USAID SCORE Empowers Monaragala Youth to Become Reconciliation Champions on Social Media Platforms
USAID SCORE recently facilitated a group networking session and a workshop for 26 youth from Moneragala selected with the support of the National Youth Services Council based on their interest and capacity and has remained engaged with SCORE in promoting social cohesion and reconciliation on social media. The workshop was a follow-up to previous trainings…
Read MoreEntrepreneurship Development Activity in Sri Lanka Wins Global Communities “One Good Idea” Award
In 2015, Global Communities’ launched the One Good Idea Award as an opportunity to create, innovate and promote learning from within and capture the innovation and learning that occurs at both the headquarters and field level. The Award, which is supported by the Sanders Family Foundation, allows us to reflect on how we can strengthen…
Read MoreIndia Boys’ Home Residents Gain New Skills, Perspectives Behind the Lens
In June 1985, the piercing green eyes of an Afghan refugee girl peered out at National Geographic readers in what would become one of the magazine’s most iconic covers. Decades later, Steve McCurry, the photographer who captured the image started ImagineAsia, a nonprofit that gives vulnerable youth in Afghanistan the opportunity to be on the…
Read MoreUSAID SCORE in Sri Lanka Promotes Beekeeping as an Innovative Way to Mitigate Human-elephant Conflict and Improve Local Livelihoods
Following the community resettlement in 2010, frequent incidents of elephants raiding crops in the Paddikudiyeruppu GN division in Vavuniya North in Sri Lanka have resulted in a number of human casualties as well as severe economic consequences due to crop losses. To mitigate the consequences arising from the human-elephant conflict, the Paddikudiyeruppu community suggested engaging…
Read MoreCrossing the Ethnic Divide
SCORE supports access road renovation to improve inter-ethnic relations Nimal Rajapaksa, a Sinhalese mason from the Agbopura new settlement area, travels on his motorcycle to a construction site in the Tamil-majority Vavuniya town using the newly renovated access road in Agbopura in Vavuniya South in the war-torn North of Sri Lanka. Previously, he had to…
Read MoreUSAID SCORE Promotes Reconciliation and Social Cohesion Through Youth Sports Festival
Using sports as a vehicle for reconciliation and increased social cohesion, USAID SCORE together with the National Youth Services Council organized a sports festival recently in Maduruketiya, at the school grounds in the Monaragala district. SCORE is a three-year social cohesion and reconciliation activity implemented Global Communities to strengthen Sri Lankan led efforts to advance…
Read MoreUSAID SCORE Supports Street Drama Promoting Reconciliation And Social Cohesion Among Multi-Ethnic Students
USAID SCORE recently supported the Ministry of National Integration, Official Languages, Social Progress and Hindu Religious Affairs (MONIOLSP) in a series of street drama productions promoting social cohesion and reconciliation among school students and teachers in the Monaragala District. Exploring themes of religious freedom and mutual respect among communities, the performances, which took place earlier…
Read MoreUSAID SCORE Facilitates Outboard Engine Training for Fishermen in North Sri Lanka
Pias Sandrakumar, a 26-year-old fisherman from the resettled village of Ilawalai North West in Jaffna in the conflict-affected North of Sri Lanka, used to worry when he would take his boat out in case of technical problems. Now, however, he is able to go out to sea for fishing with less worry now that he…
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 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…
Read MoreCooperatives in Post-transition Poland
Cooperatives in Post-transition Poland Cooperative Housing Legacy 1991 to Present Day From 1991- 2000, Global Communities, then known as CHF International, worked in post-transition Poland under funding from USAID, seeking to help cooperatives re-establish themselves as organizations capable of delivering housing and addressing some of the key housing issues in the newly forming market economy.…
Read MoreVideo: John Deere Foundation and Global Communities Partnership
Video: John Deere Foundation and Global Communities Partnership Global Communities has been partnering with the John Deere Foundation since 2012 to implement community development projects in the vicinity of Deere’s operations in India, Brazil and the US. Our programs create long-lasting, community-led change by organizing multiple stakeholders in development decisions affecting their lives and their…
Read MoreInvesting in Energy Access
Investing in Energy Access De-risking Energy Projects through Community Engagement and Financial Inclusion By Robyn McGuckin, Energy Specialist at Global Communities | This article originally appeared on Medium. Photo: Mathieu Young/Off Grid Electric Providing first-time electricity to more than 1 billion people around the world is not a task for the fainthearted. In fact, it is…
Read MoreGlobal Communities’ Programs in India
Beginning in 2003, Global Communities partnered with India’s local governments, national ministries, corporations and hundreds of communities across the country to design and implement programs to reduce poverty and empower communities to sustain positive change. Global Communities’ programs help stakeholders create more-inclusive growth by not only improving infrastructure and access to basic services, but also…
Read MoreThe Business Perspective in BiH Still Exists
The Business Perspective in BiH Still Exists Successes from the LIDER Microfinance Program in Bosnia and Herzegovina In the ocean of negative information, pessimistic persecution and bad statistics in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the positive stories of quite ordinary people, true local community fighters, send a message that there is still hope for the success of…
Read MoreWhat Does Sustainability Look Like 17 Years Later? A Return to Poland.
This article originally appeared in the Huffington Post. At the heart of global development is the question of sustainability. How can we ensure that our investments in emerging economies have a positive impact beyond the end of program funding? Development programs funded by institutional donors or foundations tend to have a limited lifespan – three…
Read MoreThe Vital Role of Business in Global Development
The Vital Role of Business in Global Development Removing all barriers to mutually beneficial partnerships is smart business and good for our communities. By David A. Weiss, President & CEO for Global Communities | This article originally appeared on UPS Latitudes. “Many forward-looking companies have integrated CSR into corporate strategy and business operations.” The challenges…
Read More