Teaching young children to read is the cornerstone of improving educational outcomes and shaping a student’s developmental success. In Morocco, significant progress in universal access to education has been critical to improving children’s fundamental literacy skills. Despite this step forward, less than 15 percent of first-grade students are likely to graduate from high school, and…
Nigeria has plenty of fertile land but struggles to feed itself. Seeing an opportunity to make the agricultural sector more productive and profitable, the Nigerian government partnered with USAID and Chemonics in 2012 to launch the Maximizing Agricultural Revenues and Key Enterprises in Targeted Sites (MARKETS) II project. MARKETS II is the third iteration of…
A tropical rainforest covering more than 270,000 square miles, the Peruvian Amazon is an environmental treasure. Beneath the canopy of towering trees is a vast range of plant and animal species that makes Peru one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world. With this environmental wealth comes economic opportunity, from the communities that…
In many countries, government officials determine how municipal space is used, which means that citizens often do not get the chance to tell officials what matters to them before plans are approved for that space. For instance, without getting citizens’ input, officials might inadvertently start to plan a new community center in an area in…
Ramanathan Pararajasingam starts many farmer training sessions in Sri Lanka with a bottle of water. He explains that he must drink bottled water in these communities because the local water supply might make him sick. Why? Although most Sri Lankan farmers use agricultural chemicals to control pest and disease attacks these days, many haven’t been…
With more than 20,000 species of plants and animals native to the country, the Philippines is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. Much of this biodiversity is contained in natural forest areas, but these once-lush forests and their biodiversity are degrading at an alarming rate. Over time, the country has lost approximately…
In Rwanda, land is woven deeply into the country’s social fabric. Intertwined with discussions on marriage, power, and gender equity, local understandings of land ownership are as much cultural as they are constitutional. But this creates a gap between the land reform promised on paper and the land reform practiced on the ground. How do…
In the South African town of Groot Marico, where nearly half of the 5,000 residents are unemployed, a community group is bringing jobs to the area through ecotourism. The Marico River Conservation Association (MRCA) employs 350 people in a variety of jobs focused on conserving the local environment. Employees have constructed walking trails and cleared…
One of the world’s largest inland water systems, the Cubango-Okavango River Basin, is a vast natural resource for Angola, Botswana, and Namibia. It is an environmental treasure trove that not only provides water for more than 1 million people, but also covers more than 6 million biologically abundant hectares. Threatened by climate change and overharvesting…
“These are the children of our country. They are our children. If they are able to read and learn, our school will shine, our country will shine.” – Humera Sanam, teacher in Sindh A baseline early grade reading assessment (EGRA) conducted in 2014 for 6,000 third-grade students in Sindh Province in southeastern Pakistan revealed a…
How much of a difference can one small opportunity make? In some countries around the world, opportunities are everywhere. Scholarships, low-interest loans, and tax credits smooth the way for citizens to get an education, start a business, or buy a house. Yet in other places, like rural Georgia, such lucky breaks may be few and…
The wine sector holds a unique distinction in Moldova: Wine is one of the only products exported with its full value chain completed in-country. From grape to glass, wine is produced, processed, and packaged in the small eastern European country, an approach that has cemented the sector’s role in economic growth and job creation. As…