Increasing the Climate Resilience and Productivity of Emerging Farmers in Zambia
In Zambia, agriculture is a key employment sector and one that is essential to local food security. However, emerging farmers are facing many challenges, including fall armyworm threatening their fields, climate variabilities and poor agricultural productivity. Global Communities, Corteva Agriscience, John Deere and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) partnered in 2020 with the…
Read MoreLocal Solution to Improved Transparency in Responsible Minerals Trade in Congo’s Ituri Province
How USAID’s Zahabu Safi (Clean Gold) Project is strengthening local civil society to carry out due diligence through a new information management platform By Kevin Eze Patrick, Guy and Yves* are lawyers from the city of Bunia in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who work for Justice Plus, a…
Read MoreLessons from Kenya on Empowering Women in Housing Cooperatives
By Fredrick Nyagah and Tindi Sitati According to data from the International Cooperative Research Group, women represent only 30 percent of cooperative membership in Kenya. This under-representation extends to the leadership level and to the number of staff employed by cooperatives as well. At the same time, as the number of cooperatives increases nationwide, women’s…
Read MoreThe Role of WASH in Sustaining Maternal Health During Delivery: Reflections from Global Communities WASH for Health Program, Ghana
Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) play a foundational role in improving maternal health outcomes during pregnancy, delivery and postpartum.
Read MoreUSAID’s Zahabu Safi (Clean Gold) Project Facilitates Landmark Agreement in Congo’s Ituri Province
By Kevin Eze The banks of the Ituri River are teeming with men and women searching for gold. For many of these individuals, artisanal mining is inherent, a livelihood passed down from generation to generation. For Aristote*, who has limited education and qualifications, it is a means of survival. Gold has been mined in the…
Read MoreTogether for our African Girls and Young Women
In Sub-Saharan Africa, the concept of gender equality remains abstract and farfetched. In this day and age, there are still girls and young women who lack access to primary and secondary school due to social, cultural, religious or political reasons; who are not yet reached with comprehensive information on their sexual and reproductive health; who…
Read MoreA Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Eastern Congo
USAID’S Zahabu Safi (Clean Gold) Project brokers a business deal to prevent communal violence and increase incomes for artisanal miners in Maniema province By Kevin Eze When Aimé* returned to his family’s mining concession after the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, he found throngs of strangers digging for gold. The area, situated in Kabotshome, in the…
Read MoreVision 4 Housing: A Kenya Case Study
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Cooperative Development Program – Cooperative Leadership, Engagement, Advocacy & Research (CLEAR) Vision 4 Housing Cooperative got off to a rocky start. Originally set up as a community-based organization (CBO) in Kenya, its members became overextended managing multiple projects. One of those was a promising cyber café that offered digital…
Read MoreChipukizi Voice of Drama: A Kenya Case Study
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Cooperative Development Program – Cooperative Leadership, Engagement, Advocacy & Research (CLEAR) Youth employment is not a laughing matter – unless you are a member of Chipukizi Voice of Drama. What began as a small club has since grown into a business led by young people who helped pioneer the…
Read MoreImproving Working Conditions and Security at Artisanal Gold Mine Sites in Eastern Congo
By Kevin Eze Even as a landowner, Diel’s* income falls short. Profits have not been enough to feed and care for his wife, six children and elderly parents. He and other artisanal and small-scale gold miners have been out of work due to the invasion of mine sites by military in eastern Democratic Republic of…
Read MoreMeaningful Engagement of Boys and Men: A Pathway to Prevention and Response to Gender-Based Violence
By Betty Adera, Senior Technical Advisor HIV/AIDS and Health, Global Communities The COVID-19 pandemic has brought discussions of domestic violence and abuse of women and girls into the global public discourse. As I have worked in the space of adolescent girls and young women’s health and well-being at the community level for more than 20…
Read MoreWorld AIDS Day: Centering Adolescent Girls in the Journey towards HIV Epidemic Control
By: Betty Adera, Senior Technical Advisor HIV/AIDS and Health, Global Communities, Nairobi, Kenya The theme of this year’s World AIDS Day is “End Inequalities” and it is especially timely as the world continues grappling with COVID-19. Adolescent girls bear the greatest brunt of COVID-19-related inequalities. UNAIDS estimates that in sub-Saharan Africa, four in five new…
Read MoreYoung Doctor Inspires Botswanan Girls to Dream Big and Break Barriers
Photos courtesy of Dr. Aone Gogontle Ditirwa Dr. Aone Gogontle Ditirwa, 25, is from Bobonong, in the Eastern horn of Botswana, and one of the youngest female doctors in the southern African country. As a child, she recalls her love for dismantling things around the house in an effort to “re-create” them – a talent…
Read MoreInternational Day Of The African Child: Combatting The Worst Forms Of Child Labor In Artisanal Gold Mining Communities In Eastern DRC
Global Communities envisions a world where everyone has the freedom, means and ability to live and prosper with dignity. As the lead implementing agency for the USAID Zahabu Safi (Clean Gold) project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), we are working closely with artisanal gold supply chain actors, international and local civil society…
Read MoreStrengthening School Feeding Systems in Tanzania
For the past 10 years, PCI, a Global Communities Partner, has implemented integrated school feeding programs that help deliver essential nutrition, education, health and development services to more than 240,000 preschool and primary students in the Mara Region of Tanzania. With funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and support from stakeholders across multiple…
Read MoreUSAID CLEAR Program in Kenya Launches Two New Cooperative Videos
By Ashley Holst, Technical Specialist, Cooperatives & Inclusive Business at Global Communities The USAID Cooperative Leadership, Engagement, Advocacy and Research program (CLEAR) has launched two new animated educational videos! One of CLEAR’s primary goals is to raise awareness about the worker and housing cooperative models so more people can understand their inclusion-oriented benefits. Global Communities…
Read MoreUSAID Zahabu Safi and Black in Jewelry Coalition Connect Black Women Working Across Jewelry Supply Chain
On April 14, 2021, the USAID Zahabu Safi (Clean Gold) Project co-hosted a virtual event with the Black in Jewelry Coalition to facilitate conversations between Black women working across the jewelry supply chain: mine to market. Titled “Sister to Sister”, the event connected women working on the front lines in the mining industry in DRC,…
Read MoreBlack in Jewelry Coalition and USAID’s Zahabu Safi (Clean Gold) Project Connect Women in the Jewelry Industry with Artisanal Gold Miners
New York, NY – March 31, 2021 – The Black in Jewelry Coalition (BIJC) and USAID’s Zahabu Safi (Clean Gold) Project will hold a unique fireside chat webinar, “Sister to Sister: Creating relationships to support responsible sourcing of artisanal gold from Africa.” This virtual event, which will be held Wednesday, April 14, at 10am ET,…
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