Articles

When Nadine Goodman, a young social worker and public health graduate from Columbia University arrived in Mexico in 1981 to learn Spanish, she had in mind to stay a few months and return. But that never happened. Instead she settled down and co-founded the Center for Adolescents of San Miguel de Allende (CASA) – one […]

This is one of my most favorite articles that I’ve ever written. I interviewed four amazing activists – Joan Kembabazi (Gufasha Girls Foundation, Uganda), Joan Castro (the Path Foundation Phillippines Inc, the Philipines), Carina Hirsch (Margaret Pyke Trust, UK) and Carissa Patrone Maikuri (climate and community development expert, USA) – and talked to them about

Coming from a family of seven children, Chidera Benoit knows better than anyone how challenging it is to grow up in a big family in Nigeria and achieve a good living standard. Convinced that Nigerian women and men should be free to decide their family size, this young and motivated teacher and Executive Director of

Being a girl in any patriarchal society is tough. But living in a place where girls are married off as teenagers, are expected to have 7+ kids, and are regularly beaten and expected to keep mum about it? That’s damn hard. In the northwestern region of Pakistan, this is women’s daily bread. The worst thing?

Read my article on Sierra, which features the work of environmental leaders Stuart Pimm, Richard Heinberg and Florence Blondel, and get inspired by their tips on staying optimistic in the midst of the climate and extinction crises.

When Micaela Locke looks back at the history of Reserva Ecologica de Guapiacu (REGUA), she does it with a proud smile on her face. Thanks to the smart decision of her grandfather and an English donor, this former farm escaped the fate of many other abandoned rural places – namely, transformation into factories or a

There’s been a lot of talk about reproductive rights lately – and for good reason. Hard-fought freedoms are under fire around the world, from the U.S. to Poland, Niger, and Pakistan. If that fires you up, read this conversation with Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins about how you can join the fight. Nabeeha, you’re the president and

Madagascar is home to more than 200,000 species, and it’s estimated that 80% are found nowhere else on Earth. Unfortunately, many species on this island are critically threatened, including the bamboo lemur and Madagascar pochard. To save these animals from extinction, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust launched a partnership with the organization Marie Stopes. By improving

What started as a student adventure in a tropical mountain fruit farm in Venezuela became a lifelong mission of empowering rural women! Read the fascinating life story of Steven Bloomstein, co-founder of Turimiquire Foundation, an organization that has helped 70,000 women with family planning and reached over 80,000 people with workshops about reproductive health. Before

It’s not easy being a woman in Niger. The odds are especially high for women to drop out of high school, get married young (17 is the average age), or be displaced due to climate change, insecurity or humanitarian crisis! What happens to women in Niger, though, doesn’t stay in Niger alone. It impacts the