September 2014
Join Winrock International and Education for Employment for the gender presentation, "How to Address Gender Roles When Improving Economic Opportunities within Rural Areas," on Oct. 7 at the 2014 Global Youth Economic Opportunities Summit in Washington, D.C.
Congratulations to Professor Tekalign Mamo Assefa, who recently won the 2014 Yara Prize, which honors leadership for the future of farming In Africa. Tekalign was formerly the lead agronomist on the Winrock-implemented Ethiopian Women Leaders in Extension and Research project in Ethiopia.
In November 2013, Winrock sent coffee expert Rick Peyser to Myanmar on a Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer assignment to work with smallholder coffee farmers and estates, assessing needs and opportunities, and providing training. His visit is the subject of a story in the September/October issue of Roast magazine.
Devex recently published an article detailing 30 years of the Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program, while highlighting some of Winrock’s F2F volunteers.
Business start-ups are participating in the first ARK Challenge in Little Rock, Ark. The ARK challenge is a business accelerator program for technology startups serving the retail/logistics industries in northwest Arkansas and finance IT/health IT/government services in central Arkansas.
On Aug. 28, the USAID Actions for Combating Trafficking-in-Persons (ACT) project convened government and anti-trafficking stakeholders in Dhaka to "review the achievements and gaps of the National Plan of Action (NPA) to Combat Human Trafficking 2012-2014."
Winrock’s Mary Renwick lent her expertise to an article this month in The Christian Science Monitor, highlighting the work to bring clean water to communities around the world.
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Room to Learn project joins National Girls' Education Day celebrations in South Sudan
 Last month, the Winrock-implemented Room to Learn (RtL) program joined members of the Ministry of Education Science & Technology, development partners, and school girls to celebrate National Girls’ Education Day in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
As the country struggles to achieve its long-term vision of building an educated and informed nation, the USAID-funded program is expanding its support to South Sudan. Collaborating with the Ministry of Education Science & Technology, and other partners, RtL will use a community-based approach to reach out to school children and youth. The program emphasizes literacy, gender equity and conflict-mitigation, and aims to reach 1.1 million children, by enrolling out-of-school children in school, improving the educational experience and offering distance-learning channels such as radio instruction and mobile phone audio libraries in hard-to-reach areas.
This year‘s celebration emphasized enhancing behavioral change, with a particular focus on girls’ education. While addressing the gathering, Hon. Manase Lomole Waya, deputy governor of Central Equatoria State, stressed the importance of girls’ education, as well as preventing gender-based violence and non-inclusive cultural practices that hinder girls’ education. The deputy governor also emphasized the need to enforce community by-laws if girls are to be protected from cultural biases that restrict their ability to learn.
Room to Learn donated 20 school bags, along with text books, to the girls for excelling in the South Sudan Primary School Leaving Examination.
Manuela Guwo Aresto, a 14-year-old beneficiary, said the program inspires girls to study. “I am very excited as the books will help me improve my reading and I will use the bag to carry all my books. Rain will never destroy my books again,” she said. “I encourage my siblings and other girls like me to enjoy education and become better women in the future." 
Biodiversity restoration in Bangladesh from small seeds to tall trees
 In some of the last remnants of tropical forest north of Cox’s Bazar in the southeastern corner of Bangladesh, the Government of Bangladesh declared two protected areas: Fashiakhali Wildlife Sanctuary and Medakacchapia National Park. Established in 2007 and 2004, respectively, these protected areas together preserve nearly 1,700 hectares of forest area. However, even with protected-area status, the forests have become degraded due to population pressure, illegal felling, encroachment and erosion.
One distinctive feature of the forests in these two areas is the extensive stands of Garjan trees, which reach heights of 30 to 40 meters. Garjan trees — once widespread in eastern Bangladesh — present a striking image with their tall straight trunks and umbrella-like canopy, but the mid-story (middle canopy) is missing. Upon closer inspection, it is clear that these forests are ecologically unbalanced and under threat. There is no natural regeneration and a limited under-story, leaving the forest floor vulnerable to erosion and upsetting soil fertility and moisture levels, which are necessary for Garjan seed germination. The situation has been aggravated further by pre-monsoon droughts that may be influenced by climate variability.
With support from the Winrock-implemented Climate Resilient Ecosystems and Livelihoods (CREL) project, locals have taken action to support the growth and germination of these trees and worked to restore biodiversity. Two thousand school children, the Co-management Committee, and the Forest Department’s North Division for Cox’s Bazar participated in the campaign to promote planting and regeneration in Garjan forest areas. Continue reading. 
Georgia campaign raises awareness about benefits of sustainable energy consumption
 On Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, the USAID-funded Enhancing Capacity for Low Emission Development Strategies (EC-LEDS) Clean Energy Program held a two-day awareness campaign, Energy Efficiency is a Smart Choice, in Batumi, Adjara, Georgia. The purpose of the campaign was to raise awareness among the Georgian population about the benefits of sustainable energy consumption, energy cost savings through energy efficiency, and the benefits of energy efficient technologies — among them, energy efficient lighting, home appliances, buildings and waste management.
As part of the framework of the campaign, the program held a competition/quiz for Batumi residents and visitors in Batumi Boulevard and an Energy Efficiency Street Art performance on the wall of Batumi Port.
The awareness campaign was joined by USAID’s Project Waste Management Technologies in the Regions (WMTR).
The EC-LEDS Clean Energy Program is supported by USAID and implemented by Winrock International. Through this project, USAID supports Georgia’s efforts to increase climate change mitigation through energy efficiency and clean energy activities, and enables more responsible management and development of Georgia’s natural endowments. |
