Counterpart International Inc

Food security: economic growth and opportunity:counterpart expands leadership opportunities and economic self-sufficiency, equipping individuals with the skills and resources to drive change in their communities. The united states department of agriculture-funded guatemala food for progress program (2016- 2024, food security) aims to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in coffee and horticultural value chains. The project's key strategies are supporting the rebuilding of the national agriculture extension system, increasing agricultural productivity via improved agricultural techniques and technologies, strengthening market linkages, and providing access to finance. See schedule o.focused on the western highlands of guatemala, the project works with and through the following key guatemalan institutions: ministry of agriculture, livestock, and food (maga), university of san carlos (usac), university of california davis (uc davis), national coffee association (anacafe), and the biggest credit union federation in guatemala, micoope. The program is supporting maga's national rural extension system (sner) through the development of the caex program, the only academic professional extension training program in guatemala. Since its development, the caex program has certified 420 maga and private sector extension agents. Through its support to agricultural producer groups, to date the program has increased agricultural yields by 31%, created 3,055 new jobs, increased program participants' coffee sales to $6.37 million usd, trained 56,174 coffee producers and smallholders on agricultural productivity or food security, conducted 27 trade promotion activities focused on private sector linkages, and supported buyers and sellers to sign 58 new contracts. The program has also supported 21 coffee grower associations to gain international certification for production and export of coffee. The program provided additional support to farmers and farmer associates by awarding a total of 191 cash and in-kind grants valued at more than $2.8 million usd. The program has also strengthened smallholder farmers' access to finance by working with micoope to design four loan products. To date, a total of 10,170 loans have been disbursed valued at more than $65.7 million usd. This project closed on september 30, 2024.school feeding programsthe united states department of agriculture (usda) awarded counterpart international a cooperative agreement (ffe-685-2021-009-00) to implement a mcgovern-dole international food for education and child nutrition project named sukaabe janngo ii ("children of tomorrow") in senegal (2021-2026) with a focus on two regions (kolda and sedhiou) in the southern part of senegal known as the casamance. This follows the sukaabe janngo i project (2018-2023) that was implemented in the north-west, saint louis region. Sukaabe janngo ii combines imported and locally procured food items and targets school communities, school-aged children, farmers, pregnant women, and government actors. In fy2024, the project distributed 7,440,226 meals to 60,045 students, held several trainings around literacy, health and nutrition practices, commodity management, and safe food preparation and storage targeting teachers, directors, cooks, school management committee (smc) members, master trainers and health agents. Additionally, the project facilitated the formation of 285 parent-teacher associations or similar "school" governance structures to build local capacity and ownership of school feeding activities. Sukaabe janngo ii is partnering with local and international organizations including ared, cicodev, imagine, world vision, sesame workshop, and virginia tech.the united states department of agriculture-funded mcgovern-dole international food for education and child nutrition program entitled the future is ours! In mauritania (2019-2024) assists the government of mauritania (gom) to reduce hunger, improve health, and strengthen the primary education systems in the barkna and gorgol regions. The future is ours! Worked in 209 schools and distributed 46,770,604 school meals to 74,373 students over its lifetime. The project team worked closely with the ministry of national education and the reform of the education system (moe's) technical working group and developed a textbook and teacher guides for first grade in arabic. The moe has since gone on to distribute textbooks and teacher guides nationwide. Counterpart's sustainable exit strategy will support the gom to take charge of some of the 21 school canteens at the end of project using the counterpart mcgovern-dole implementation strategy while counterpart continues with bridging the future in mauritania.the united states department of agriculture-funded mcgovern-dole international food for education and child nutrition program entitled "our bright future! (nosso futuro brilhante!)" (2020-2025) in mozambique supports the government of mozambique's efforts to improve the quality of student learning. In fy24 the project provided 78,844 students with nutritious daily school meals in 245 primary schools and 7 boarding schools, receiving a total of 11,281,110 meals: improving literacy skills of school age children through the provision of 74,305 supplementary reading materials for bilingual education in portuguese and xichangana and xirhonga spoken in the project's area of impact; improving school infrastructure and increasing access to clean water and sanitation by rehabilitating 7 latrines and 3 water pumps systems as well as rehabilitating 12 storerooms and kitchens to improve infrastructure of the school canteen with the use of local labor; and increasing the capacity of the national school feeding program -'projecto de alimentacao escolar' (pronae)- to locally procure and provide oversight of a diversified food basket in school feeding programs, where the project in collaboration with pronae finalized and tested three implementation manuals (1. Commodity management; 2. Health and nutrition and 3. Agriculture). To support food basket diversification, a total of 600.63 mts of commodities were procured locally, including fortified maize flour, an assortment of cowpeas, onions, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage in mozambique. Additionally, in fy 2024, the project published a policy brief titled "hunger to learn" as part of its school feeding advocacy campaign for a stronger legal framework through the approval of a national school feeding strategy, and ultimately, a national school feeding law that would provide government funding for the implementation of a nationwide school feeding program in mozambique. Furthermore, the project conducted a midline assessment that showed an increase in children able to read and write in 3rd grade, from 4% at baseline to 13% at midline, far surpassing the length of the project target of 9%. The midline evaluation also showed an increase in community participation in education and awareness of the project's interventions, which was achieved partly through community dialogues and the use of a community scoring card (csc) system engaging directly 4,281 individuals in the community to improve project service delivery and the education sector altogether.counterpart international continued implementing usda mcgovern-dole food for education project to continue our work in mauritania under the new programming bridging the future (2022 2027, food security). The usda-funded project will provide daily nutritious meals to more than 110,000 mauritanian students from 320 schools in the brakna, gorgol, and tagant regions through 2027. Bridging the future works in partnership with the government, key stakeholders, and local and regional partner organizations ecodev and associate's in research and education for development to reduce hunger, improve health and nutrition, and strengthen literacy and the primary education system, contributing to a more self-reliant, productive society. To date this project has provided 2,564,329 school meals to children as a result of usda donated commodities and local/regionally procured commodities. The project purchased 267.07 mt of assorted local commodities for school meals in the 86 schools in tagant for a total amount of $349,145.57. The local/regionally procured commodities component of the mauritania mcgovern-dole project is being new to implementation and is a critical part of building a sustainable exit strategy for counterpart in country. 20,535 students have directly received daily school meals. This project has also supported the distribution of menstrual hygiene kits for girls in partner schools, counterpart has distributed 1,892 kits to date.

