The Role of International Organizations in the Localization Movement: Insights from Our Partnership with Project Concern Zambia
By Chioma Okafor, Senior Technical Advisor, Local Capacity Strengthening The global development community has reached the consensus that local leadership is vital to achieving greater equity, effectiveness and sustainability of development programs. Local actors are closer to the issues, understand local needs and priorities, and can more efficiently address barriers to accessing services, including health…
Read MoreUniting Communities: A Pivotal Force in Combating HIV/AIDS
By Betty Adera As we observe this year’s World AIDS Day, it is crucial to shine a light on persistent inequalities that continue to affect the lives of children, adolescents and young women. Numerous awareness campaigns and other strategies have led to critical advancements during the four-decade long HIV/AIDS global pandemic. However, the role of…
Read MoreFostering Financial Stability: Co-op Savings Group in Zambia Fuels Women’s Mutual Growth
Until recently, Emelda Munkombwe was just scraping by with her tomato business, barely making enough money to put food on the table for her family. There wasn’t anything left to support her children’s schooling, let alone pay for medical services or purchase medications that weren’t provided by the primary health care system. Education and healthcare…
Read MorePass the Mic: Reinvigorating Global Efforts to Reduce Maternal and Child Mortality
By Paula Rudnicka, Sr. Manager for Public Affairs at Global Communities In 2012, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) partnered with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Governments of India and Ethiopia to convene the Child Survival Call to Action, which galvanized unprecedented commitments from governments and civil society around the…
Read MoreEnding the “Triple Threat” of Early Pregnancies, New HIV Infections and Sexual Violence among Adolescent Girls & Young Women
By Betty Adera A single act of sexual violence against women and girls can result in HIV infections and other sexually transmitted diseases, resulting in shame, fear and trauma. However, for adolescent girls and young women (AGYW), sexual violence can also result in early pregnancy and childbearing, which carries its own stigma. Globally, girls between…
Read MoreStriving to Find and Serve Missing Children in HIV Treatment & Care
By Betty Adera Despite tremendous progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS, outcomes for treatment and care among children remain low. Sadly, disparities in the HIV response continue to result in failure to meet the unique needs of children living with or are at high risk of HIV. At the end of 2019, an…
Read MoreRight to Care: Family-Centered Approaches for Vulnerable Children and Adolescents
By Betty Adera The impact of disasters, complexities of humanitarian crises and ongoing effects of climate change pose major threats to the lives of children. These challenges impact the most vulnerable among us and expose them to health, water and food insecurity; exploitation and sexual violence; deprivation and neglect. Long-standing, systemic human and child rights…
Read MoreIncreasing 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 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 MoreUS for more trade investment with Zambia
By Kabanda Chulu From Business News, Zambia Daily Mail, March 15 2021 The United States (US) government is committed to promoting increased trade and investment between that country and Zambia and will ensure that Zambian businesses have access to US markets, US Embassy Chargé d’ Affaires David Young has said. Mr Young said activities will…
Read MoreEmerging Farmers Partnership GDA
This article was originally published by USAID. Zambia’s development holds much promise but faces much peril. Urban economic growth has boomed, however rural areas have stagnated in poverty. Most rural households are engaged in subsistence-level farming on small plots that are not economically viable and often turn to unsustainable livelihoods that degrade natural resources to…
Read MorePreventing Unnecessary Cervical Cancer Deaths in Zambia
Worldwide, women and girls are needlessly suffering from a disease that is preventable and curable. Cervical cancer has historically been overlooked by health systems, but the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this issue and left more women underserved. Each year, more than 260,000 women, almost 90 percent from low- and middle-income countries, die from cervical cancer…
Read MoreUSAID Mission Director Sheryl Stumbras at Emerging Farmers Partnership Launch and MOU Signing
This article was originally published by USAID. Harry Ngoma, USAID/Zambia Minister of Agriculture Honorable Michael Katambo, Global Communities COP Nobel Moyo, Corteva Country Director Samson Nyendwa, Afgri Representative Rayno Van Niekerk, Ladies and Gentlemen, All protocols observed. It is a great honor for me to be here with you at the signing of this memorandum…
Read MoreGaining Ground on Cervical Cancer in Zambia
Timing is everything. Just ask Janny Zulu. The 52-year-old single mother of two recently found out she had a precancerous lesion on her cervix, putting her at great risk for cervical cancer. Still, fresh off the news of this diagnosis in January, she expressed gratitude for information she could act on, information once inaccessible to…
Read MoreZambian Mother-Turned-Activist Joins Fight Against Cervical Cancer
Globally, one woman dies of cervical cancer every two minutes. In Zambia, Project Concern International (PCI) is working to put an end to these tragic and untimely fates. Since 2011, with support from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), PCI has been able to provide life-saving screenings and treatment to more than 25,000…
Read MoreMeet Mildred Kalufyanya, PCI Changemaker
Growing up, Mildred Kalufyanya used to imagine becoming a journalist like her father. An unexpected turn of events changed that plan, but Mildred’s work still centers on making sure vital information reaches a wide audience. In recognition of #WorldCancerDay, meet PCI Zambia’s Cervical Cancer Screening and Treatment Coordinator. What initially drew you to working in…
Read MoreCommunity Lay Counselors in Zambia at the Forefront of Realizing an AIDS-free Generation
Zambia has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in Sub-Saharan Africa at 13%. Among the military population, the prevalence rate is estimated to be two times higher than the national rate. Project Concern International (PCI) is working in Zambia to strengthen the capacity of the Defence Force Medical Services (DFMS) to plan and implement…
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