Canada

Bringing the MDGs to Life (2007-2012)
Informed and engaged Canadian citizens play an enormous role in alleviating global poverty. Bringing the MDGs to Life aims to introduce Canadian students to the Millennium Development Goals through interactive process theatre, poverty simulations, interactive games and discussions, and professional development for teachers. Our famous 12-foot puppets engage the imagination and help create truly global citizens who will make a positive impact well into the future.

Project Summary (PDF)

Sierra Leone

CAUSE Kids (Ongoing)
CAUSE Kids is a child sponsorship program that take an holistic approach to helping children break free of the cycle of poverty. CAUSE Kids benefits the Koinadugu District of Sierra Leone – a region home to the poorest of the poor. Focusing on education, CAUSE Kids provides a children with:

• tools for education, food, and a health program for the children;
• microfinance and sustainable livelihood development programs for their families;
• agricultural development, immunization, and potable water projects for their communities.

Program Home Page (Web)

Carbon Offsets (Ongoing)
Community-based environmental programming that makes communities safer, healthier, more productive, and more pleasant places to live, but that also reduce, avoid, or sequester atmospheric carbon. CAUSE Canada's carbon offset programs give you the opportunity to counteract the emissions you aren't yet able to eliminate from your life, in a manner that supports marginalized communities.

Project Description (Web) - (Same for Guatemala and Honduras)

CAUSE Kids Peer Literacy Project (Ongoing)
The program goals are to give intensive peer literacy training to 40 secondary school girls in the areas of phonics and basic reading skills. After six weeks of training by a Literacy Coordinator, they will be able to pass on their newly learned skills to 500 elementary school students. As a reward for participating in the program, we will pay the peer literacy tutors tuition and uniform costs for the school year, which will encourage them to continue their studies. Beyond the actual joy of learning and teaching, the peer literacy tutors will develop confidence and leadership skills and serve as valuable role models to the younger pupils.  

Project Summary (PDF)

CAUSE Kids Integrated Nutrition and Education Project (2007-2012)

Receiving an education is about much more than having a school to attend. Students also need meaningful materials to study, adequate nutrition so they can concentrate, and well-informed and engaging teachers. This project takes an holistic approach to education: organic school gardens, breakfast and lunch programs, school fees and uniforms, appropriate learning materials, and teacher training are all integral to an system that addresses the roots of poverty. This project is one component of the ongoing CAUSE Kids child sponsorship program.

Project Description (Web)
Project Summary (PDF)

Teachers Resource Centre (TRC)
The Teachers Resource Centre project will provide teachers in Koinadugu with a central Teachers Resource Centre (TRC) where educators can access learning and instructional resources, information technology, teaching instruction, and a community centre for local education discourse, teacher training, and study. The TRC will be a base for community education, with a focus on developing teacher capacities through library resources, computer/internet training and access, teaching aid development, photocopying, laminating, and small-scale publishing services, and a safe, comfortable, lit space for public meetings and evening study. The TRC will directly benefit approximately 1,740 teachers in charge of 75,500 students in 392 schools.

Project Summary (PDF)

Api Mami/Plump Baby Project for Maternal and Child Health (2012-2014)
Sierra Leone has the world’s highest infant and maternal mortality rates. Currently, 1 in 8 women in Sierra Leone dies of childbirth complications. The Birthing Huts Program addresses the primary causes of infant and maternal mortality through enabling women’s community groups to monitor perinatal health, training Traditional Birth Attendants, and building 21 birthing huts where women and babies receive adequate care and rest in a sanitary and socially familiar environment. The Api Mami/Plum Baby Project is an extension of the Cordaid-sponsored Maternal and Infant Survival Intervention Project.

Project Summary (PDF)

Women’s Integral Empowerment Program (2007-2012)
Over 5 years, the Women’s Integral Empowerment Program (WIEP) will provide 3,400 women in Sierra Leone with training in basic literacy and numeracy, business development and leadership. In addition to microfinance opportunities, these skills help women build socio-economic security and assert themselves in community and household decision-making.

Project Summary (PDF) - (Same summary for Honduras and Guatemala)

West Africa

West Africa Peacebuilding Project (2008-2010)
In recent decades,  West Africa has been one of the most volatile regions of the world. Violent civil conflicts in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Cote d’Ivoire have been characterized by the use of child soldiers, amputations, cross-border movement of guns, drugs and refugees, and the abduction and rape of women and girls. Being the most adversely affected by war as well as among the most marginalized members of society, a successful strategy for sustainable peace must involve the input of women and youth. The West Africa Peacebuilding Project engages women and youth organizations in policy formulation, best practice knowledge-sharing, and cooperation.

Project Summary (PDF)

Central America

Carbon Offsets (Ongoing)
Community-based environmental programming that makes communities safer, healthier, more productive, and more pleasant places to live, but that also reduce, avoid, or sequester atmospheric carbon. CAUSE Canada's carbon offset programs give you the opportunity to counteract the emissions you aren't yet able to eliminate from your life, in a manner that supports marginalized communities.

Project Description (Web) - (Same for Sierra Leone)

GUATEMALA: Women’s Integral Empowerment Program (2007-2012)
Over 5 years in the highlands of Guatemala, this program will empower 2,250 impoverished women to take greater control of their lives and improve the well-being of their families through acquisition of literacy skills, basic financial training and business development, and accumulation of savings.

Project Summary (PDF) - (Same summary for Honduras and Sierra Leone)

HONDURAS: Women’s Integral Empowerment Program (2007-2012)
The 5 year program addresses the practical needs and strategic interests and aspirations of 1,550 highly marginalized women on coastal Honduras. The propgram is aimed primarily at building the capacity of women to become more effective leaders, businesspeople and caregivers in their homes and communities.

Project Summary (PDF) - (Same summary for Guatemala and Sierra Leone)