GHANA

Institute for Cultural Affairs

www.ica-international.org/ghana

Mission of Host NGO:
ICA-Ghana is a member of the ICA network, which has local partners in over 30 countries throughout the world. Founded in 1997, ICA-Ghana conducts training in human-centered development practices to enable communities to facilitate their own development, and works with them to promote environmentally and socially sustainable economic growth.

AJWS Grant Support:
AJWS supports ICA-Ghana's project to work with 10 women's self-help groups and 10 village development committees in Tatale/Zabzugu, a severely underserved area of northern Ghana. The overall goal of the project is to enable the participating communities to strengthen their economic bases, thereby reducing urban migration, advancing the role of women, promoting access to basic health care and enhancing the work already underway on basic education.

History of Hosting Groups:
ICA-Ghana has partnered with AJWS since 2001. They have hosted individual, through the AJWS Volunteer Corps and have hosted Volunteer Summer programs for the past two consecutive years.

Host Community:
The group will stay in Vakpo Adomi, a village in the Kpando district in the Volta Region of Ghana. The village has a population of about 1,000 people.

Work Project:
The group will help build latrines as a community-identified health and hygiene project.

UGANDA

Foundation for the Development of Needy Communities (FDNC)

http://www.fdncuganda.org/

Mission of Host NGO:
FDNC was created in 1996 by a group of unemployed high school graduates and other members of rural communities of Bungokho. Its mission is to bring rural communities together in joint participatory efforts to enhance their own self-reliance and sustainable development. FDNC promotes the productivity, innovation and self-reliance of disadvantaged people, especially women, children, youth and persons with disabilities through social and community development programs.

AJWS Grant Support:
AJWS supports FDNC to build on its accomplishments in the areas of HIV awareness, primary health care, adolescent reproductive health, counseling and education and vocational training to improve the conditions of underserved rural communities in eastern Uganda. Activities include ongoing training and support of 32 health workers and 200 school dropouts studying at FDNC's vocational training center. The center provides skills training in computers, tailoring, carpentry, masonry and catering.

History of Hosting Groups:
FDNC has hosted two AJWS delegation groups and many individual volunteers. This will be their second time hosting Volunteer Summer.

Host Community:
The group will be staying and working in a community called Bubirabi, in the Natondome Village in eastern Uganda.

Accommodations:
The group will be living at FDNC's vocational school in dormitory rooms. Electricity is available about half of the time; there is no running water, but the group will use latrines.

Work Project:
The group will help build a boys' hostel at the vocational school run by FDNC. This building will provide a safe and secure facility for the boys that will generate revenue through hostel fees for the school. The group will also work on a community project helping with the construction of at least two water tanks for schools in communities supported by the NGO, which are  desperately needed. The group will be using a new interlocking brick technology that does not require the bricks to be fired (no wood required, so the project is environmentally friendly). FDNC students will be able to learn alongside the AJWS team about this new technology.

NICARAGUA

La Fundación Denis Ernesto González (FDEG)

Mission of Host NGO:
FDEG works for Nicaragua's youth and peasant population through the development and promotion of projects in a variety of areas, including sustainable agriculture, the environment, women's empowerment and drug-use prevention. Its goal is to improve the living and working conditions of the most vulnerable sectors of Nicaraguan society and to reduce poverty, hunger and unemployment rates.

AJWS Grant Support:
AJWS provides support to FDEG's sustainable agriculture project. The project employs 109 families who were left jobless by the closing of many coffee plantations in the region due to the sudden and drastic fall of coffee prices in 1999 and 2000. The project provides fertilizer, tools and technical assistance for crop diversification, and promotes community organizing. Each family contributes a portion of their harvest to a fund used to obtain seeds for subsequent plantings. The long-term goal of the project is to incorporate diversified farming cooperatives, permanently improve the income and nutritional intake of participants and provide a long-term alternative to working in the coffee industry.

History of Hosting Groups:
FDEG has been an AJWS grantee since 2003. They first hosted a group in March 2006 from Columbia/Barnard Hillel. Since then they have hosted several AJWS Delegations and Alternative Breaks.

Host Community:
FDEG works in two communities, El Horno and Yúcul, which are both in the municipality of San Ramón, in the department (province) of Matagalpa. They are 160 km (about100 miles) north of Managua and 30 km (about 20 miles) from Matagalpa.

Accommodations:
The group will sleep in the community school building in either Yúcul or El Horno. Living conditions will be basic, with mattresses on the floor.

