Global Communities Archives

International Women’s Day, marked on March 8th each year, is a global day to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women worldwide. Though great improvements have been made, many women still suffer from reduced access to healthcare and education, are exposed to violence, and have limited economic opportunities. Global Communities is working to support…

Kenyans Need to Start Voting for Policies, Not Personalities Nairobi’s slums are still anxious about the outcome of Monday’s elections. Here’s what’s wrong with Kenya’s elections and how we can fix them. Selline Korir (center) is is the Global Communities program director of Kenya Tuna Uwezo, a program supported by USAID which aims to reduce politically-motivated conflict in the…

India: Slum Improvement Program (slideshow) With funding from the John Deere Foundation, the Slum Improvement Program is working in Pune to improve the living conditions and livelihoods of slum residents. The program focuses on making deep impacts in 6 slums and 4 villages while strengthening bottom-up planning practices and institutionalizing new poverty reduction programs within…

Kenya Elections: Reducing Political Violence through Community Dialogue All eyes are on Kenya in today’s general election – the first since 2007 when contested results caused an eruption of violence that led to the deaths of over a thousand people and the displacement of hundreds of thousands more. Since then, a new constitution has been…

Kenya Peace Project Puts Focus on Talk and Trust Ahead of Elections Kenyan peace activists are helping to promote dialogue among disadvantaged young people living in Nairobi slums By Clar Ni Chonghaile, The Guardian This article originally appeared in The Guardian. Power of good … Selline Korir, director of the Kenya Tuna Uwezo project, sits in…

Promoting Peace after a Painful Past   “I am from Kiambiu, and here I am sitting with people from Korogocho and Kibera. We exchange views and stories. I listen to them and they listen to me. Now I have removed their ethnicity from my mind.”                     …

Dan Orogo: Future Leader for Peace in Kenya “Young people need to know they have rights – the right to peace is one of them.”– Dan Orogo Dan Orogo is a 24-year-old political science student at the University of Nairobi. Having grown up in the informal settlement of Kibera, he was deeply affected by the…

Interview with Rwanda EMIRGE Program Coordinator, Theogene Nkuranga Theogene Nkuranga How long have you been with Global Communities and what did you do before you joined Global Communities? I began working for Global Communities since June 2012. Before I came here I was working as the director of cooperative promotion and capacity building at RCA,…

Working with the Private Sector Factsheet Global Communities brings people together – communities, government bodies, local organizations and the private sector – to design and implement our programs. We have successfully worked with a wide array of populations, from native communities in Honduras to war-torn countries, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, and youth affected by…

Partners for Peace: Community and Conflict Resolution “We are the people, we are the problem, we are the solution.” Background It has been estimated that sectarian, political and ethnic conflicts lead directly to more than 55,000 deaths per year. Beyond this immediate effect, the psychosocial, developmental and economic effects of these conflicts have a huge…

Helping Local Communities Take Ownership of Projects in Colombia   Participation in Four New Projects Increases Community Ownership The implementation of infrastructure rural projects in Montes de Maria has historically faced several constraints. Projects are usually prioritized, designed and implemented without community participation, which increases costs, decreases quality, and reduces empowerment, ownership and sustainability. To…

Caterpillar Foundation and Global Communities Launch $4.4 Million Partnership to Improve Job Prospects for Youth in Middle East and North Africa SILVER SPRING, Md. – The Caterpillar Foundation and Global Communities today announced a $4.4 million, three-year partnership to prepare youth in Jordan, Lebanon and Yemen for the labor market and job placement. The Middle…

Preparing Rwanda’s Next Generation to Succeed in School and Life Four-year-old Herbert Ndizihiwe attends play group and says the ball is his favorite. In Kinyarwanda, Higa Ubeho means “be determined and live”. For Rwanda’s most vulnerable populations, such as people living with HIV and AIDS (PLHA), orphans and other vulnerable children (OVC), and their families,…

VIP Profile: Jenny Schmitzer Liberia, July – December 2012 Improving Sanitation and Hygiene in Urban Setting To meet internal targets, almost 1 million Liberians need access to an improved water source and significantly increase sanitation standards by 2015. The Government of Liberia has responded by embracing Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS), as an innovative methodology for…

VIP Profile: Adele Billups, Alistair Dawson, Andrew Doty, Brian Haupt, Laura Nissley and Diana Salman Rwanda, January 2013 Using the Most Significant Change Method to Evaluate Higa Ubeho Program Impact Around 72,000 families are assisted by the USAID-funded Higa Ubeho program in Rwanda (Higa Ubeho means ‘be determined and live’ in Kinyarwanda). But where is…

Literacy is Key to a Better Life “I would encourage anyone else to take the first step. Once you have the knowledge you will see the benefit. It is not just about reading and writing, it’s about taking that knowledge and doing more with your life.” Yousef Matabaro, 41, is from a poor rural area…

Outstanding Rwandan Cooperative Wins Recognition for Remarkable Success By Teresa Casale, Congressional Relations Officer President of IMPABARUTA, accompanied by members of his board, holds their award for professional Management from the government of Rwanda. In 1998 Rwanda, the country was recovering from a brutal civil war that had badly damaged the economy. All sectors had suffered losses…

Helping Marginalized Workers Access Social Services Staff help informal workers complete registration forms and sign up for identification cards so that they can access social services.  On January 30, Global Communities India, in partnership with the municipal government of Bangalore and a Hasirudala, a member based organization of waste collectors, organized a day-long “Social Security…