Thanks to the efforts of nineteen women from the Lihalakha Women's Group in Kakamega, Kenya, the Sustainable Beekeeping Empowerment Project (SBEP) has made tremendous progress since its inception a few short months ago. Prior to the project's execution, the self-dubbed “community-care group” exhibited strong commitment to managing an income generating activity that would serve as a means of financial empowerment and support. The FSD intern Supriya Prakash conducted interviews of several women's associations to assess their business experience, project goals, and group dynamics. At the conclusion of all surveys, Supriya's host NGO, the Western Education Advocacy Empowerment Program (WEAEP), plucked Lihalakha from twenty-two similar women's associations.

The idea for an apiary unfolded in May as Moses Mckaya, a Kenyan intern with prior experience with honey production, noted how lucrative the industry is in Western Kenya. Aside from constructing the hives and training the beekeepers, caring for a bee farm is quite manageable. Bees are efficient and hardy insects, so the women's primary responsibilities are harvesting and selling the honey.

FSD's Peter Ingosi, the Program Director in Kakamega, introduced Honey Care Africa to the project to install the hives on Lihalakha's compound, an often tedious and sticky process. In the symbiotic union between Honey Care and Lihalakha, Honey Care staff will train the women on harvesting techniques and hive management while Lihalakha will become one of their honey suppliers.

In early July, the hives were constructed and placed around the compound to attract and capture bees, which can take up to two weeks. After bee colonization, Lihalakha's seven beehives can be formally placed on the apiaries, marking the beginning of the harvesting phase. In addition to hive construction, the projects also serves to further strengthen Lihalakha's group dynamics through collective seed-planting. From an economic standpoint, the initiative expedites honey production—and provides a source of sustainable income in the time to come.

FSD is proud to announce that Corrie Burdett, presently interning in Nicaragua, was awarded a scholarship to attend the RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund International Conference 2012 in Washington, DC from July 21-24. RESULTS has been empowering citizen advocates for over 30 years, offering inspiring speakers and workshops on effective poverty solutions and advocacy skills training.

Corrie currently works with Casa de la Mujer in Tola, Nicaragua, where she is coordinating training sessions for women in five different communities to explore gender roles, gender violence, and how they can work within their community to advocate for human rights and equality. Additionally, she has formed a group of local youths with whom she works on English skills Thursday afternoons. This coincides with a time when the children’s mothers attend a self-help group in Tola. Corrie has also been exploring a tailoring opportunity that may translate into more local jobs for women while providing additional income for Casa de la Mujer.

Corrie believes that her experience with FSD has helped her to prepare for the Educational Fund International Conference by exposing her to the living conditions that the conference aims to address on a very intimate level. She says, “My experience in Nicaragua has given me a glimpse into what it means to be one of the world’s poor, living on $2 aday. It has also given me a glimpse into what it means to work for development in a developing country and the hopes and successes that are possible.” Corrie feels that her internship with FSD has not only solidified many of her values and outlooks, but also given her the experience to talk about her values with more conviction, using examples from personal experience.

Corrie graduated from the University of Oregon in Eugene with a degree in Political Science and a minor in Business Administration. These studies “taught me to think critically about the role of government, while understanding the critical role of citizen participation.” She also believes that her education has given her a solid foundation directly in line with the values of the RESULTS/RESULTS Conference, which highlights citizen participation and advocacy as a cornerstone to the eradication of poverty. Corrie says, “RESULTS and FSD compliment each other well, with RESULTS advocating on the political level for measures that support the eradication of poverty, and FSD working on the ground through their programs to end poverty within their program sites.”

At the conference, Corrie learned how to translate her personal experiences into political will to drive the forces of social change. She was especially excited to attend a plenary presentation by Jeffrey Sachs titled “Ending Poverty and Preventing Climate Change,” and attend the workshop “Engaging Leaders with Community Mapping and Grassroots Outreach.” Following the conference, Corrie returned to Casa de la Mujer in Nicaragua with a fresh perspective and a more comprehensive understanding of international development.

A recent educational strategy deployed in the Northern provinces of Argentina (including FSD’s Salta site) has produced positive results and has gotten the attention of neighboring countries. The plan, called Policies of Institutional Self-Evaluation for Improving the Quality of Education, relies on evaluations by principals, teachers, and parents to assess a school’s performance and then develop a plan for improvement. The ultimate goal is to improve education in especially low-income settings. Since its implementation, failure rates have dropped in primary schools, family participation has increased, communication and attendance have improved, and absenteeism has decreased.

FSD intern Jackson Lee, who attends Duke University, worked with FSD partner organization Changuito Dios, a daycare in one of the most vulnerable areas of the city, to write a grant proposal for a project that helps the center. The funded grant provides training to daycare staff members, who lack formal pedagogical training. This includes workshops on educational methodologies and classroom management that provide children with a supportive atmosphere at a particularly impressionable stage in their lives. According to Salta Program Director Victoria Valle, “Educational initiatives have long been a central focus of our work in Salta. This strategy is emblematic of our work because we believe that an integral and comprehensive support during the first years of life of our children constitutes the solid base that we must contribute to build if we seek a more fair future and better life opportunities.”

You can help bring change like this—and see Salta! Our Traveling Giving Circle from October 14-14 combines travel to Salta and Buenos Aires with philanthropy supporting projects like this. To find out more, please contact david@fsdinternational.org.

Northwestern University is currently looking to fill the position of Assistant Director at their Center for Global Engagement to help foster academic enrichment and career development programs on the Northwestern campus and abroad! Learn more at : http://www.idealist.org/view/job/8nD8SK3ZjWSP/.

If you're looking for a job opportunity in international development, One Acre Fund is a start-up NGO currently looking for international development professionals to fill several postings in Kenya, Rwanda, and Burundi. Learn more about the open postings at : http://www.oneacrefund.org/get_involved/careers.

Are you passionate about traveling? Grassroots development? Photography? All of the above? NOVICA, a leading humanitarian website in association with National Geographic, is currently seeking a writer/journalist/photographer to travel to Asia, Africa, or Latin America for research, photoshoots, and social metrics documentation. Learn more about the open position at: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/mar/3129246323.html.