmoil. Ending extreme poverty is no longer the defining lens through which development is…
Read MoreTurning the Tide on Unsanitary School Conditions in Tanzania
Children should not have to choose between their health and their education. Yet, one-third of schools worldwide lack access to clean water and basic hygiene facilities, putting students at risk of disease or forcing them to miss class altogether. Like many parts of Tanzania, the Mara Region continues to experience the challenge of inadequate school…
Read MoreBecoming Babli: Young Widow Finds Purpose Empowering Women of Bihar, India
When Babli Devi was 15 years old, she had dreams of becoming a journalist. Instead, she became a bride. Like many adolescent girls and young women in rural India, she was forced to give up her education for an early marriage. Within a few years, Babli had her first child. For the better part of…
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