GVN News

5:10pm 27 August 2010  
Filed under: Eat So They Can, GVN Foundation

New York, August 27, 2010 - Courtney Montague, Executive Director of The Global Volunteer Network Foundation (GVN Foundation) and 2009 NYU Catherine B Reynolds Fellow, has announced that GVN Foundation has raised $1.2 million for communities in need around the world since its inception in 2005.

Montague says that reaching the milestone has not been easy but it has been an incredibly insightful and rewarding journey.

“It’s been fun, amazing, stressful and profoundly meaningful over the last five years for me as GVN Foundation’s Executive Director. I went from running GVN Foundation in a spare room of my house to having a formal office, and an incredible team of people committed to social change,” says Montague.

GVN Foundation is 99% publically supported and since 2005 funds have gone towards helping women and children living in poverty across Africa, Asia, and South America.

GVN Foundation Highlights:
Uganda - funded the construction of a kitchen and a science laboratory at Springs of Hope High School.
Peru - helped fund the construction of a new bathroom, kitchen, dining room and laundry at the Hogar Mercedes de Jesus (orphanage).
Nepal - helped fund the construction of the Shining Stars Children’s Home and Brighter Future Children’s Home.
Haiti - funded the construction of the GVN Jacmel Community Centre.
Special Consultative status by the United Nations - granted to GVN Foundation (2009)

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10:14am 23 July 2010  
Filed under: GVN, Program Information, Thailand

GVN now has opportunities for volunteers to work hands on with domesticated elephants who have spent their lives being exploited for the tourism industry.

Volunteers are needed to assist the local staff at the Refuge Centre to ensure that from now onwards the elephants have a better quality of life in their natural environment.

To find out more go to http://www.globalvolunteernetwork.org/thailand

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11:15am 25 June 2010  
Filed under: GVN Foundation, Grants

A grant of $1,147 was sent to Ethiopia on June 9th. This was a program fee donation and will be used to purchase computers for Mercy Ministry Home.

A sponsorship grant of $601.01 was sent to CETU in Uganda to assist with the running costs of Springs of Hope school.

ZOTE Projects in South Africa was sent a $10,000 grant from Intel thanks to Mark Russell. The grant will be used to build a magnificent library and learning center in Manamani Village.

$5600 was sent to Haiti to be used as micro grants to support volunteer-led projects. I will update this on the GVNF site. Examples of the types of projects that are being carried out with these funds are:

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4:44pm 11 June 2010  
Filed under: GVN, Ghana (Peace), Programs

The Global Volunteer Network has new opportunities to help in the areas of community peace education cells and community school projects in rural Ghana.

In this program we work with a humanitarian non governmental organization dedicated to the well being of vulnerable people in West Africa. The purpose of a Peace Village is to help strengthen trust and friendship within and between local communities.

Community School and Peace Cells Program

Volunteers have the opportunity to work in the areas of community peace education cells, teaching, and grassroots organisation development.

Peace Cells Program

Peace education cells encourage non-violent conflict-resolution training, and facilitate dialogue and reconciliation between competing priorities within and between the family group, neighbourhoods and communities. Cell discussions are based on topics that villagers feel are affecting them, such as domestic violence, tolerance and intolerance, and women’s empowerment.

Community School Program

Volunteers assist local teachers in preparing weekly lesson plans, teaching students and organizing sports activities for children three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). Volunteer teaching opportunities include providing literacy, numeracy, peace education, and creative activities, such as drama, dance and art, to children aged 3 to 9 years.

Check out the details at http://www.globalvolunteernetwork.org/ghana/pco

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10:37am 10 June 2010  
Filed under: Fees, Ghana (Community Development), Ghana (Peace), Program Information, Programs

Our new Ghana partner allows volunteers to help in facilitating peace education cells in a small Ghanaian community, engaging in topics such as female empowerment and domestic violence. They have recently adjusted their program fees; this change applies to volunteers who pay their application fee from 17 June 2010 onwards.

