By Jennifer Brookland

Georgian authorities will resume responsibility for all disaster response packages in one year, according to a timeline agreed on by the U.S. State Department, Counterpart International and Georgia’s Emergency Management Department.

The pre-positioned packages, funded by the U.S. State Department and currently maintained by Counterpart, enable a quick and effective release of relief supplies in an emergency situation.

By Jennifer Brookland

Selbi Turesheva is passionate about raising awareness of people’s right to health in Kazakhstan.

“Every person may face a time in life when they are in need of medical attention,” she says. “Receiving quality medical care is that person’s human right.”

Turesheva and fellow university student Parvina Kurbanoa became the first volunteers to give their time to Aman-saulyk, an organization that conducts national advocacy campaigns to promote patients’ rights to quality medical care.

By Jennifer Brookland

Eighty parents, teachers and local officials from across Northern Cameroon convened to identify the 150 schools that will benefit from Counterpart International’s new school feeding and literacy program.

The global nonprofit received more than 400 applications from primary schools in the four divisions of Cameroon’s North Region.

The workshop, held Dec. 12 in the regional capital of Garoua, brought together state education officials, school inspectors, mayors, PTA chairpersons,and representatives of partner organizations.

The village of Beshera Chafa in Ethiopia’s Central Rift Valley is turning a wasteland into a profit center.

“We felt sad even looking at this area because it was so barren. You couldn’t see grass or trees or animals,” says Abbe Edao, Chairperson of the Beshera Chafa Peasant Association.

A year ago, Counterpart’s Ethiopian Ecotourism Development Program teamed with this community to rehabilitate 1,000 hectares (nearly 2,500 acres) in an area badly degraded by overgrazing, drought and erosion.

By Jennifer Brookland

More than 230 girls in the Afghan village of Sofi Qala are about to benefit from an opportunity that could change the course of their lives. With the opening of a new high school, they will be able to continue their education, improve their literacy and even qualify for the university entrance exams.

National Policy Reform Conference to take place in Kabul

by Michael J. Zamba

More than 250 Afghans – including leaders from civil society organizations, government officials and members of Parliament – will gather in Kabul Sept. 24 and 25 to outline advocacy plans related to five key policy areas, including women’s rights, government accountability and economic development, Counterpart International announced.

Much of the food aid for drought-stricken West Africa has gone to malnourished children. Now more aid is arriving to protect their nutritional gains.

Counterpart International has just completed the distribution of 112.5 metric tons of bulgur, lentils and vegetable oil to 3,688 families of malnourished children in response to the food crisis in Mauritania.

By Jeff Baron

As Yemen draws up a new system of government, it is promising a level of openness unprecedented in the Arab world.

A law passed by Yemen’s parliament April 24 would guarantee open public meetings and access to records from all levels of government. The legislation follows three years of work by civil society activists, including Counterpart International’s Responsive Governance Project (RGP) and the Studies and Economic Media Center (SEMC).

By Alisha Rodriquez

Maté Mint Sidi Ali says she never envisioned being a leader in health. But when Counterpart International came to her village in Mauritania’s Guidimakha region recruiting volunteers to serve as Community Health Workers, she jumped at the chance.

For many rural communities in Mauritania, access to health care is a significant challenge.