January 2012
In rural Nepal, many women raising families struggle through life just to make ends meet. Read this success story which highlights how the USAID-funded Education for Income Generation program – implemented by Winrock International – is equipping disadvantaged young women with life-changing entrepreneurial and literacy skills.
Read about how the Winrock-implemented AMORE III program is bringing solar energy to remote villages in Mindanao, Phillipines – such as this one in Mauban town in Quezon.
In Arkansas, the percentage of women-owned small businesses is on the rise. However, during times of economic uncertainty, new and prospective business owners can benefit from a dedicated support system. Winrock’s Arkansas Women's Business Center supports women-owned businesses by providing training, counseling and access to capital. If you would like to support this project, you can make a donation on GlobalGiving. Thank you.
American Carbon Registry this month announced an open public comment period for a first-of-its-kind carbon offset methodology that will quantify greenhouse gas reductions from a broad range of wetland restoration activities. Once the methodology is approved by ACR, it can be used to generate carbon offsets through wetland restoration projects in the Mississippi Delta, the sale of which will generate revenues to help pay for rebuilding the Gulf of Mexico’s disappearing coastal wetland. The methodology, Restoration of Degraded Deltaic Wetlands of the Mississippi Delta, was developed by Tierra Resources and funded by Entergy Corporation. Read the press release.
The dream of the food movement is a system where everyone can access wholesome, regional food at an affordable price while producers get a fair price for their product. The question that many have: Can this dream become a reality? Register today for a National Good Food Network webinar on Feb. 16 for this discussion: The Price Point Conundrum - How the Sustainable Farmer Can Afford Her Own Tomato.
Read about how the Actions to Combat Trafficking-in-Persons program (ACT), implemented by Winrock and funded by USAID is working to reduce trafficking in men, women and children in Bangladesh.
Are you interested in working at Winrock? Search current openings and post your resume. Would you like to volunteer with Winrock? Learn more about new opportunities for volunteers.
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Breaking tradition, women learn to fix vital water supply equipment
 Water is in extremely short supply in Akoc Chaz Village, as it is throughout Southern Sudan. A single borehole and the hand-powered pump attached to it – drilled with funding provided by the USAID-funded Building Responsibility for Delivery of Government Services (BRIDGE) program, implemented by Winrock International – provides the only means of obtaining water in this part of Warrap State. If the pump stopped working or needed a spare part, villagers once waited until a man with some mechanical skills was available to repair it. It could take days until life-giving water for drinking, cooking and cleaning started flowing again.
That all changed after Nyankirr Ajak, a 35-year-old mother of five, and fellow village mother Ariec Gak, 28, were trained through the BRIDGE program as hand pump caretakers. Initially, the two women, who are members of the local Water Management Committee (WMC), resisted the idea of learning how to carry out equipment repairs on their own. However, after attending the training on basic pump repairs and maintenance, they said, “our eyes were opened.” Now, instead of waiting, these women can help maintain and even repair equipment themselves, ensuring maximum community gains from the borehole and pump project.
“What a man can do, a woman can do,” the women stated proudly after the training. Ariec Gak said handling tools normally used only by men in her village felt strange at first. At the end of the training, however, as people gathered around to watch her and Ajak successfully replacing the pump head, Gak said she is looking forward to using her new skills to keep water flowing safely and reliably.
To date, BRIDGE has trained 58 members of local WMCs in hand pump repair in Twic County – nearly half are women. 
Winrock project honored with Energy Globe Award for country of Georgia
 Representatives of 50 nations came to Wels, Austria, in November to be honored for outstanding achievements for the environment at the Energy Globe Gala. Among almost 1,000 entries from 105 nations, the project “Energy Efficiency Program for Georgian Communities - Energy Bus Project” was selected by the Energy Globe Jury for the National Energy Globe Award for the country of Georgia.
The Energy Bus Project is a joint effort of British Petroleum and USAID-funded New Applied Technology Efficiency and Lighting Initiative (NATELI) project implemented by the subcontractor, Georgian NGO Energy Efficiency Centre (EEC) in collaboration with Winrock. The Energy Bus travels around Georgia and serves as a means of raising awareness in the population. It is a mobile showroom of small-scale energy efficient equipment, building materials, leaflets and newsletters promoting renewable energy/energy efficiency and providing access to information on suppliers and financing options, if available.
The Georgian delegation to the Energy Globe Award was represented by Irina Sulava from the NATELI project; Giorgi Gongliashvili, Tamila Chantladze and Gela Kavelashvili from British Petroleum; and Giorgi Abulashvili and Liana Garibashvili from the Georgian NGO Energy Efficiency Centre.
“For Georgia and our organization aiming at the development of clean energy technologies, participation and especially winning in such events is encouraging, on the one hand, and obligatory to work harder for the development of energy efficient and renewable energy technologies,”said Giorgi Abulashvili, director of the NGO Energy Efficiency Centre.
The Energy Globe Award is the most prominent environmental prize worldwide and the goals of the Energy Globe Foundation include creating awareness concerning the necessity for sustainability with an emphasis on conservation and sensible use of resources such as energy. 
Rockefeller Foundation selects Winrock for Innovation Kitchen Award
 In recognition of its innovation in the field of international development, Winrock International was awarded an unrestricted $100,000 Innovation Kitchen grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to support continued innovation within the organization. The Foundation lauded Winrock’s broad support for innovation at all levels of the organization and particularly within its global Multiple Use Water Services (MUS)program. Rockefeller Foundation program officers knew of Winrock’s commitment to innovation through their support for an MUS initiative led by Dr. Mary Renwick.
As Winrock’s first Water Innovation Program Officer, Mary pioneered an approach to strategically position Winrock within the water sector and integrate water innovation into Winrock’s three main programs: Enterprise and Agriculture, Environment, and Empowerment & Civic Engagement.
The Rockefeller Foundation also cited Winrock’s Board of Directors and management team for their commitment to invest in internal innovation projects, foster cross learning between field projects, and learn from failure as well as success in the innovation process. The Rockefeller Foundation grant will support Winrock’s efforts to begin growing the knowledge and deployment of the MUS methodology defined by Renwick.
Multiple Use Water Services is an approach to water service delivery that takes into account the multiple water needs of people, rather than focusing on providing water for a single use – such as, drinking or irrigation.
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