The program fee for volunteers who pay their application fee from 17 June 2010 onwards will be:
Cost for 2 weeks - US $779
Cost for 3 weeks - US $969
Cost for 1 month - US $1159
Cost for 6 weeks - US $1539
Cost for 2 months - US $1919
Cost for 10 weeks - US $2299
Cost for 3 months - US $2679
Cost for 4 months - US $3439
Cost for 5 months - US $4199
Cost for 6 months - US $4959

> Ghana Peace Program

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10:05am 5 March 2010  
Filed under: Eat So They Can, GVN Foundation, Grants

Eat So They Can and GVN Foundation have made the following grants recently:

Eat So They Can Grant - $687: This grant will be used to complete the construction of the first group of 10 houses at Pipeline IDP camp in Kenya.

Eat So They Can Grant - $1,376.30: This grant will be used to reconnect the electricity at Shelter Children’s Home in Kenya.

$450 emergency relief grant sent to CERV in the Philippines to help fund their work to assist the victims of typhoon ketsana.

$13,253.16 ESTC grant for VICDA: This grant will be used to support several orphanages in and around Nairobi both with their immediate needs and sustainability projects. Funds will also be used to run a porridge program at several IDP camps.

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2:36pm 25 February 2010  
Filed under: GVN Foundation, Grants

The GVN Foundation recently commissioned a research project into good practice in orphanages in Kenya. The outcome of the project was an orphanage development framework which will be used to structure grant distribution and evaluate the success of grants.

Also, a wire of $1,406.23 has been sent to be used for two purposes; the IDP Pipeline Project, and a donation for Shelter Orphanage.

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11:47am 12 February 2010  
Filed under: GVN, News, Program Information, Programs

The meeting with the Haiti Advanced Team in New York went extremely well. Nadine McNeil, Project Leader,presented the Assessment Report which outlined the current state of conditions on the ground in Haiti; and the volunteer profile and skill set that will be required over the next 12 months.

Excerpts from the Team Assessment Report:
CURRENT OVERALL CONDITIONS:
The initial recovery teams have left and most crisis medical care has been done. The medical needs now are in the realm of broken bones that were never set, secondary infections and maladies due to toxic living conditions and poverty-related illnesses. The roads need to be repaired and built. Buildings need to be rebuilt or made structurally sound again. Communication systems need to be established. Housing needs to be a major priority as approximately 1.5 million people were displaced, a total of 3 million affected. Infrastructure basics such as running water and plumbing are needed to attenuate the ubiquitous diseases that have caused one of the world’s highest rates of infant mortality.

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11:06am 4 February 2010  
Filed under: GVN

Due to a technical malfunction yesterday by our spam filter, emails to GVN were blocked. Unfortunately we have been unable to access the blocked emails, and request that if you received a bounce back that you re-send your email.

This problem applied only to e-mails sent to GVN’s staff members; applications, payments, and other correspondence through the GVN website were received normally.

Thank you.

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9:43am  
Filed under: GVN, GVN Foundation, News, Program Information, Programs

Thank you for your ongoing patience regarding volunteering in Haiti. To date we have received nearly 10,000 enquiries so as you can imagine it has been quite busy… I am on my way to New York to meet with Nadine McNeil who headed up the advanced team that just returned from Haiti. I will be able to give you more details following this meeting.

What I do know is that the emergency relief phase is taking much longer than everyone thought. In fact estimates are that nearly 250,000 people lost their lives during the quake. So our March date of beginning the next phase may be a little optimistic.

Accommodation continues to be in short supply and many of the relief workers have been getting sick from the water. The airport is still not open to commercial flights and may not open for another 3 weeks.

Nadine McNeil, GVN Haiti Advanced Team Leader and Project Co-ordinator has returned to Jamaica following the five day assessment in Haiti and provided us with a preliminary report which is available online for you to listen to:
http://www.globalvolunteernetwork.org/haiti/nadine.php

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