Jordan is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world. Experts predict the country will experience extreme water poverty by 2025 unless the water sector prioritizes governance strengthening, improved financial performance, and sustainable management of water supplies. USAID/Jordan’s Water Governance Activity (WGA) works with Jordan’s Ministry of Water and Irrigation to promote sustainable water…
In Mexico, crimes such as assaults, muggings, public disturbances, and robberies are frequent. Because local authorities often do not address these crimes, citizens lose trust in government and become reluctant to cooperate with law enforcement. This dynamic weakens the ability of the justice system to successfully investigate and prosecute crimes. The Violence Prevention and Reduction…
In Tunisia, high unemployment — particularly among college-educated youth — has been an ongoing source of sociopolitical tension and has left some Tunisian youth more susceptible to recruitment by extremist political groups. This is especially true in Tunisia’s rural regions, which are economically disadvantaged. For Tunisia to succeed politically and economically, it must focus on…
Audrey Spencer has over 15 years of experience as an international education professional specializing in programming and training for literacy, numeracy, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), teacher support and healthy youth practices that are grounded in inclusive and gender-equitable foundations. Audrey is the Global Practice Lead for Education, and has provided technical assistance and thought…
To strengthen their impact, Chemonics relies on a set of cornerstones to anchor their approach to youth development around the world. The cornerstones of our approach run in tandem with USAID’s “Youth in Development Policy”3 and Positive Youth Development. Both a philosophy and an approach, Positive Youth Development ensures that youth — along with their…
Stop, Look, and Listen! Preventing Recruitment of Youth into Illicit Activities in Southern Colombia
This post originally appeared on Harvard’s Center for International Development’s Building State Capability program’s blog. The authors successfully completed the 15-week Practice of Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation online course. This is their story. As development practitioners, we tend to rush in with solutions to deal with complex problems. We impose so-called best practices without digging…
The Moldova Competitiveness Project (MCP) invested in a multi-channel digital marketing campaign, #BeOurGuest, which focused on attracting visitors to Moldova’s rural areas. More visitors result in more jobs in hospitality, providing a valuable alternative to migration for the thousands of rural women who leave the country each year. The project created a campaign inviting youth…
Iulian Gulea, a Young Moldovan programmer, came across the issue of how employers were struggling to connect youth with jobs, and vice versa. From that problem emerged the idea for an app that he developed with recruitment expert Eugeniu Girla, combining their expertise to create their startup GAUS. This app leverages Moldova’s expertise in Artificial…
In the wake of protests and the removal of its president in 2014, Ukraine faces many divisive social, economic, and political pressures that challenge national unity. Eastern Ukraine particularly feels the weight of these pressures. Although the new government established a plan for key reform initiatives, these reforms have not occurred as quickly as citizens…
What works in preventing and reducing violence among youth? This report draws on the global evidence base of evaluations of existing interventions designed to reduce or prevent violence and identifies those with the greatest evidence of effectiveness. We find six types of interventions for which there is strong evidence of effectiveness in preventing at-risk individuals…
Shauna Caria is the global practice lead for Chemonics’ Gender Equality and Social Inclusion practice. With over 10 years of international development experience in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Central Asia, South Africa, and Eastern Europe, Shauna is an expert on disability inclusion, women’s empowerment, mainstreaming gender and social inclusion, combatting gender-based…
In March 2017, Timor-Leste enacted its national tourism policy, which calls for sustainable environmental development while increasing tourist visits and improving local and national economic opportunities. Through USAID’s Tourism for All Project (“USAID nia Projetu Turizmu Ba Ema Hotu”), Timor-Leste realized its goal of becoming a tourist destination that brings 200,000 foreign tourists annually by…