Global Brigades (GB) is a nonprofit health and sustainable development organization that works with volunteers from from North American and European universities, as well as local staff in Central America and East Africa to partner with communities to reduce inequalities. Global Brigades implements their Holistic Model to meet a community's health and economic goals. The organization's model builds community ownership and executes programs with the end goal of sustainably transitioning to a relationship of impact monitoring.
According to the organization's website, more than 65,000 volunteers from over 800 university clubs have traveled to partner with local staff to provide health and economic development solutions to more than 1 million beneficiaries in 4 countries. Brigades usually consist of of 15-50 volunteers who participate in 7 to 10 day brigades. The organization has concentrated its efforts on communities in Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, and Ghana. Various programs are designed to suit the unique health and economic development goals of each community. Global Brigades currently has 7 different programs: public health, water, engineering, business, medical, dental, and legal empowerment.
Global Brigades' Monitoring and Evaluation team tracks the impact made through its Holistic Model. Before a community is selected as a partner, Global Brigades will research if a community will benefit from the program by performing a needs assessment and collecting baseline community data. Before volunteers arrive, Global Brigades staff also visits with the community to discuss goals, expected outcomes, and responsibilities with the community members. Partner communities then receive volunteers who shadow or assist local engineers, doctors, dentists, and technicians, depending on the task and volunteer's qualifications related to the program.
Between brigade visits, Global Brigades' staff will visit the community to ensure program implementation. Once a community has met their goals in healthcare, WASH and economic development, they no longer receive volunteers and community leaders independently continue the maintenance of infrastructure, and grow their knowledge, leadership and economic capacity, with support from Global Brigades' staff on an as needed basis.
Video Global Brigades
Criticism
The volunteering work of the organization is occasionally advertised about the experience for volunteers. This is sometimes referred to as voluntourism - a portmanteau of volunteering and tourism, and can be seen as being both positive and negative. Global Brigades provides clarification for various points of criticism on their common critiques FAQ.
Maps Global Brigades
References
External links
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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