June 2016 Newsletter
Hello to our network of champions for community driven social change!
In this edition of the newsletter you can support emerging leaders in Uganda and hear about welcome progress in the fight against gender-based violence in Haiti. In addition, we invite you to learn about this summer's initiative to collect the stories of heroes who resisted the genocide in Rwanda and review the latest progress on the grassroots leadership development platform Gather™.
UGANDA: You can help former child soldiers take leadership
We are excited to announce that this August, our colleagues at Anorak Denmark will travel to Uganda to support our team of former child soldiers in Gulu as they create their own reintegration and prevention organization. You can help these young leaders in Uganda take control of their own lives and futures by visiting and sharing the Generosity Campaign.
We hope you will lend your support to these former child soldiers as they take leadership in all aspects of this ground-breaking new organization; from setting priorities and designing programs to management and evaluation. As you know from following this journey over the past several years, these dynamic young leaders who have returned from conflict have the insight, wisdom and energy to take the work of reintegration and recruitment prevention in the region to the next level.
HAITI: Progress in the Fight Against Gender-Based Violence
Thanks to your support, Malya and the team at KOFAVIV have reported clear progress in the fight to end gender-based violence in Haiti. In her latest update, Malya reports that incidents of GBV have dropped significantly and steadily since spiking to alarming rates in the days and months following the 2010 earthquake.
In efforts to pursue justice for victims, KOFAVIV and partners at the BAI have brought charges against alleged perpetrators and a small but growing percentage of these defendants have been prosecuted and convicted.
Moreover, the Goldin Institute's team of male "sensitization agents" are continuing their outreach and action programs to bolster anti-GBV awareness throughout greater Port au Prince as they also provide needed security for women and girls within the KOFAVIV facilities.
RWANDA: Collecting Stories of Resistance to Violence
The Goldin Institute is proud to annouce that Achille Tenkiang of Princeton University has been selected for our Global Fellowship program for 2016. Achille will spend his summer internship in Rwanda with our local partners at the Kigali Genocide Museum to uncover, document and share the untold stories of the heroes who resisted the genocide in 1994.
In addition to the value these stories serve in the ongoing process of healing and reconciliation in Rwanda, this oral history offers a unique opportunity to support genocide prevention efforts in Burundi and the Central African Republic. These neighboring countries sadly display alarming parallels to pre-Genocide Rwanda in terms of current levels of violence and the reality of growing hate speech on public airwaves.
GATHER: Building a Platform for Grassroots Leadership
The Goldin Institute is making great progress in building GATHER, the tablet-based distance learning course to promote grassroots leadership for social change. As the Director of App Development and UX, our colleague Garenne Bigby has been building the interactive capacity of the platform which now includes real-time chat and tools for shared learning.
We have been focused on “designing for the margins” -- making the content and navigation as user-friendly and accessible as possible for
everyone in the Goldin Institute network. The Gather curriculum will offer a wide range of materials, perspectives and voices to guide group learning and reflection complemented by the opportunity for experiential learning through direct organizing assignments within their local community. Content will include the use of readings, interactive assignments, audio-visual stories with commentary, illustrations, synchronous web chats, a “virtual café’’ and robust discussion boards. If you are interested in joining the inaugural course, be sure to sign up for course updates at the bottom of this Gather Overview.
As always, thank you for being a champion for grassroots partnerships that create real change in the world. Please consider sharing this newsletter and the generosity campaign with your friends, colleagues and families.
If you have feedback on this edition of our newsletter, or story ideas you would like to see in a future issue, please contact our Newsletter Coordinator, Srilatha Lakkaraju. If you haven't already, but would like to receive our newsletter in your email inbox, sign up here.
