TPP works alongside organizations and leaders across the globe. The latest grantees introduced below show that regardless of where we are on the map, world causes trickle or flood into all of our lives. Gender based discrimination that occurs in Malawi is also happening in Nigeria. People passionately fighting for the environment in Montana have so much in common with those doing the same work in Hawaii.
Crisis, hope, violence, joy and resilience resides in all communities. Although they manifest differently, our struggles and progress are similar to our neighbors domestically and internationally. And so to is the ability we all share to make a difference in the world. We hope you can see a part of yourself in all of the grantees below!
Garabatos Show – Recreation For Peace
Recreation for Peace is a project carried out by the Garabatos Show Corporation in the municipality of San Juan Nepomuceno and the region of Los Montes de Maria in Colombia. The organization, made up of young people with artistic vocation, uses circus amongst other means to construct peace and address social issues in areas of conflict. Thanks to the seed grant from The Pollination Project, we will be able to arrive to new communities this year where, because of lack of resources, we have not been able to get in the past.
Jermoh Kamara And Mrs. Gertura Slobert – Lab-In-A-Box For Liberia
Each Lab-in-a-Box is donated by HVK Children’s Foundation and includes 20 Android tablets and a local server loaded with educational resources that can be accessed without an internet connection. These resources include Khan Academy, Wikipedia for schools, a variety of textbooks for all education levels and subject, literacy training software, an atlas similar to Google Earth, and many others. The server allows students to access the educational resources, leading to a greater understanding of the topics they are being taught. Eleven teachers and administrators at two of our six partner schools, Zoe Louise Preparatory, and Twins Academy, received 5-days of training and fours additional training for one academic year. Today, these schools have a school-wide schedule that is teaching ICT skills three days a week for 45 minutes using our system.
Drawing from our success from these two schools, our four partner schools will be receiving the same services. Our partner schools previously did not have access to sufficient quantities of textbooks and other educational resources. Students are also graduating primary, secondary and junior high school without essential skills such as 21st-century literacy, STEM, and computer skills. Our program supports rural schools to open their own shared library, it trains teachers to train their students and it provides a world of digital skill-based learning opportunities for children coming from disadvantaged homes.
Yaneth Y Fernando Maclanil – Jovenes Sin Pandillas
Jovenes Sin Pandillas is a project that takes place in the municipality of Villarica, Colombia. With the support of a social psychologist and a group of professionals, we seek to minimize the impact that gang life has on young people through awareness and resilience workshops that will result in restorative practices. Given the context of our workshops, creating a safe space for our participants if of utmost importance. Currently we use a space called Palenque, which is deteriorating. Funds from The Pollination Project will allow us to repair the roof and purchase necessary equipment to keep the workshops happening.
Elizabeth Gondwe Juwa, Mercy Soko – Mchengautuwa Knitting Enterprise
Mchengautuwa Knitting Enterprise is a project that aims to reduce the suffering amongst vulnerable individuals in Mzuzu, Malawi who experience a lack of stable income. Led by Elizabeth Gondwe Juwa and Mercy Soko, they will train beneficiaries on knitting skills, which will help these individuals earn money to purchase food and other necessities. They will organize the targeted beneficiaries into a group where they will be trained in the construction of sweaters, scarves, baby shawls, and other winter clothing. These materials will be sold and the group members will share the profit that comes from the sales. The group members will also have the opportunity to establish credit facilities, where they can save and gain access to loans to diversify their income generating activities.
This project will help to seed the change by offering seed capital that cannot be easily accessed as lending institutions demonstrate bias or exhibit exclusive money lending policies. Elizabeth and Mercy are inspired to undertake this project as many women live in poverty and it is challenging for them to live a meaningful life. The grant will help in purchasing knitting machines, cotton yarn, and training materials.
Theresa And Anita – B.S. Academy Agriculture Project
The City of College Park in Fulton County, Georgia is designated by USDA as a food desert. As a result, Theresa Muhammad has established the B.S. Academy Agriculture Project, an academy with youth ranging from 3rd to 12th grade. This work addresses the poor access that the community members and low-income families have to fresh fruits and vegetables by facilitating workshops on urban agriculture. Funds from this grant will allow them to purchase the equipment needed to set up a garden to grow fresh produce and beautify the community.
