Welcome to Changemakers 365! We’re kicking things off in SW Uganda at Nakivale Refugee Settlement. The Safe Houses at Nakivale are meant as places of sanctuary and rest. They’re intended for those who are – for whatever reason – no longer safe in their homes in the settlement. Guests may have suffered trauma or violence, and they urgently need some place to go to be safe while they and ARC staff work together on what to do next. The safe houses most often provide a haven for women and their children who have nowhere else. The Safe Houses in Nakivale are spartan – a floor, roof, and walls. The rooms are empty, the floors bare. They provide physical protection from danger and from the elements – but not much else. They don’t address the emotional trauma that women seeking shelter have experienced. A few Changemakers thought the safe house could be a lot better and wanted to make it happen - their idea for the 2016 Changemakers Competition was to do a "Safe House Makeover" and … [Read more...] about Nakivale Safe House
Good Business
Why Customer Service is So Important to Asili From the very beginning, Asili has been about Congolese communities. About families, mothers, and children. About serving their needs and ensuring that they have access to best of class businesses, right in their own backyards. And customer service – so often taken for granted in our own contexts – is a huge part of that. … [Read more...] about Good Business
Youth Challenge
In partnership with the Office of the Prime Minister of Uganda, we challenged the youth at Nakivale Refugee Settlement to come up with ideas that would change the lives of young people living at Nakivale for the better. And we were amazed by the response! Hundreds of youth submitted ideas. It was a difficult decision, but we narrowed all of those ideas down to 13 winners, to be awarded at a gala in Kampala held in their honor on Friday, October 21st. These are wonderful ideas, worthy of recognition. But we want to take it a step farther, and recognize not only the ingenuity of these ideas – we also want to make them happen. Their 13 ideas range from establishing a computer repair workshop, to an idea for raising chickens, but they’re all united by one thing – they give youth living in Nakivale Refugee Settlement hope for the future. 10 of the winning ideas are now listed on GoFundMe, which can be accessed through the links below. Our goal is to get all of them funded, and to get … [Read more...] about Youth Challenge
Q&A: David Acuoth
Lost Boy Meets Survivors of current Global Refugee Crisis This year we set out to better understand the global refugee crisis through refugee eyes, to see what’s happening firsthand. So over the past few months, ARC teams went and spoke with more than 500 people – all of them refugees - in places like Jordan, Turkey, Germany, Greece, Uganda, and Kenya. Welcomed into their homes and their lives, we listened to everything they had to say. ARC staff went on this journey, but we also invited others outside the industry, people whose could offer a distinct perspective. One of those people was David Acuoth, who we were lucky to have on our team in Jordan. David is a former Lost Boy of Sudan who is now a U.S. Congressional Staffer. Below you’ll find a recent conversation between David and Daniel Wordsworth, ARC’s President, about his experiences speaking with Syrian refugees in Jordan – and why it was so powerful. Q&A: DAVID ACUOTH Daniel: To start, why were you interested in going on … [Read more...] about Q&A: David Acuoth
Asili Zone 3 About to Launch
It’s official – construction on Zone 3 is well underway. Located in the bustling town of Mudaka, about a half hour from Bukavu, Zone 3 will be Asili’s most ambitious project yet. Our work in Mudaka will have the building blocks of Asili’s business model, but this newest zone will work as a comparison test of sorts to the first two, which are in rural and semi-rural locations. … [Read more...] about Asili Zone 3 About to Launch
Partnering With Dunn Brothers
Making change worldwide American Refugee Committee is partnering again with Dunn Brothers Coffee, the Minneapolis-based coffee franchise, to offer the Changemakers Collection coffee bean in 87 Dunn Brothers stores in nine U.S. states. Sales from the collection will benefit ARC’s relief programs around the world. Starting in mid-September, Dunn Brothers Coffee will offer a Ugandan coffee bean for purchase as well as brew this light roast coffee in stores, available as a coffee-of-the-day. The Ugandan bean is the second in the Changemakers Collection. The first, a Burundi microlot coffee bean, was available in stores in February and March of this year. Through proceeds of the Changemakers Collection, Dunn Brothers will contribute $10,000 to ARC in 2016 to help fund breakthrough humanitarian solutions for the 3 million people ARC serves around the world. ARC provides clean water, protection and community services to more than 200,000 people in refugee settlements and … [Read more...] about Partnering With Dunn Brothers
Volunteer and Internship Opportunities
Alight sees and helps every person make meaningful change in the world – from displaced communities in Africa, Asia and the Americas to…anyone, anywhere. As a volunteer, we want you to feel that your abundance is unleashed – let’s get started! Our current US-based volunteer opportunities are in Minnesota. If you would like to volunteer or work with Alight outside of the United States where you are currently living and there is an Alight office in your area, please reach out them directly, or email info@wearealight.org Browse our volunteer opportunities Our current US-based volunteer opportunities are in Minnesota. Keep an eye on upcoming opportunities and reach out when you’re ready at https://timecounts.app/wearealight Join Us For Our Internship Cohort! We’re happy to offer several paid internship opportunities with our US-based team. These are remote/hybrid and paid positions with an office space available for those in the Minneapolis and NYC area. We are open to … [Read more...] about Volunteer and Internship Opportunities
2016 Changemakers Competition
ARC Staff Making Change On World Refugee Day, we launched our fourth annual Changemakers Award Competition. Changemakers is an ideas competition for our 1,600 staff around the world. We ask everyone one simple question and provide the platform for their ideas to pour in. … [Read more...] about 2016 Changemakers Competition
ARC Gets 4 Stars
Four Stars, Five Years Running For the fifth year in a row, American Refugee Committee has attained the coveted 4-star rating from Charity Navigator for demonstrating strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency! The 4-star rating is the highest possible rating – only 6% of the organizations evaluated by Charity Navigator, … [Read more...] about ARC Gets 4 Stars
Conversations on World Refugee Day
ARC Team Shares What They've Heard From Refugees In honor of World Refugee Day, we shared conversations we had with four of our team members who traveled across the globe to speak to refugees who are living in the reality of the Global Refugee Crisis. … [Read more...] about Conversations on World Refugee Day