Global Communities has been working in
With funding from USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, Global Communities is providing emergency assistance to vulnerable conflict-affected populations to reduce increasing rates of malnutrition. This is being accomplished by focusing on poor hygiene practices, limited access to potable water and a reduction of purchasing power cause by increasing costs of food. Global Communities is working with local communities to disseminate key hygiene messages in conjunction with increasing access to improved water sources and the distribution of relief items. The program also supports economic recovery activities which seek to immediately increase purchasing power of vulnerable households for displaced populations as well as host communities.
With funding from USAID's Office of Food for Peace, Global Communities is employing an integrated strategy to promote food security among vulnerable households. This multi-pronged approach includes food aid, labor-based interventions and promotion of productive assets at the household level.
The Community Livelihoods Program (CLP), funded by USAID, aimed to improve the quality of basic education, boost academic performance and increase the retention of students, especially girls. To accomplish this, Global Communities provided teaching aids kits (TAKs) to more than 500 schools, as well as training and follow-up support to teachers on how to use the resources in the kits. Global Communities also helped to set up school libraries and resource rooms and assisted with small-scale infrastructure improvements (such as latrines) to improve the learning environment.
In the Middle East and North Africa, many children from low-income families suffer from inadequate access to flexible, low-cost and appropriate education, putting them at risk of entering into exploitative or illegal labor practices. Global Communities worked to counter this through the ACCESS-MENA program from 2004-2008 and the Alternatives to Combat Child Labor Through Education and Sustainable Services (ACCESS-Plus) program from 2008-2011. Funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, the goal of these programs was to reduce the number of children engaged in exploitative child labor. Through ACCESS-Plus, Global Communities partnered with key players in local government to implement awareness raising campaigns and hold workshops for the public on the importance of education, as well as increase child enrollment in educational programs. By partnering with parents, local organizations and municipalities, the program addressed both the direct and indirect causes that expose children to exploitative labor.
Global Communities implemented the Engaging Media and Civil Rights Activists in Rights-based issues in Yemen (EMCAR) program. Funded by the US State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, EMCAR increased the capacity of Yemeni media and civil society organizations to identify, address, and engage the public around social issues related to the rights of women and children with the goal of raising public awareness on these issues to empower citizenry and improve the status of women and children throughout the country.