As global supply chains are disrupted and delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, health supply chain workers risk being overlooked and ignored. Now more than ever, enhanced coordination is needed at the global and country levels to pool resources, avoid duplication of efforts, and, above all, address the needs of the workers whose skills and commitment…
The USAID Feed the Future Tajikistan Agriculture and Water Activity (TAWA), which aims to raise incomes by engaging rural women directly in agricultural productivity while also boosting awareness of better nutrition and sanitation behaviors, has integrated learning and continuous improvement in its standard operations. By embedding a sense of collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) practices…
This technical brief presents the background on the emerging picture of Low-Cost Private Schools (LCPS) in low-income countries, and the DRC in particular. It also provides an overview of the lessons learned from the USAID- and UK Aid-funded ACCELERE!1 project about non-state schools in the DRC. It finally presents recommendations for implementing partners who will be working…
This toolkit document describes how Chemonics will deliver on its development goals during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Methods for accomplishing this include: following guidance from local government or ministry, prioritizing information sharing and staff care, project office remote work considerations, and considerations for continued project programming. This is complemented by COVID-19 disease information and COVID-19 prevention.
In 2017, Chemonics joined the Global Health Security Agenda, a partnership of nearly 50 nations, international organizations, and non-governmental stakeholders, to help countries better prepare for pandemic and epidemic outbreaks. Research has shown that planning for and investing in emergency preparedness in advance – and building resilient supply chains – reduces the amount of response funds…
Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is an important economic activity in many rural areas, with a long tradition in Colombia. High rates of informality undermine governance, security, and legal economies, and cause significant environmental and social impacts. As the government of Colombia consolidates post-conflict conditions, the United States and Switzerland are providing assistance through…
The ACCELERE!1 (A!1) project improved educational outcomes for girls and boys through enhanced teaching in national languages and French, reduced barriers to education, and increased transparency of school governance structures. This was accomplished by A!1’s income-generating activities and community savings groups approach, which helped parents secure a more affordable education for their children.
To address the lack of age-relevant reading materials, space, and trained librarians, the USAID Read with Me project provided over 400,000 books and trained over 1,700 school librarians to both increase the availability of these resources and improve library operations to foster a reading environment for children. The USAID project also encouraged teachers, librarians, and…
USAID’s Read with Me project improves reading comprehension over fluency, provides modern methods to teach analytical reading, donates books and arranges events for students to meet and ask questions to acclaimed writers, all with the goal of improving teacher training, student literacy, and advancing learning in Tajikistan.
In Tajikistan, not every student attends class on a regular basis; in some cases, physical ailments and other disabilities can detract children from learning. However, USAID’s Read with Me project provides interventions and modern pedagogy trainings focused on inclusive education. Regardless of students’ physical challenges, the Read with Me project ensures these children benefit from…
Access to financial services enables rural households to build financial security, start enterprises, and insure against risks. This access, in turn, generates secondary benefits, improving resilience, health, nutrition, and broad-based economic growth. In 2015, USAID launched the Rural Finance Initiative (RFI), implemented by Chemonics International, to provide technical assistance to financial institutions in Colombia so that they could identify profitable opportunities…
Understanding cultural norms is essential to achieving results in development interventions and preventing interventions from causing unintended negative consequences. However, capturing norms within everyday contexts in ways that can be monitored and evaluated can be expensive and time consuming and is not always feasible. We tested a novel method, the cultural consensus analysis (CCA), in…