Author: Jimmie Briggs

Last month, Jamal Alkirnawi and Lo Ivan Castillon led a discussion on March 16 for Global Gather and Chicago Peace Fellows entitled “The Promise and Peril of Working with Governments,” about the challenges and opportunities non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can face when seeking to partner with states, and local officials. Both members of the inaugural Global… Continue reading The Promise and Peril of Working with Governments: A Global Gather/Chicago Peace Fellows’ Roundtable

By Jimmie Briggs, Director of Learnign In the last two weeks alone, more than 8,000 Cameroonian refugees have streamed across the border into neighboring Nigeria, fleeing an increasingly high intensity conflict between the national government and English-speaking militias seeking to form a breakaway state called “Ambazonia.” For Global GATHER alumnus Alexander Gwanvalla, the deteriorating situation… Continue reading GATHER Alum Supports Community Amidst Conflict in Cameroon

For two weeks starting on January 17, Shyne San Diego—founded and led by Global Gather alumnus Cynthia Austin—partnered with area organizations in the San Diego and Orange County area to mount a first-of-its-kind exhibition on sexual and human trafficking entitled, “Behold Her: Portraits of Survivors of Human Trafficking” at You Belong Here, a co-working and community events… Continue reading SHYNE On You Crazy Diamond

The weekend of October 12-13, the Goldin Institute partnered with the Voices & Faces Project and Brothers Standing Together, an organization founded by GATHER alumnus Raymond Richard, to lead “Testimony & Transformation: A Writing Workshop for Returning Citizens.” Hosted at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference in the Chicago Defender building on the city’s South Side,… Continue reading Testimony and Transformation

On Thursday, September 5th, the Goldin Institute hosted its first ever women’s-focused joint discussion with GATHER’s global alumni as well as Chicago Peace Fellows. A lively and informative conversation unfolded over 90 minutes with GATHER alumnus Michelle Kuiper, Yale University researcher and field consultant Jillian Foster, as well as St. Louis, Missouri-based Pamela Merritt of… Continue reading GATHER Alumni Focus on Women’s Issues

On August 6, Global GATHER alumni Lissette Mateus from Colombia, and Diana Alaroker and Geoffrey Omony from Uganda engaged in an online video conversation about child soldiers and war-affected children for their peers among the inaugural Gather Fellow cohort. They were joined by Theresa Betancourt, a Boston College professor who’s been performing a longitudinal, intergenerational… Continue reading GATHER Alumni Focus on Child Soldiers, Mitigating Trauma

At 4:53 pm, January 12, 2010 an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale struck the island of Hispaniola, comprising the two nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, 15 miles southwest of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. “In ten seconds, everything the population took decades to build was destroyed,” recalled Goldin… Continue reading Reflections on the 2010 Earthquake in Haiti

Since last spring, the Goldin Institute has gratefully welcomed four new staff members and a research fellow to the organization’s community. All bring a rich diversity of experience working in development and aid work, as well as innovative storytelling and reconciliation. Jassi Sandhar A second year PhD student in International Human Rights Law at the… Continue reading Welcome Jassi, Burrell, Abby, Oz and Delasha

In recent weeks, the threats to the Commission of Women Victims for Victims team (KOFAVIV), and the women whom they serve have only become more treacherous in the face of increased gang violence, and shootings. Nearly two dozen women have been assaulted in the brewing climate of political instability with half that number still stranded at KOFAVIV’s… Continue reading Continuing the Fight Against Gender-Based Violence

Last February, Goldin Institute’s partner in northern Uganda, YOLRED, piloted its first “community parliament” in the villages of Bwongatira, sub-county, parish of Punena/Lukoid; as well as Lamogi sub-county, Gurguru Parish. “The idea for this came when we were doing the music therapy program,” explains Charles Okello, logistics officer and organizational co-founder. YOLRED’s music therapy program… Continue reading “Community Parliaments” Launched in Uganda