COMMUNITY RESOURCES EMPOWERMENT

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​Our primary local partner, Community Resources Empowerment (CRE) is a community-based organization in rural Northern Ghana. CRE collaborates with diverse stakeholders including: traditional leaders and elders, women, parents, and youth. Their goals include education, job training, environmental conservation, improved agriculture and food security, and gender equity. All projects are selected and implemented by the community with a focus on long-term sustainability and community empowerment. 

CRE was founded by Walisu Alhassan (pictured left). Originally working with two village communities, CRE now works closely with six communities and supports students from three other villages. 

Engage Globally has been collaborating with CRE since 2014. We began by funding a one room learning center for 30 students and now support the education of over 500 children, along with programs for older youth and women. Engage provides financial and capacity building to CRE, as we emphasize mutual learning and cooperation. 
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"I started CRI because of my life story as a young boy who lost my Dad at the age of 8 and was adopted by my uncle who couldn't afford to provide for me. I had to cater for myself at a young age by being a shoe shiner, cleaning gutters of government residential homes, weeding, and more... just any thing to get some money and support myself in school. At some point in my life, hunger was something normal. To cut a long story short, all this hunger and no school or supplies made me want to start something that could create a change and chance for children and youth in rural communities in Northern Ghana to get access to education and empower women in our communities. So, creating change in the rural communities is why I founded CRI."
Walisu Alhassan

The Children's Eternal Rainforest

Engage Globally collaborates with the Monteverde Conservation League (MCL), a community-based non-profit organization in Costa Rica to support environmental education. MCL owns and manages the Children's Eternal Rainforest with over 55,000 acres of incredibly biodiverse forest. Much of the Children's Eternal Rainforest was protected by children from around the world, beginning with an effort by a class of Swedish primary school students in the 1980s to raise funds to buy and preserve rainforest. The movement grew to include children and schools from 44 countries. 

Today, MCL provides opportunities for children from neighboring communities to visit the forest and to learn about biodiversity and conservation. Engage supports this program with funding for field trips, environmental classes in local schools, and planting of native plants and trees in reforestation projects. In 2019, we helped MCL create a program for girls to inspire them to pursue careers in environmental science and conservation. These girls were able to visit the forest for overnight stays, to meet with inspiring women environmental leaders, and to participate in conservation activities including recycling, river clean-up, a community march, and tree planting. Pictured above are some of the girls at a weekend reunion in 2022. 
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