2022 Reflections and Gratitude

Dear Global Grassroots Friends,

As we move towards the end of the year, we’re taking a reflective gaze at the entirety of 2022, appreciating the challenges, the impact, the stories, friendships, and collective engagement that have made the year so rich. You are all a part of the Global Grassroots story and we thank you. We’ll be releasing our comprehensive Year-End Update in early January, but would like to share our gratitude today for the impact that we’ve had together this year.

Through our Women’s Water Leadership Initiative in Rwanda, three new women-led venture teams have been trained at our Academy for Conscious Change. Our Academy is a mindfulness-leadership program and social venture incubator for teams of women who wish to launch their own social change venture (a micro-NGO). Their social ventures are responsive to the needs of their own communities.

There are currently 11 women’s water venture teams in various stages of operations and implementation all with the support and mentorship of our dedicated Global Grassroots team.

Our Young Women’s Academy curriculum provides participants with the opportunity to do personal growth work which deepens their sense of agency, courage, and power to act for social change, while our training provides concrete skills and the opportunity to design an individual venture to implement that change.

Following this year’s two-week residential training in Rwanda, these new leaders are returning to their communities to launch their own social venture ideas for the first time. We then offer a safe container for them to process, integrate, and learn from their experiences.

The Young Women’s Alumnae Engagement Program successfully completed its second year of implementation with Young Women’s Academy alumnae from across East Africa and the world. This program held bi-monthly meetings on various topics (entrepreneurship, conscious social change, professional networking, etc), provided 6 venture grants to participants with standout venture proposals to implement their own solutions to community problems, and ensures ongoing mentorship throughout the process.

The Wisdom Lab’s purpose is to deepen collective understanding of and commitment to bringing a more conscious approach to community and social change. We do so through storytelling, participatory research, and by engaging our partners in interactive learning exchanges.

You can read more about what the Wisdom Lab has been up to this year in our recent blog, including how Global Grassroots’ inner work for social change model was featured in a new report, Cultivating Inner Capacities for Regenerative Food Systems: Rationale for Action, from the UNDP-funded Conscious Food Systems Alliance (CoFSA). Keep an eye out in January for the upcoming Wisdom Lab report containing deeper insights!

There’s so much more to share, but for now, we send our gratitude to all of the partners and friends who have supported us this year. You’re now a part of our 15+ years of impact. Since 2006, Global Grassroots has reached over 227,000 people with access to clean water, community and women-led trainings on food security, health, equity, and leadership development to ensure women’s voices and ideas are heard and acted on. Thank you. And for those who may still wish to contribute, there’s time to join us in keeping all of these programs running and thriving. Please consider giving a gift below.

THANK YOU! We look forward to a bright journey together in 2023 full of insight, impact, and innovation.