Peace and security: the strengthening human rights systems project is a usaid-funded initiative (2017-2025) designed to strengthen el salvador's ability to uphold the rule of law, combat human rights abuses, and promote government accountability critical to reducing crime, violence, and migration pressures that affect u.s. Security interests. Counterpart implements the project in collaboration with two local partners--partners el salvador (through 2025) and contextos (through 2024). In fy 2024, the project supported the national observatory for human rights in publishing its annual human rights report on the state of human rights in el salvador, in addition to conducting a special investigation of access to justice in the current political context. See schedule o.the project strengthened capacities of local organizations and local networks to address security sector abuses via direct training provided funding to monitor and document these violations; and provided dedicated expertise as local organizations designed and implemented their activities. On the governmental side, the project continued supporting victim assistance units within the public defender's office and the human rights ombudsman's office, including delivering training, resources, and technical assistance to improve their services to victims of human rights violations, as well as promoting their inter-institutional collaboration. Specifically, the project strengthened the human rights ombudsman's office's victims unit and facilitated its restructuring into the specialized department for comprehensive attention to victims. Recognizing the importance of youth engagement in stabilizing communities, the project trained 182 young leaders in constitutional rights, civic responsibility, and leadership, empowering them to participate in governance and contribute to long-term security and resilience. By reinforcing institutional capacity and local accountability, the rights and dignity project is helping el salvador strengthen its security environment and economy--ultimately reducing illegal migration, increasing regional cooperation, and ensuring that u.s. Taxpayer dollars contribute to sustainable, measurable change.the us department of state africa bureau-funded police de proximite a diffa "nallewaro" program (september 2020-october 2022) aimed to improve trust and communication between local communities and security forces in the boko haram-affected diffa region in niger. It established 11 community policing networks and supported 15 local organizations with grants for conflict prevention and youth-law enforcement trust-building. The project also played a key role in anti-radicalization efforts by building bridges and fostering trust between citizens and police, contributing to stabilization in the region. Public engagement was further enhanced through community events, radio broadcasts, and data-driven security assessments. Kagalo ii program in niger focused on the leadership and peace building skills of young women's networks in the tillaberi region, with funding from the u.s. State department. Women play a key role in peacebuilding and promoting stabilization in communities in niger. Activities focused on rapid startup in october fy25.

Women's leadership: global women in management (gwim) is funded by the exxonmobil foundation and strengthens women's management, leadership, and technical skills to enhance and expand their business and social initiatives. Gwim is designed for women leaders and managers in business, non-profits, and social enterprises with 1) skills to start or grow a business, 2) income-generating skills and access to markets, 3) access to financial and material resources for business development, and/or 4) employment opportunities. Under this exxonmobil foundation grant, counterpart implemented in-person and virtual training programs and alumnae activities which included online networking sessions and coaching. In fy 24, counterpart implemented an in-person gwim training program for two weeks, bringing together 20 accomplished women leaders from 12 countries trained in business and leadership skills. Women's economic advancement workshop in suriname: counterpart delivered an economic advancement training for surinamese women entrepreneurs in the first quarter of fy24, with funding support from exxonmobil suriname. The program brought 20 women entrepreneurs together to learn about the business canvas model for launching or expanding their businesses and social enterprise. Skill building included how to develop a successful business plan, product expansion, budgeting and marketing, leadership and communication skills, and expanding networks to increase investments and market access.

Climate resiliency: the coastal resiliency program (ccrp) (climate resiliency), in the dominican republic, funded by the frohring foundation, focused on restoring marine ecosystems, providing economic opportunities within the value chains of more sustainable fisheries and tourism, and empowering local youth in their engagement, benefiting over 1,200 students and supporting job training opportunities.the climate adaptation activity (caa) (climate resiliency), launched in fy 2024, promotes sustainable agriculture, water resource management, and ecosystem management in dajabon through innovative farming techniques, enhanced watershed governance, and economic opportunities through ecotourism.