2013 Annual Report: Looking to the Future

2013 Annual Report: Looking to the Future
Message from the Chairman
This annual report focuses on the future of development. One of the many key trends it addresses is the growing importance of the private sector in international development. Global Communities is at the forefront of how private sector partnerships with NGOs can provide shared value while meeting the needs of vulnerable communities around the world. In the report, you can read about some of the different ways Global Communities has partnered with private sector organizations and the communities with which it works. Some examples include exciting new partnerships: with BHP Billiton Sustainable Communities in Colombia where we are addressing the needs of vulnerable communities and displaced persons; with TOMS Shoes, where we are taking their One for One promise and expanding it to many more through an innovative use of shoes as incentives for Rwandan villagers to join savings and lending groups; with Loan Guarantee Facilities through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, USAID and partner banks in Jordan and Egypt that spur the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises; and many more. All in all, Global Communities has become one of the most successful international NGOs at diversifying its range of donors and partners to provide shared value for those who choose to invest in development.
This report also highlights the innovative work that Global Communities continues to do in partnership with its traditional institutional donors. Using its years of experience working in conflict and post-conflict societies, Global Communities has brought together warring factions in Nairobi’s informal settlements to facilitate peace led by the community members themselves; it has continued to provide tens of thousands o Iraqi entrepreneurs, including women, youth, and the disabled, each year with the credit they need to grow their small businesses or improve their homes; and it has demonstrated leadership in tackling the many issues attendant to rapid urbanization through programs that are bringing improvements to the slums of Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi in Ghana, as well as elsewhere.
Robert A. Mosbacher, Jr.
Chairman
Read the full report here.