Global Grassroots
Rating: 4.92 stars 13 13 reviews
Address:
45 Lyme Road Suite 206 Hanover NH 03755 USA
Mission:
Global Grassroots is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that catalyzes ideas for social change designed by and for underserved women in post-conflict Africa. Our mission is to unite, empower and support relief of poor, distressed and underprivileged women worldwide. Global Grassroots’ Academy for Conscious Change in Rwanda is a 12-18 month incubator offering non-profit management skills, leadership training, personal transformation practices, seed grants and high-engagement support that enables vulnerable women change agents to launch their own grassroots solutions benefiting women and girls. All of the ventures are locally-designed and operated by our graduates as self-sustaining, non-profit endeavors.
Results:
Since 2006, Global Grassroots has steadily built a track record of social impact in Rwanda. We have trained over 250 emerging change agents, who have launched 11 sustainable, civil society organizations, and we have a further 9 social ventures now ready for seed funding. Our teams are collectively serving 9,000 vulnerable women and girls annually, and touching a total of over 40,000 lives to date, including the children of venture beneficiaries and the audiences of their awareness work.
Target demographics:
Global Grassroots works through grassroots networks and partnerships to identify among vulnerable women, the emerging change agents who are committed to transforming the lives of women and girls. Our participants include widows, genocide survivors, women living with HIV/AIDS, mothers with only a primary school education, and women living on $2 a day. We also welcome into our program men who are eager to combat the underlying issues affecting women and girls, and on average, approximately 10 percent of our participants are men. Our simple application requires that change agents form a team, identify their social issue priority and propose a solution to address that issue collectively. We target groups at the earliest stage of their idea development, and invite between 3 and 5 representatives of each selected team into our Academy for Conscious Change.
Geographic areas served:
Rwanda
Programs:
The Academy for Conscious Change The first phase of the Academy is a 40 hour intensive, interactive training course that accelerates the process of personal and societal transformation. Our curriculum begins by investing in a personal growth process for each change agent. Our objective is to help these future change leaders expand their sense of self-awareness, develop tools for transforming oppression and suffering, cultivate compassion and initiate change responsibly. We believe it essential for future social change leaders to invest as much in inner transformation as they do in outer solutions, so that they may avoid the pitfalls of burn-out, abuse of power or pursuits that detract from constructive social change. We share practices in meditation and breathing to support trauma healing, and promote self-care to alleviate stress. Finally, by helping women map out their capabilities that can be leveraged for social change, we deepen their sense of agency, as they identify ways to make their own unique contribution. Integrated with the personal transformation work and conscious leadership practices, the second part of our training provides all of the skills needed to create a plan for a viable social enterprise. We begin by mapping social issue priorities and diagnosing core causes. Project teams then enter an intensive venture design process to construct a mission and vision, operational plan, organizational design, budget, creative resourcing strategies, evaluation metrics, strategic partnerships, a code of conduct and communications strategy. Following the academic portion of the program, teams move into a three to six month phase of hands-on project development support to prepare for launch. Our local staff works with each team to ensure that the project is designed to be self-sufficient, has measurable goals and objectives and will address a root cause of the underlying issue to create systemic change for women and girls. Projects which meet our criteria for social impact and sustainability receive seed funding averaging $4000 for their start-up costs and a further 12 months of high-engagement support. These locally-designed social ventures are not small businesses, but are instead small non-profits driven by a social purpose to address a priority issue facing women, such as domestic violence, water access or illiteracy. Evaluation metrics and ongoing assessment are incorporated into the operations phase to ensure the development of a strong organization.
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Reviews for Global Grassroots
Global Grassroots should serve as an example of how development work should be done. Their programs teach and inspire all of us that have worked in the development field. Thanks for your great work.
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How does this organization compare with others in the same sector?
Very Well
How much of an impact do you think this organization has?
Life-changing
Will you recommend this organization to others?
Definitely
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2012
9 people found this review helpful
I have been tracking GG since it's beginning. It is an amazing organization that helps people in the right way. It teaches Women and Men to be self sufficient and how they can help themselves. They gain necessary skills to help entire communities. Gretchen does this work in a unique way. She is trying to work herself out of a job instead of continuing to hand out aid and make populations aid dependent. She is most definitely part of the solution.
More Feedback
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
I have seen the change in peoples lives. I have seen Women cry and sing and dance all at the same time.
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
Give them a million dollars so that they can hire more people to go out and help more. No a billion. They need to be everywhere.
What I've enjoyed the most about my experience with this nonprofit is...
They do great work and change peoples lives forever. They don't just hand out stuff, they teach.
The kinds of staff and volunteers that I met were...
Friendly, kind and knowledgeable.
If this organization had 10 million bucks, it could...
Make so much change. They would empower millions of women around the world. They could change the way we think about aid.
Ways to make it better...
They were everywhere.
In my opinion, the biggest challenges facing this organization are...
Funding. They need more funds so that they can expand to other areas and hire more staff.
One thing I'd also say is that...
Good luck!!
How frequently have you been involved with the organization?
About every six months
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2010-3-01
