Success Is Best When It Is Shared

Lin Phon village is situated in Pin Laung Township, 29 kilometers from the nearest town. It has 56 homes with a population of 290 people of the Pao ethnic group. Farming is the village's primary source of revenue, and they raise corn, potatoes, and tomatoes. Poor families represent 49 of 56 households, or 87%. Lin [...]

What Exactly is Community-Led Development?

Community-led development (CLD) is the active involvement and participation of local members in the decision-making, planning, implementation, maintenance, and monitoring of development projects in their own communities. Within the CLD approach, the communities themselves identify their needs, set priorities, and create solutions to address the most pressing challenges they face. Recognizing that each community is [...]

5 Years Ago- VNM’s Save the Day

Healthy mother and childNang Pe’s Story My name is Nang Pe, and I live in Ga Naing Nge West village. I have three children, and my husband is Khun Lan. We grow cheroot leaves that we use to make cigars. When I was pregnant with my last child, I took prenatal vitamins from our Village Nurse Midwife (VNM), [...]

Meet Janet Nyoni

Meet Janet Nyoni, Program Manager for People’s Action Forum, Shanta’s implementing partner organization in Zambia. How long have you worked for PAF? Did you work for another organization prior to PAF and if so, what were your responsibilities there and how did it prepare you for your current position? I have been involved with PAF [...]

Nang No and her Tofu Business

Nang No, a 33-year-old mother from Htee Kan Laung is one of five family members with only an elementary education. Her three children are all in school: the oldest is 15 years old, the second is 13 years old, and the youngest is 5 years old. Her family’s income is from traditional farming- enough to [...]

What Our Boarding School Students Have to Say

We just received a packet of letters from sponsored boarding school students and love reading about their experiences! All these children are financially supported by dedicated donors through a Shanta program offering a brighter future via education at a private boarding school in Yangon that is far away from our partner villages. As it is [...]

Zambian Partner Villages Identified!

google map of 2023 zambia village partnersAfter much research, baseline data collection, and engagement with a host of local leaders (elected and tribal) in Zambia, we have selected three villages to partner with; village launches will take place in the coming weeks. Shanta staff have visited this area and seen the conditions there...dire.  Here is one example, the primary school in the [...]

What Does ChatGBT Have to Say About Shanta

Chatbots? ChatGBT? We are hearing a lot about these technological advances in the news and most of us have interacted with them upon searching for customer service on the web. Basically, they are artificial intelligence programs that can produce human-like conversations with a prompt question. They can assist us in composing emails, writing articles, code [...]

2023 Zambia Insight Trip

For all of you adventure seekers, we are taking our first Insight Trip to Zambia this September! This will be a true Zambian expedition, including nine days of travel mixing sightseeing, cultural immersion, and an in-depth education on Shanta’s village partnerships and development model. Our insight trips blend country highlights with our program education to [...]

International Women’s Day!

So many women have influenced our lives. Some are relatives; some are internationally famous for their tireless achievements toward an equitable world. We interviewed some of Shanta’s courageous leaders about their experience as female leaders. Tricia Karpfen, Co-Founder of Shanta Foundation My leadership values have likely looked different from more conventional ideas of leadership approaches. [...]