For three years, the Ukrainian beekeepers have been actively testing chlorella algae, which is used as feed for bees. This year, with support from the Ukraine Horticulture Business Development Project (UHBDP), Volodymyr has dared to make a fantastic experiment at his apiary – to combine chlorella with honey.

The daily quest for firewood which serves as a major source of cooking fuel in many households in rural Nigeria has become a daunting and gruelling task. In Bauchi State, where MEDA runs their Nigeria WAY project the quest for cooking fuel has forced women to walk further to find resources, pay more for fuel, and risk being exposed to high levels of pollution.

Simple good deeds can impact communities in amazing ways. In Waterloo Region, where MEDA’s head office is based, the community is coming together inspired by the giving spirit during the holiday season. Kindred Credit Union’s #12days4good campaign invites local communities to give back through simple good deeds for 12 consecutive days in December.

One doesn’t have to look too far to find do-gooders in the MEDA Waterloo community. Nancy Mann is a MEDA Waterloo Hub board member. Her past occupation as a pastor instilled in her a strong sense of giving back to her local and global community. Nancy is also the chair of MEDA’s Women Empowering Women (WEW) group in Waterloo – a women’s giving group that gathers quarterly to learn about MEDA’s women’s economic empowerment work, network with other like-minded career women, and give back.

MEDA’s Associate Development Office, Chris Brnjas “sat down” virtually with Nancy to discuss her involvement in WEW, her passion for empowering women both here in Waterloo and around the world, and why supporting women is incredibly important for our world.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

I liked this quote in a book I’m reading called Designing Delivery by Jeff Sussna:

"In order to succeed in the age of disruption, companies must change their basic approach. They need to shift their emphasis from perpetuating stability to disrupting themselves. Instead of excelling at doing the same things better, faster, and cheaper, they need to challenge themselves to continually do different things, and continually do them differently. They need to learn to value learning over success, and to value the ability to change direction over the ability to maintain course. In other words, they need to shift their core competency from efficiency to adaptability"

Disruption is the word for our times. Everything is disruption. Everyone is disrupted. Assumptions about the world and the future made easily at the beginning of 2020 are upended. New markets are emerging, and old ones are dying. New realities show us new problems to solve, and in that chaos lies opportunity.

Blog initially published on Humentum.

In September this year, Director of Global Security with MEDA Scott Ruddick, presented a Solution Session at OpEx365, our transformative year of virtual learning. The following blog provides an overview of the topic covered: transitioning field operations from lockdown to phased resumption based on MEDA's approach.

When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in March 2020, MEDA – like many INGOs – moved quickly in response. Staff overseas from their home location were brought back. All of our operations – both head office and field - shifted to remote work/work from home protocols. We closed our offices, stopped all but the most essential of field activity, and required staff to work virtually.

Sexual abuse. Human trafficking. Domestic violence. Rape. Harassment. Female genital mutilation.

Even the words feel violent. And yet, they are reality for over a billion people around the world. If this number is too hard to wrap your mind around, consider the fact that one in three women worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime. In a recent survey, nearly three in four women had experienced sexual harassment in the previous month. Almost half of these women were under the age of 18, and 11% were under the age of 10.

When you use Google Maps, you can see streets, buildings, vegetation, and elevation. But how is this data captured? This data is captured by a computer system called a geographic information system (GIS).

This program is a tool used to comprehend the world geography. GIS is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographical data. This allows people to easily visualize, analyze, and understand patterns and create relationships between different data sets.

This year is an unprecedented year for MEDA. For the first time ever, we are hosting our 2020 MEDA Convention virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Composting of organic waste, including farm residues is a needed waste management solution in Jordan, and presents an opportunity to produce positive environmental and socio-economic outcomes.

In Bauchi state, northeastern Nigeria, some businesswomen operate their small businesses in an environment where social and gender norms value domestic and care work for women over business activities.

There is a threat to the gains made on furthering gender equality around the world - the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have written about the global consequences of the novel coronavirus on communities experiencing oppression where the socio-economic effects have laid bare the fissures in our social safety nets and market systems, but have since taken the opportunity to learn more about the localized effects on gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) in MEDA’s programming.

MEDA’s Jordan Valley Links (JVL) project has been using Gender Progress Markers (GPMs) as a measurement tool, supplementing its other monitoring and evaluation techniques, to thoughtfully and deliberately observe the changes in social and gender dynamics affecting women and men in their families and local communities. These markers help us move beyond numbers and quantitative data; they let us look at how attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors related to gender progress changes over the life of a project.

At age 15 I got my first job as a cashier at a Farmer’s Market. One day, after working there for about two years, I overheard a new hire, a boy, make a comment about how much money he made. I was shocked. He made a dollar more than me an hour for the same job and with less experience. Even as a teenager, I knew this was wrong, and promptly put in my two-week notice. Over the years, I’ve heard countless personal stories similar to my own, and this gender wage gap isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, the 2020 Global Gender Gap Report, which looks at gender gaps in economic participation, education, health and politics, revealed that gender parity will not be attained for 99.5 years.

The future of Canada’s international climate finance needs to be robust to meet the growing challenges of a changing climate; it must support the poorest and most vulnerable prioritizing adaptation as much as mitigation, and it must be gender-responsive, and gender-transformative, aligning with Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP).

With the COVID-19 pandemic making traditional summer gatherings and fundraisers impossible, five groups of our MEDA donors across North America still wanted to have an impact on making the world a better place. So, they got creative.

"Productive technology is also a women's thing."
-- Mensaje

The Technolinks+ project in northern Nicaragua is equipping more women producers with the technological tools to help their businesses succeed and thrive while promoting greater gender equality within farming families. Through the use of technology, producers can improve productivity, increase the quality of their produce, and enhance their profit margins.

The first time I truly understood the beauty and power of philanthropy was when a woman who was normally quiet and composed became so filled with passion that she ran down a long hallway to hug me. It was in that moment that I realized that philanthropy has the power to change people from the inside out. I’ve had the privilege to witnessed up close how philanthropy can transform the giver -- providing profound life satisfaction by opening avenues to meaning and happiness that are not easily found otherwise. When this kind of transformation of the giver is met with impact through an effective mission – the effect is awe-inspiring.

As experts working in market systems for the past 65 years, we have witnessed shocks and stresses before, in countries like Nicaragua, Ukraine, Haiti, Pakistan, Yemen, and Libya. We have worked through environmental, economic, and social challenges such as conflicts, natural disasters, price volatility, political instability, and recessions.

But we have never faced such a disruptive, global market crisis as COVID-19.

No matter how much you prepare before beginning an international contract, it never seems to be enough for what life is truly like on the ground.

By mid-March 2020, many MEDA offices in North America and around the world were working from home. As the weeks mounted, projects had to find new ways to monitor progress amidst COVID-19 pandemic. This provided MEDA with an opportunity to pilot a new lean data approach which used phone surveys to monitor project impact.