Over this past year, we’ve helped provide 300,000 people with essential information on COVID-19 with our USDOL-funded Paraguay Okakuaa project in Paraguay and trained thousands of local beneficiaries across Latin America to increase food security with our Farmer-to-Farmer program. Donate and share to help us continue this important work. Every gift will be matched up to $10,000!
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COVID-19 Data Tracker — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides the most up-to-date COVID-19 rates in the United States. Interactive maps, charts, and data display information on trends, impacts, and more.
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Tour Disney Theme Parks — Disney offers an immersive virtual experience of their theme parks from the comfort of your own home. Take a 360-degree tour of the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort locations.
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Calm Meditation — Relax with the wellness site Calm’s top meditations, sleep stories, movement exercises, journals, and music to achieve peace. All content on the page is free to use. (Available in Spanish)
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In conjunction with the Board Development Committee of the International Board of Directors, the Membership Unit hosted its first Meet the Candidates forum for voting delegates to meet and hear the testimonies of the candidates running to be elected to the International Board of Directors in November. The event featured live questions and answers before the election deadline of December 9, 2020.
Over this past month, Partners' International Board of Directors officially approved and granted a Charter to our newest PartnersCampus Student Chapter at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP). PartnersCampus UWSP joins 19 other Student Chapters in eight countries across the Americas focused on providing students with opportunities to be community leaders, volunteers, and professionals through various activities and projects hosted throughout the year.
The PartnersCampus team launched a new governing body initiative, the PartnersCampus Advisory Council (PCAC). The PCAC will provide a leadership opportunity for students and give a greater voice to youth involved in Partners. Elections for inaugural officers ended on December 11, 2020, with five members of the PartnersCampus network being elected into the positions of president, secretary, and members-at-large. These students will serve in the positions for one year and contribute to the growth and development of the PartnersCampus Student Chapter network.
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Education and Global Citizenship Unit |
On December 18, 2020, the Partners team kicked off its ninth Career Connections Global+ session on Careers in the Foreign Service. A panel of Foreign Service Officers presented about their experience representing the U.S. abroad and participants learned about the application process, training, and logistics of this unique international career.
In December, the Education & Culture program hosted a series of discussions on social issues that transcend borders and cultures for the MOSTRA Brazilian Film Festival. Coordinated by the São Paulo-Illinois Chapter, the Film Festival aired a screening of the film "Sorriso Negro" ("Black Smile") and "Marie" with discussions after on the films' respective themes of race and gender. Watch the film and discussion for "Marie" here and for "Sorriso Negro" here.
As a part of the Education & Culture program, in collaboration with iEARN US, 19 teachers in five countries completed a 10-week course to co-design projects and connect their students virtually in the first of ongoing cross-cultural activities to improve their English.
On December 9, 2020, the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund (100K) held a virtual event to announce the 11 new grant-winning teams of higher education institutions in the U.S. and Mexico. The Innovation Fund currently has open competitions for partnerships between the U.S. and Mexico (deadline February 15, 2021) and the U.S. and Colombia (deadline March 15, 2021).
In December, Partners received the CONAHEC Award of Distinction for Outstanding Contributions to North American Higher Education Collaboration. The award is given to those organizations that have exhibited exemplary leadership in building a bridge of understanding across Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. and beyond.
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During December, the CPU began the start-up process for a newly awarded project titled Mexico United 2026. This project, funded by the U.S. Department of State (DOS) Office of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL), aims to strengthen Mexico’s capacity to identify, prevent, and mitigate the impacts of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on the realization of labor rights and human rights guarantees. Over the 2.5 years of the project, the CPU will work to significantly reduce the risk of labor abuses and human rights violations that may arise as a result of the World Cup by increasing workers’ knowledge of labor law and international labor standards relevant to the event. The CPU will collaborate with three established and respected local organizations, Centro de Reflexión y Acción Laboral (CEREAL), Centro de Los Derechos del Migrante (CDM), and Red de Mujeres Sindicalistas (RMS); public and private sectors; and local and national governments in three key cities where the World Cup events will take place: Monterrey, Guadalajara, and Mexico City. This project presents an important opportunity for the CPU to expand its reach to a new geographic area and have long-lasting impacts.
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Economic Development and Health Unit |
The Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program continues to provide remote technical assistance to the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region and its F2F core countries. To date, the F2F team has facilitated over 100 remote technical assistance opportunities with remote and local volunteers, providing technical support to 30 hosts throughout the region. These hosts include farmer cooperatives like CorpoValle in Colombia, cacao agribusinesses like Natural Hispaniola in the Dominican Republic, apiaries like ACODIHUE in Guatemala, national entities like the Guyana Livestock Development Agency, entrepreneurs like Black Genesis Investments in Jamaica, and coffee companies like Ever Win Coffee Factory in Myanmar. Through their work with hosts like these, remote F2F volunteers in collaboration with local support have served almost 800 project beneficiaries. The F2F community celebrated their successes, best practices, and shared challenges this month at the Implementers Planning Meeting (IPM) as well as the 35th anniversary event. Implementing staff, like the Partners team, were able to discuss current challenges for project implementation in the COVID-19 pandemic and share innovative strategies for continuing to serve our communities abroad. Partners staff and field staff participated in panel discussions on Host Organization Development, Monitoring & Evaluation, and Targeting New Opportunities in COVID-19. |
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Open Doors 2020 Report Recap |
In celebration of International Education Week, the Institute of International Education (IIE) released the 2020 Open Doors Report on November 16, 2020. This year’s Open Doors Report demonstrated a rise in the number of U.S. students studying abroad and a fall in the number of international students studying at U.S. colleges and universities.
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In Memory of Robert Honts |
Sadly, Robert Honts, a leader of the Partners Texas Chapter for over 50 years, passed away in late November. Bob had an immense impact on Partners and the communities he served, including leading a team to provide aid to Peru after the cataclysmic 1970 Ancash earthquake. In 2018, Bob received an award at Partners' What Works Conference for devoting over five decades of service to Partners. His family plans to hold a memorial in the coming year to celebrate Bob's life, once it is safe to do so. We send love and peace to Bob's family and friends. |
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Partners of the Americas is hiring! We are currently seeking an EDH Senior Director, Technical Director (Cacao for Development), Monitoring and Evaluation Director (Cacao for Development), Project Coordinator (México United 2026), Deputy Chief of Party (USAID Project in Colombia), and an IT Support Specialist. |
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Open Internship Opportunities |
Partners of the Americas is looking for interns! We are seeking a 2021 EDH Intern, Program Development Intern, Finance and Accounting Intern, and a Business Management Intern to join our team.
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