Navigating Uncharted Waters: Successes and Lessons Learned in 2020
It seems as if the whole world is taking one deep, collective breath as the end of 2020 approaches. Although we are looking forward to what the new year will bring, the lessons we have learned in 2020 are crucial for the future of our global community. This year brought much uncertainty, yet one thing…
Read MorePartner Spotlight: Anne Lasimbang of PACOS Trust
Even as a young child, Anne Lasimbang spent time collecting funds from neighbors to support families in need as well as distributed information related to pertinent community matters in support of her mother’s community organizing. Growing up in the village of Nampasan in the Malaysian Borneo state of Sabah, Anne never envisioned she would eventually…
Read MoreSolar Powered Health Clinics in Peru Strengthen Community Resilience
Prior to having electricity at their rural health clinics in the Andean mountains, health care workers in Contumazá, Cajamarca, Peru had to travel three hours one way to obtain and deliver vaccinations, among many other critical setbacks. Peru also now has the fifth highest coronavirus caseload in the world at around 740,000 infected patients, and…
Read MoreThe Silver Lining of the Pandemic: Virtual Capacity Building
When COVID-19 shut down Green Empowerment projects across Latin America, our staff and local partners were initially devastated. The renewable energy and clean water projects we were looking forward to supporting were put on an indefinite hold at a time when communities most needed those resources. However, we quickly pivoted by brainstorming and then executing…
Read MoreClean Water System in Peru Improves Health, Education & Business
For many years, Doña Noa and fellow residents of Las Tunas, Peru endeavored to persuade their local government to invest in a potable water system and related training for their community. As a last mile community, far from major cities, it’s extremely difficult to find funding for these types of systems. Las Tunas residents decided…
Read MoreThree Principles of Community-Owned Renewable Energy
Global Challenges, Local Solutions: Series #3 By Mohammad Pakravan, Green Empowerment Technical Program Manager In my last article on renewable energy, I mentioned that the public utility provider for the Malaysian state of Sarawak, known as SEB, has set up an initiative to provide reliable electricity access to every household in the state by 2025. …
Read MoreAdvocating for Renewable Energy in the Land of Free Diesel
Global Challenges, Local Solutions: Series #2 By Mohammad Pakravan, Green Empowerment Technical Program Manager Without a doubt electricity is one of the most vital infrastructures for any development initiative. However, not any type of electricity source is appropriate or sustainable for development, especially in remote areas. While many of the community members in the rainforests…
Read MoreBacteria, Boiling & the Body’s Resistance: Dispelling Myths About Access to Clean Drinking Water
Global Challenges, Local Solutions: Series #1 By Mohammad Pakravan, Green Empowerment Technical Program Manager In January of this year I traveled to Malaysian Borneo to learn about development and capacity building in Malaysian Borneo. During my month-long visit in Sabah and Sarawak and Indonesia, I had a chance to visit some of the most remote…
Read MoreWhy partnership inspired me to roll up my sleeves and make cebiche!
I participated in the #cebichechallenge for several reasons, the first was to help raise awareness about Green Empowerment’s vital efforts to bring renewable energy and clean water to rural communities across the globe, communities like San Antonio, Nicaragua and Membrillar, Peru. In the isolated high desert region of northern Nicaragua, the 70 family community of…
Read MoreWhat Flows from a Protected Watershed?
In honor of Earth Day we are thrilled to share that earlier this month the government of Nicaragua officially recognized the “Reserva Silvestre, El Cua,” established by our local partner organization the Association of Rural Development Workers- Ben Linder (ATDER-BL), as one unified forest reserve. The reserve was built piece by piece over the last…
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