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Transformative Capacity Transformative capacity means having the ability to affect systemic change or create a positive enabling environment for people to work together to invest and innovate while actively managing risks. If village flooding is made worse because of upstream conditions outside of the villagers’ control, transformative capacity can be realized if they are able to get the government and other stakeholders to act to [...]
We're excited that Teri Turner, a hugely popular Instagram food blogger and author of the best-selling cookbook, No Crumbs Left: Recipes for Everyday Food Made Marvelous, is encouraging her Friday Favorites newsletter subscribers to donate to Shanta. And she is matching their donations, dollar for dollar! If you like to cook and could use some [...]
While our partner villages have not yet had any Covid-19 cases, the travel restrictions and drought have severely impacted their livelihoods. Villagers could not get their crops to the markets this past spring due to lockdowns, limiting the money they had to invest in their fall planting. For families living on less than $1.50 a [...]
“My three sons are students and I’m worrying how can I support them to keep study this year. And because of I lost big amount of money in last season, I need to reduce farming size.”- Maung Kham, 42 year-old farmer from Bayar Ngar Sue village. The rainy season has just started in Myanmar, and [...]
A lot has changed since my last blog post, shared as the real scale of COVID-19’s impact on our lives was just beginning to come into focus in the US and Myanmar. By mid-April our partner villages in Myanmar were still facing deep uncertainty about the risks they faced and the challenges created by how [...]
A message from Laurie Meininger, Shanta's Executive Director, about our response to the coronavirus in Myanmar.
As a brand new Durangoan I was excited to get an invitation to speak with a class at Fort Lewis College back in February. Dr. Andy Young, Assistant Professor for Physics and Engineering and Village Aid Project faculty partner, is teaching the inaugural class of an honors course aimed at bringing multi-disciplinary student and faculty [...]
We know the world is feeling upside down right now, and everyone is facing a lot of uncertainty and fear. It is time for us all to take care of ourselves and one another. Together we are stronger and can get through this pandemic. People are paying close attention to the things and people that [...]
Bwar Kyi and her husband live in Aung Lei village. They are subsistence farmers working the small plot of land they live on to grow onions, garlic, and potatoes. The amount of money they make from farming barely feeds their family of six with little leftover for house-hold expenses. Recently, at a Village Development Team (VDT) [...]
This question is heard echoing in classrooms across the US this week as children and youth go back to school after a long break. Students share stories of camps, traveling, and outdoor adventures combine with intervals of giggles as fond memories of the past months with friends and teachers. Students in six Shanta partner villages [...]
