Blog
Uniting for Change: Community-Driven Solutions to Prevent Child Marriage
Sanjay Dubey, a high school teacher in the Palamu district of Jharkand, India, was taking attendance for his 9th grade class when he noticed something unsettling — Shreya*, one of his students, had been absent for five consecutive days. This wasn’t an isolated case. Time and again, Sanjay had watched girls in grades 9 and…
Read MoreFrom Commitment to Care: Sustaining Integrated Health and Family Planning Services in Burkina Faso
By Idrissa Derra, Community Health Technical Specialist, INSPiRE Two years ago, the CSPS Urbain de Pô health center in southern Burkina Faso began delivering integrated maternal and child health, nutrition, and family planning services through a model supported by the Gates Foundation-funded INSPiRE project. Since then, midwife Rachelle Gamba and her team have seen rising…
Read MoreMenstrual Health Is Everyone’s Responsibility — A Global Perspective on Girls’ Education
By Leonel Arguello, Director, Integrated School Feeding Programs, Global Communities Six years ago, I had the opportunity to visit primary schools in rural Tanzania where Global Communities was implementing a McGovern-Dole Food for Education project. As someone who has spent much of my career designing and leading integrated school meals programs, I’ve long understood that…
Read MoreWorld Health Worker Week: A Global Call to Invest in Health Workers
By Abbey Savin Each year during the first week of April, the Frontline Health Workers Coalition – hosted by IntraHealth International, a Global Communities Partner – leads World Health Worker Week (WHWWeek), a powerful platform for collective advocacy. The campaign highlights the critical importance of sustained leadership and long-term investment in the health workforce to…
Read MoreReturning Home At Last: A Fragile New Chapter in Northern Syria
By Jasper Vaughn The past six months have brought both upheaval and hope for people displaced by conflict in northern Syria. Since the overthrow of the Assad regime in December 2024, more than 470,000 refugees have returned to Syria, and more than 700,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) — those displaced within the country, either within…
Read MoreMargaret Odera: Championing Community Health Workers in Kenya
Health workers are the heart of global health security, playing a crucial role in preventing and responding to pandemics, as well as addressing growing threats of other infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and maternal and child health challenges. In honor of World Health Worker Week, meet Margaret Odera of Kenya, a devoted community health worker…
Read MoreInnovation in Action: A Q&A with Radhika Bhavsar on Driving Positive Impact
By Maureen Simpson If you ask Radhika “Rad” Bhavsar, innovation is meant to be uncomfortable. Valuable breakthroughs and insights rarely come packaged without this necessary rite of passage; the key is trusting the process. “I think my life has always been trial and error, and through trial and error, you learn faster,” says Rad, who…
Read MoreFive Reasons Why School Meals Matter
School meals are more than just a plate of food; they are the cornerstone of nurturing the next generation in places around the world where children face hunger. That’s why Global Communities is proud to implement integrated school feeding projects that help deliver essential nutrition, education and health services to over 435,000 pre- and primary…
Read MoreInspiring Women’s Leadership and Resilience in Guatemala
What began as a small pilot project in Guatemala has flourished into a national movement, driving women’s leadership and social and economic participation through community-based savings groups.
Read MoreFrom Destruction to Determination: How Grants are Reviving Gaza’s Small Businesses
Running a small business is challenging even in the best of times, but the war in Gaza has devastated local entrepreneurs, making it nearly impossible to sustain their businesses amid widespread destruction and displacement. According to a report by the United Nations Development Programme, around 85% of enterprises have halted their production. Meanwhile, 63% of…
Read MoreSupporting Foster Families Amid Ongoing War in Ukraine
By Galyna Goreshniak Growing up as an only child, Olha Gez always dreamed of having a big family of her own one day. Now, she runs a family-type orphanage in Dnipropetrovsk oblast — providing a safe haven for some of the most vulnerable children experiencing the war in Ukraine. “My childhood dream came true when…
Read MoreHow Oral Information Management Tools Boost Women’s Financial Literacy and Savings in Ethiopia
By Jessica Ayala, Sr. Manager for Digital Communications Savings groups—often referred to as informal community banks—are small groups of people who save together and lend to each other from their pooled funds. Globally, as many as 500 million people belong to savings groups. Approximately 80% of members are women, and many savings groups programs are…
Read MoreLocal Plumber Turned Entrepreneur Champions Sanitation for All in Ghana
In the bustling district of Sagnarigu, Ghana, one name is quickly becoming synonymous with positive change: Awal. As a Digni-Loo entrepreneur under Enhancing WASH (En-WASH), an activity funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Awal has turned his vision of sustainable sanitation into a reality, one toilet at a time. Awal’s journey…
Read MoreHumanity at Risk: Addressing Challenges to Principled Humanitarian Action
By Paula Rudnicka, Sr. Manager for Public Affairs. Audio production by Kallista Zormelo. For decades, the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence have underpinned humanitarian action. They provide a foundation for delivering aid with integrity and fairness, and they help ensure that assistance reaches those in need based on vulnerability and urgency, rather…
Read MoreCultivating New Leaders, Healthier Futures through Family Gardens
San Francisco de Cones is a peaceful mountain village in Honduras known for its year-round temperate climate and fertile land, ideal for growing beans, corn and coffee. Most residents rely on growing the food they consume and, until recently, there was always enough to sustain them. However, over the past five years, frequent landslides, winter…
Read MoreStrengthening Partnerships and Governance for Sustainable WASH Solutions in Indigenous Communities: Deepening Our Understanding of Local Needs and Challenges
By Gigi Dupuy & Marc Valentin While most people have access to basic drinking water in Guatemala, many rural areas, especially those that are home to Indigenous Mayan communities, do not. In these communities, water is not just a resource but a sacred part of their culture and a living entity, influencing how they manage…
Read MoreCelebrating 10 Years of Positive Impact in Brazil
In 2014, Global Communities arrived in Brazil in partnership with the John Deere Foundation to implement the Sowing Futures program in Horizontina (RS). Since then, we have expanded our operations to promote sustainable development in 8 Brazilian states and supported community development through the mobilization of more than 9,000 volunteers and the training of more…
Read MorePass the Mic: Localizing Child Protection Interventions in Ukraine’s Humanitarian Context
By Paula Rudnicka, Sr. Manager for Public Affairs Global Communities has a rich history of implementing Child Protection in Emergencies programs. Our interventions are multifaced, ranging from psychosocial counselling and art therapy classes to life skills, literacy and parenting sessions. In countries where institutional services are weak, Global Communities delivers these services directly, including through…
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