PARTNERS

Partner Organization: Ghoghardia Prakhand Sworrajya Vikash Sangh (GPSVS)

Location: Madhubani District, Bihar, India

Time working with WN: 2000 – present

GPSVS’s mission is to develop people’s conscience to live in harmony with nature and with high moral values, tolerance towards all faiths, compassion and non-exploitation of their fellow beings and to achieve dignity, self-reliance, equity, and above all, people’s sovereignty. The organization operates in 123 villages, representing 230,000 people.

Some of the organization’s major programs are: empowerment of women in rural communities through awareness about their rights, participation in the development process, exercising political rights and starting income generating activities; improved natural resource management and planting trees, which has been implemented by 60% of the community members; almost all of the community has been educated on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and nutrition; literacy rates have been improved and dropout rates have been reduced among the girls after introducing an adolescent girls education program.

Over the years and with its life changing work in rural areas, GPSVS has garnered tremendous respect and recognition from local communities. Their work is equally recognized by the local and district-level government bodies.

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Partner Organization: Boudha Bahunipatti project Pariwar (BBPP)

Location: Kavre and Sindhupalchowk districts, Nepal

Time working with WN: 2010 – present

The mission of BBPP is to build the capacity of marginalized communities to achieve sustainable development so that they become self-reliant. The program’s focus is on reproductive health, women’s issues, saving and credit programs, sustainable agriculture and rural livelihood, community based natural resources management, and community development activities such as drinking water, and micro-irrigation. BBPP represents five village development communities, which in turn include 24 community groups with 554 members.

BBPP has been active in recovery and relief work after the mega earthquake that hit Kavre and Sindhupalchok badly – all the houses in the communities were reduced to rubble. This organization raised funds through various sources to build community halls where people can conduct events and meetings, as well as take shelter from earthquakes. BBPP works in reproductive health and general health services through three sustainable clinics that are well recognized by the communities, local agencies and donors. The birthing center has saved the lives of many rural women and infants.

The organization is small but efficient and does work that is relevant in a rural context. Over the years, along with garnering recognition and respect from its program as well as other adjoining communities, BBPP has become well trusted by local government agencies.

Partner Organization: Assosiasaun Haburas Capasidade Agrikultor & Ekonomia (AHCAE)

Location: Oecusse, Timor-Leste

Time working with WN: 2005-2011, 2013 – present

AHCAE works in very remote areas of Oecusse where a majority of the farmers still practice slash and burn techniques. The organization focuses on agriculture, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), protection and conservation of natural water springs, saving and credit groups, animal husbandry, and developing the capacity of civil society organizations.

Many of the program villages can only be reached on foot during the rainy season, but despite this, AHCAE has seen successful. Many farmers have moved away from slash and burn farming techniques. This and other successes by AHCAE have helped the communities take ownership of the projects they are involved in.

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Partner Organization: Berugak Desa

Location: Lombok, Indonesia

Time working with WN: 2014 – present

Berugak Desa works with WN on disaster preparedness and climate change adaptation in Lombok, Indonesia. This ranges from conducting disaster risk assessments at the village level based on WN methodology and creating disaster mitigation plans to training communities in sustainable agriculture and disseminating disaster preparedness/climate change media to communities. Berugak Desa’s work strengthens the resilience of communities.

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Partner Organization: Lembaga Studi Pengkajian (LESPEL)

Location: Sumbawa, Indonesia

Time working with WN: 2014 – present

LESPEL works to improve food security through the application of sustainable agricultural technology, the development of local food crops, seed storage and organic farming. The organization also improves access to clean water through the protection of water sources, the establishment of water storage tanks and boreholes. LESPEL is a well-established organization that has been active for almost 10 years and maintains a cooperative with half a million dollars in capital.

Partner Organization: The Center for New Alliances Social and Environmental Entrepreneurship (Cepanesas)

Location: Sololá (Lake Atitlan), Guatemala

Time working with WN: 2014 – present

Cepanesas is an organization led by women from San Lucas Toliman, in Atitlan (Sololá). The organization was created in 2008 with the support of volunteers from the University of Texas A&M (as part of the Food for Progress project). The organization’s goal is to improve the living conditions of indigenous women in Atitlan through income-generating activities, in which the main business is to process local tropical fruits into nectar, jams, syrups, sauces and juices (either canned or bottled).

WN and Cepanesas have been working together since June 2014 on family farming, water sanitation and hygiene, nutrition and crop diversification in 17 communities, encompassing 637 households and 2,000 beneficiaries.

Cepanesas has assisted WN in incorporating gender equity in our work in Atitlan in the course of three years. In addition, the organization itself was able to learn WN’s participatory methodology and thus shifted from a solely business orientation perspective to more inclusive social and environmental non-for profit institution.

With that change, Cepanesas has garnered more visibility from its constituencies, indigenous women that cultivate and transform the local tropical fruits into products available in local markets. Cepanesas maintains sound practices of organic, healthy and safe fruit processing.  Their products are accepted not only by local consumers but also by tourists.

This organization has provided excellent workshops on nutrition, hygiene and entrepreneurship skills to families in those communities that do not speak Spanish but ancient Mayan languages, which constitutes a contribution for social and economic inclusion to indigenous women in Guatemala.

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Partner Organization: Organization of Peasants Bas Saul St. Michel de Lattalaye (OPBSL)

Location: St. Michel de Lattalaye, Artibonite Department, Haiti

Time working with WN: 2010 – present

OPBSL and WN have been working together since 2010 to establish savings and credit groups for women; strengthening their capacities in financial literacy and entrepreneurship.

The savings and credit groups work to improve the entire community by providing loans to families: (a) to send their children to school, (b) to buy clothing and food and (c) to receive medical attention.

In addition, OPBSL has established an agricultural tool bank so that families can have access to tools to work their land.

To promote sustainable agriculture, OPBSL focuses on soil conservation activities such as:

• constructing live and dead barriers;
• contour plowing; and
• terracing

Moreover, due to the increasingly erratic rainfall in the area (caused by deforestation and global climate change), community members are now able to catch rainwater using artisanal tanks.  This provides necessary irrigation water during the dry season.

Lastly, OPBSl has helped to prevent the spread of cholera by supporting the construction of latrines in each household.

OPBSL has earned the respect from the local authorities because they do so much to strengthen these communities. Currently OPBSL has 1490 members, which is more than double the number of beneficiaries since partnering with WN. The organization represents 190 subgroups in 62 communities.

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Partner Organization: Los Chankas Savings and Credit Cooperative (Los Chankas)

Location: Apurimac Region, Peru

Time working with WN: 2009 – present

The Los Chankas Savings and Credit Cooperative (Los Chankas) was founded in 2009 after a successful WN program in the region.  Los Chankas was created on the initiative of local community members. It is a cooperative that serves its constituencies:  smaller savings and credit groups.  These smaller groups began to realize that a savings and credit cooperative was not the same as microfinance. Rather, they are the ones who elect the leadership and evaluate the performance of the executive committee every month. Thus, within eight years, Los Chankas has developed into a solid and sustainable savings and credit cooperative that has gained the trust of community members.

WN has worked with this partner in the most remote areas of Apurimac in helping indigenous populations that had no access to any financial institutions.  Los Chankas and WN worked with 31 communities to strengthen their capacity for financial literacy, sustainable agriculture, climate change mitigation and adaptation, community health, food security, nutrition and water, sanitation and hygiene.