In collaboration with Amazide, Mavuno, and Off Grid Electric, we initiated in 2018 an Opportunity Project to bring solar energy to primary schools in Tanzania.  In 2019, we increased our commitment to this endeavor and completed the installation in 36 more primary schools.  We conducted surveys in the schools six months after installation, with the results showing an increase in the quality and quantity of education.  Qualitatively, the lights are being used at night by teachers to prepare lessons and tutor students, and by both primary and secondary school students to prepare for national examinations.  The televisions and radios are being used as teaching tools.  Early morning and night programs have been initiated.  Because the schools are now considered “modern,” student attendance, punctuality, motivation, interest, and confidence are all up.  Quantitatively, student performance as measured by local and regional examinations are up by an average of 15%. 

Seasonal migration of coffee farm families leads children to experience fragmented education and pervasive child labor incidence.  It is estimated that over 320,000 children in Nicaragua between the ages of 5 and 14 are working, predominantly in the agricultural sector.  Since 2015, Project Alianza has built 10 schools to provide children with a safe place to receive consistence, quality education.  In 2019, a $10,000 grant from AllPeopleBeHappy foundation was used to support the Community Allies Program (CAP), which trained 14 local women to teach literacy, hygiene, gender equity, and environmental conservation to 1,250 children in 20 schools.  

Little Sisters Fund provides Primary Educator Training (PET) to teachers in Nepal.  In 2019, the AllPeopleBeHappy foundation’s fifth Project Grant to Little Sisters Fund allowed them to hold 5 PET training sessions at 5 partner schools, 12 PET Revive trainings, and 63 follow-up visits, directly impacting 341 teachers, and indirectly impacting 12,000 students.  Little Sisters Fund also piloted an Early Grade Learning program at three partner schools in the Makawanpur district in partnership with World Education.  Twenty-two kindergarten to 3rd grade teachers took part in the intensive training that focused on the foundational reading skills of Nepali primary students.

In 2019, the AllPeopleBeHappy foundation provided a Project Grant to CoCoDA (Companion Community Development Alternatives) to help the small rural community of Zacataloza in Nicaragua construct a new solar powered water system.  The project involves capitation of the spring, digging and laying nearly two miles of piping, the construction of a distribution tank, and the installation of solar panels and pumps.  CoCoDA reported that “One of most interesting aspects of this work was discovering what a perfect match solar power is for water systems…Solar power gives the communities independence, a public utility and a sustainable model for clean, affordable water.” 

Over the past 3 years, the AllPeopleBeHappy foundation provided a $120,000 Challenge Grant to a joint venture between LifeNet International and Global Emergency Care (GEC).  As a result of this joint project, nine LifeNet nurse trainers were trained at a dedicated GEC emergency care training facility in emergency care triage, assessment, and treatment skills.  These nurse trainers have gone on to train hundreds of additional clinical staff in 174 health centers in Uganda in some aspects of emergency care.  This may include triaging patients, fever, trauma care, obstetric emergencies, pneumonia emergencies, and neonatal emergencies requiring resuscitation.  More than 1,000,000 patients in Uganda have been treated by trained staff members, and we are seeing improved health outcomes in the patient population across the Masaka District of Uganda. 

The AllPeopleBeHappy foundation ended 2019 with a bang; we met and exceeded our Annual Fundraising Campaign goal of $100,000 with a final tally of $104,009.  Thank you, thank you to our donors.  The funds allow us to continue to grow and do good work in 2020.  For 2019, we expended $254, 205 in carrying out our five programs.  With our Opportunity Project, we provided solar power to 36 primary schools in Tanzania.  We funded the final year of our Challenge Grant to the joint venture between LifeNet International and Global Emergency Care.  With our Project Grants, we supported 13 projects in 10 countries.  We also granted 13 Volunteer Service Awards and made 4 Fellows Program grants.  We are proud of what we have accomplished and will be providing more details in the year ahead.

The Pangea Network was born over 13 years ago and exists to equip women and youth with education, life-skills and resources to improve their overall quality of life and realize their full potential.  The Network has over 600 active members in cooperatives across Kenya, and in 2017 created its Women’s Health Initiative (WHI).  The WHI provides much needed training workshops for greater understanding of the female reproductive system, the male reproductive system, sexually transmitted infections, the science of fertilization, stages of pregnancy, proper nutrition during pregnancy, the birthing process and menopause.  With the help of a $10,000 grant from the AllPeopleBeHappy foundation in 2018, the Network completed 11 workshops in 2017-2018, training 447 women in 15 coops (caring for 1,800 children).  A second $10,000 grant was awarded in 2019 to conduct 40 days of WHI training to 250 additional women in July to December of 2019.

A third $10,000 Project Grant has been awarded to A Breeze of Hope Foundation (ABH) in 2019 to support its school-based sexual violence awareness project in Cochabamba, Bolivia.  Since 2009, ABH has been changing school cultures and helping those who’ve suffered sexual violence to disclose the crimes committed against them and begin healing.  ABH has reached over 80,000 people through this longstanding effort.  During 2017-2019, A Breeze of Hope 1) conducted 192 workshops in middle and high schools in Cochabamba, reaching 10,872 students, 1,205 parents, 516 educators, and 552 school-based professionals and justice officials, 2) provided students with current information on their human rights, ways to get help, and the benefits of disclosing sexual violence, and 3) ensured that professionals trained in trauma-informed response are prepared to provide legal assistance, therapeutic support, social services, academic support and advocacy to children who disclose sexual violence during or after workshops.

Sunflower is a new non-profit organization founded by a 2017 AllPeopleBeHappy Volunteer Service Award grant recipient.  Sunflower currently runs The Sunflower Literacy Lab, located in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya, home to a community library space with seating for 80 students, as well as four academic classrooms, and an outdoor hall.  In 2019, with a second $10,000 Project Grant from the AllPeopleBeHappy foundation, the renamed Sunflower Global launched the PALE (Pathways to Alternative Learning and Education) program, a more structured education program for upper primary school girls.  The PALE program serves fifty poorly-educated primary school girls daily, providing students with a variety of alternative education and literacy programming, including extensive literacy training, reading and writing skills, sports and physical activity, counseling and social emotional support, and academic field trips. 

Established in 2011, Sunsar Maya is a small, non-profit organization based in San Francisco, California and Kathmandu, Nepal.  The services they provide are centered on after-school education, teacher training, and physical and mental health care.  They directly serve 185 children and women in Mahalaxmi (Lalitpur) and Jorpati (Kathmandu).  A second AllPeopleBeHappy Project Grant of $9,617 was awarded to Sunsar Maya for its SuMa Women’s Literacy Program.  This program teaches 90+ women in conversation and written English, Nepali, and mathematics.  The English skills enable students to use communication devices, i.e., cell phones and computers which use English characters.  By building the women’s literacy and numeracy skills in their native language, they can more easily manage daily tasks, such as shopping and paying bills, and perform life skills such as navigating government offices, using a bank account, and participating more fully in their communities.