Community-Powered Composting – Soil Cycle
Soil Cycle is a bicycle-powered curbside food scrap collection non-profit in the Missoula, Montana community. We are dedicated to completing and promoting the natural cycle of garden to table, table to garden. Soil Cycle offers a valuable service to members that promotes and enables self-sufficiency and sustainability. Inspired by reducing waste, our project wants to show the community how we can turn their wasted food into natural fertilizer.
By bringing the food system and our waste to the forefront, we hope to empower people to rethink their own lifestyles. The Pollination Project grant will allow us to buy a new bicycle trailer so we can haul three times as much food scraps and increase our waste diversion efforts.
Prisca Yuwa – Enhancing Women’s And Girls Capacity In Fighting GBV
Enhancing Women’s and Girls Capacity in Fighting GBV is a 5-month initiative led by Prisca Yuwa, whose overall goal is to contribute towards the reduction of Gender Based Violence among the hard to reach women and girls by helping them access sexual and reproductive health rights in Thyolo, Malawi. The project will include interventions that counter Gender Based Violence and support efforts to protect these women and girls. Prisca and her team will identify and train 20 community volunteers in paralegals and basic human rights, who will in turn lead four clubs called ‘Stop Violence Against Women and Girls’ clubs, made up of 25 individuals.
The project targets 5,000 women and girls who are more exposed to gender-based violence, harmful traditional practices, and HIV/AIDS, which are often perpetrated by men, boys, and traditional leaders. Having grown up in a rural community with rampant early marriage cases and unplanned pregnancies, Prisca has experienced a lot of GBV, which has triggered her to take part in ending these acts.
Aloha Alliances With Nicole Huguenin – Redefining Waste Initiative
Aloha Alliances and its founder Nicole Huguenin inspire trust and restore value through community-driven initiatives that respond to pressing local issues in Maui, Hawaii. As of January 2018, the ability to recycle anything beyond #1 & 2 plastic in the state of Hawaii stopped abruptly with the refusal of China to purchase all other recyclables.
Additionally, the island’s only landfill has been slated to be at capacity in 3.5 years, 2022 since its inception. Each county in Hawaii has its own waste infrastructure and the island of Maui specifically has limited recycling resources. It has relied on shipping these things off the island in the past however now that China does not take these things there is nowhere for them to go than the landfill. Due to this and a record increase in tourists, and their accompanying waste, in the past year, the landfill will be at capacity 1-2 before it was anticipated to be. Preparations for a new landfill are not slated to begin until 2021, leaving a 1-2 year gap if current waste practices stay the same.
Instead of telling people how they should become zero waste Aloha Alliances help people to actually experience their own waste and redefine their relationship to it within a community environment. From their first few events, community members have already offered to share their skills in repairing items and teaching people how to make things from reused products. For example, they already have a homeless person who will be repairing guitars and electronics.
This model not only has the ability to change individual behavior but also repair and strengthen communities. Second, their model also incorporates partnerships with organizations already working in the industry. Aloha Alliances takes on the risk of experimenting with new projects, inventions, and program models and then passes off the results to their organizational partners so they can implement and maintain at a larger scale. This particular community initiative focuses on redefining our collective relationship to waste. With funds from The Pollination Project, they will be able to purchase a mobile trailer, enabling them to attend large community events and curate experiences for people to up-cycle, repair, borrow, swap, and recycle their stuff effectively limiting what goes into the landfill.
Plant-Based Green Country – Tulsa VegFest
Tulsa VegFest was started by a dynamic group of Whole Food Plant-Based (WFPB) Tulsans. Co-Founders Melissa Furman & Krisann Polito-Moller formed a 501(c)3 entity, Plant-Based Green Country Organization, in order to create a public event in Northeastern Oklahoma that educates & promotes health & wellness through plant-based living. Their mission is to educate and encourage others for the adaptation to a Whole Food Plant-Based lifestyle in order to build a stronger, healthier Oklahoma with respect to environmental & animal welfare. This event, unique to Northeastern Oklahoma, helps their community join the emerging movement in America for taking charge of personal health through plant-based living and choosing plants over pills. Tulsa is poised to be one of the hubs in the Midwest for this “food as medicine” movement.
