When Ann Wajiru graduated from high school, she knew that she faced many challenges to realizing her potential. In rural Rongai country, Kenya, women are sidelined from positions of leadership in economic and political spheres. Local cultural beliefs confine women to the roles of wife and mother and limit their voice in local leadership. These cultural norms are reinforced through gender-based violence and a lack of pathways to positions of leaders for women.  Playmakers Theatre CBO seeks to challenge these cultural inequalities through their Wezesha Dada (Empower a Woman) project, funded by Pangea Giving. The project seeks to empower young...[ Read More ]

a part of our Partner Perspectives series https://youtu.be/2RUn5zFoZ1k COVID-19 is having a significant impact on rural communities in Kenya's Rift Valley. The situation is testing the capacity of local organizations to respond to urgent community needs and to continue to address the social issues they have been focusing on for years. On October 6, 2020, we welcomed two of our grant partners who are grappling with these issues. Wendo Aszed from Dandelion Africa and Michael Kamunya from Playmakers Theatre discussed how they are pivoting to meet the challenges of the pandemic and the opportunities that are emerging in the process....[ Read More ]

Dear members and friends, As I prepare this monthly message to you, first and foremost on my mind is the tragic death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police, and the expressions of outrage it has sparked against racism and inequality in our country. I am inspired by the thousands of people here in Seattle and across our nation who are peacefully protesting and demanding change. It is difficult to witness trauma and suffering whether it is in our partners’ countries or here at home. Yet we cannot ignore the reality of what Black Americans experience every...[ Read More ]

Pangea Giving's latest report, our Latin America Grant Study 2011–2020 summarizes archival information to reveal longitudinal trends in our grant giving for the Latin America pod over the last decade. A special thank you to Kelly Ventura for her work in preparing the report. READ THE REPORT You can see Pangea’s other reports on our new Research Reports page.

Wendo Aszed, Director of Dandelion Africa, a longtime Pangea Giving grant partner, explains how COVID-19 is affecting women in rural Kenya in this guest blog post.  Today I woke up worried about a lady in my village called Ekadon. I worried about her mud hut with tinned roof, held by stones, that it would fall on her at night or be swept away by the raging March rains. I worried that she might not have a tee-pee tap by her door, to wash her hands every time she came back from her hustle. I worried about the brown water she stands in...[ Read More ]

Educating and empowering women and girls is a well-accepted strategy in global development to help them thrive. But what does this look like in hard to reach rural communities in Kenya where the practice of FGM (female genital mutilation) still takes place and dropping out of school and early marriages/pregnancies are commonplace for young adolescent girls? This short video features participants in Dandelion Africa’s highly successful Girls for Leaders program which has brought much needed hope, confidence, mentorship and leadership skills to thousands of girls from vulnerable communities. The stats tell the story too—98% of girls in Dandelion's program successfully...[ Read More ]

In 2020, Pangea Giving is proud to award $111,410 in grants to 16 partners. After receiving recommendations from our three regional grant pods, the Board approved our final grants on February 23. Grants are being transferred to partners in March and early April. Latin America The Latin America Pod awarded $36,667 in funds to five organizations operating in Oaxaca, Mexico or Guatemala. These organizations are all returning grantees and address issues including gender equity and women empowerment, gender-based violence prevention, sexual and reproductive health education, nutrition, and indigenous rights and cultural education. Learn more about our Latin America grant partners....[ Read More ]

ASOGEN, a Pangea partner since 2013, provides psychological and social support services to female survivors of abuse and violence in Chimaltenango, Guatemala. Julia is one of the beneficiaries of their programs (Note: Julia's name was changed to protect her identity). Throughout her life, Julia has faced discrimination and physical, sexual and emotional abuse, from both relatives and strangers. On top of this, Julia was deported from the United States and separated from her son in the process. Thanks to the work and intervention of ASOGEN psychologists, Julia has not only been able to narrate her painful story, but also to...[ Read More ]

The Oaxaca Site Visit team converged at the lush garden filled Hotel Las Golondrinas on a Sunday night in time for a first sampling of the enticing local cuisine and a planning session for the week ahead.  The group, consisting of two men and two women from four different decades, came together after spending the previous days visiting a variety of locations: water projects in Ecuador, the sights of Mexico City, and an exemplary Rotary Project supporting hydroponic green houses in rural Oaxaca. How often can we travel with a small group diverse in age and gender, where we together...[ Read More ]

Going into my first site visit trip, I wasn’t sure what to expect. We had a full week scheduled in Oaxaca, Mexico, a few meetings to better understand the regional context, and plans to visit three community organizations that we fund who address gender and women’s rights issues (UNOSJO, MUSOR and GESMujer). Despite knowledge of these facts, I felt rather uncertain of how the week would actually unfold. My first takeaway: Don’t expect to know what to expect.   A lot of work goes into planning the site visit (my gratitude to Pangea members Susan and Betsy for their prep...[ Read More ]