Work Project:
Over the past three years, FDEG has received more requests for trainings and capacity building than they have been able to offer. Therefore, to meet this demand and to be in line with its vision, FDEG has decided to construct its own training center which will include classrooms, a dormitory and a community garden for the development of different permaculture (a type of sustainable agriculture) models. The facility will be conveniently located in the outskirts of the town of San Ramón on one of the main roads that crosses through the department of Matagalpa. The training center will enable FDEG to bring farmers from different regions in Nicaragua and train them in sustainable agriculture methods. In the past, FDEG has rented spaces for these trainings. Renting space, food and lodging has been expensive and inefficient because FDEG has only been able to offer it to a few farmers at a time.

The construction of the FDEG training center, which is partially funded by AJWS, will be completed in two phases. The first phase will take place in 2008; the second phase will be completed in 2009. AJWS volunteers will help construct this facility from start to finish. Throughout the course of 2008, participants from a family delegation, as well as Alternative Break and Volunteer Summer participants, will all be contributing toward completing the first phase of the project.

HONDURAS

Red de Comercialización Comunitaria Alternativa - "Red COMAL" (Alternative Community Commercialization Network)

http://redcomal.org.hn/

Mission of Host NGO:
COMAL was born out of a series of discussions in the mid-1990s among small farmers and producers concerned about lack of access to markets and the precarious state of rural food security in Honduras. COMAL's goal is to revolutionize the rural economy through fostering transparency and facilitating cooperative buying and selling in the marketplace.

AJWS Grant Support:
In past years, AJWS supported Red COMAL to enable it to build the capacity of its board of directors, who are all members of its constituent peasant organizations. Board members attend monthly meetings where they oversee Red COMAL's progress, create policy and receive trainings from experts in topics such as tax and labor law, project planning, gender equity and international trade politics. Board members then return to their regions, where they share their experiences with members of their own organizations and others in their region.

History of Hosting Groups:
Red COMAL has hosted an Alternative Break as well as two Volunter Summer groups. The NGO regularly hosts visiting groups of their own promotores (community organizers) and other NGOs from around Honduras and Central America.

Host Community:
Red COMAL works in many communities around the country. Volunteer Summer participants will be living in a community near the town of Gracias, in the west of the country in the department of Lempira.

Work Project:
The members of Red COMAL are facing a number of difficulties. One is the lack of storage facilities to store crops (mainly corn and beans) to keep them fresh for longer periods of time. Peasants are forced to sell their crops (immediately) to predatory intermediaries and at very low prices. Therefore, Red COMAL has decided to build a storage facility in order to solve this problem. The decision has been made in a democratic and participatory manner by Red COMAL's board, executive committees; and by members of the regional committees. This project, which is funded by AJWS, will benefit and help more than 10 communities in the region of Gracias. In addition, AJWS volunteers will be involved in the construction of this facility from start to finish. Both Alternative Breaks and Volunteer Summer participants will be working to complete this project in 2008.

INDIA

Rural Institute for Development Education (RIDE)

http://www.cs.utk.edu/~siddhart/tamilnadu/SERVICE/ride.html

Mission of Host NGO:
RIDE was founded in 1984 to eradicate the use of child labor in the silk weaving industry in and around Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, in southern India. RIDE's major activity is the organization and operation of "bridge" schools. Currently, RIDE operates 10 bridge schools. The schools are a "bridge" between the child laborers in the loom factories and the government schools.

In addition to the bridge schools, RIDE also operates night schools for children who have not yet been released from the looms or those studying in government or bridge schools who need additional support. RIDE also provides self-help programs for women. A variety of programs, including low-interest micro loans, have helped many women to become financially independent. In addition to advocacy and self-help programs, RIDE initiated an AIDS awareness program and a voter awareness program. RIDE is one of the leading NGOs working to eliminate child labor in South India.

AJWS project:

AJWS has supported the work of RIDE in Kanchipuram, India since 1998.  RIDE is AJWS' longest-standing grantee in India.

History of Hosting Groups:
RIDE has hosted individual AJWS volunteers for the past eight years; in addition they host a group of students from Semester at Sea each year. This will be the first Volunteer Summer group to travel to India.

Host Community:
The group will be living and working in Little Kanchipuram, which is located in Tamil Nadu, four hours away from the city of Chennai.

Accommodations:
The group will be staying at a youth hostel built by RIDE to promote eco-tourism. There is electricity and running water.

Work project:
The group will work on the construction of a classroom, which will be used by children aged four to 11. The classroom will be located at the RIDE ArpakamTraining Center. In addition, the volunteers will develop a playground and paint parts of the training center.

 

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