Evidence-based healthy lifestyle events, such as VegFest, are one of the most effective vehicles to promoting well-being through eating a plant-based diet in a fun yet educational atmosphere. Long-range “sister” events, held throughout the year, such as movie screenings, restaurant crawls, and speaker symposiums will continue the education & encouragement thus creating a strong plant-based health culture in NE Oklahoma.
Tulsa VegFest will host 15+ food vendors that are 100% plant-based, and many vendors and exhibitors. One of the key elements of Tulsa VegFest is its speaker line-up. We are bringing in four physicians from out of town who are plant-based experts on the science and evidence behind the nutrition. Local plant-based medical professionals will round off the special presentations with their Q&A session where the audience can ask questions.
Tulsa VegFest is made possible by a dedicated and passionate group of Tulsans who want to share the good news about the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle. It’s good for the body, good for the earth and good for the planet. This special event is presented by the non-profit organization Plant-Based Green Country, and is made possible by the generosity of individual donors and organizational sponsors like Ediblend, Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation and Eastern Oklahoma Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery. Our goal is to grow a healthier community in Oklahoma. VegFest is more than a one-day event. Tulsa VegFest will be a prominent catalyst for healthy change in Oklahoma.
Jacqueline And Nancy – Njiapanda Kikundi Cha Ushonaji
Jacqueline Ivor and Nancy Sawe are the founders of Njiapanda Kikundi cha Ushonaji. Jacqueline and Nancy are working together to impart tailoring and embroidery skills to young girls in Njiapanda Mufindi, Tanzania. The training that they facilitate help young girls in the region acquire the relevant knowledge, skills, and voice so that they can participate effectively in the current labor market as employees. As a result, these women will generate income and ultimately improve their well-being.
Colombe Mukasekuru – New Life Foundation
Colombe Mukasekuru founded New Life Foundation in Nyacyonga Center, Kigali, Rwanda, with the aim of addressing youth unemployment. Colombe found that many youth were living in poverty and as a result had to dropout of schools due to not being able to pay the fees associated with pursuing an education.
This particular initiative provides computer application trainings, including typing, printing, binding, and sealing, which results in the construction of books which contain pertinent information allowing youth to gain certification and find jobs. These trainings will empower the youth to create their own innovative businesses.
Wild Nature Institute – Celebrating Africa’s Giants
Celebrating Africa’s Giants is a project of the Wild Nature Institute that develops meaningful conservation awareness of giraffes, elephants, rhinos, and their habitats. Their core program curricula has worked primarily with educators in Tanzania and has reached over 25,000 children. With The Pollination Project’s grant, they will now be able to expand this robust curricula into environmental education programs in zoos and schools in the United States.’
They have developed a library of free books and posters for primary and secondary schools to teach math, language arts, science, and other subjects using giraffes, elephants, rhinos, and their habitats. The long-term conservation of these species and their habitats will require a sustained interest from people from around the world, and with this grant, they will have the opportunity to reach thousands more.
Faith Ogechi Osuji – Female Graphic Hub
Female Graphic Hub is an ICT-driven initiative aimed at creating a space for young women in the digital media and graphic industry. In Nigeria, men dominate the graphic design space and there is a general notion that women do not have the creativity to do graphics for companies or organizations. This project changes that as passionate young women will be equipped with the skills to create quality graphic materials and ultimately stand better chances of securing employment in Abuja, Nigeria.
Growing up as a girl, Miss Ogechi was interested in doing things that society believed were meant for men. She desired to change the status quo and be an example to her fellow girls that they can pursue the technical works predominantly done by men. She felt challenged each time young women showed little interest in ICT , as “men are better in the ICT sector.” She has always believed that a career in ICT is not a function of gender but one of passion and commitment. After graduating from the Department of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Imo State University, she decided to enroll for an IT mentorship program with the aim to be among the leading females in the ICT sector, specifically in graphics, corporate branding, and training of women, among others.
She believes there’s no limit to what anyone can achieve and in a constantly changing environment, having a life skill such as this is an essential part of coping with the increasing pace in technology transformation globally.
