Amizade Places 3rd in Rural Development Contest; Development Successes & Inspiration

Thank you all for voting! Amizade placed third in the November Africa Rural Connect contest for innovation in rural development efforts. 


Two articles appeared in the New York Times today that are directly related to Amizade success and rationale. One featured a region in Afghanistan that is seeing development success at rates unparalleled elsewhere in the country: "If there are lessons to be drawn from the still tentative successes here, they are that small projects often work best, that the consent and participation of local people are essential and that even baby steps take years." In other words, the successes in this region suggest what Amizade has found to be true over the past 15 years - development efforts that are locally-driven are the development efforts most likely to meet with success. 


On another page, Nicholas Kristof profiled a woman who went from being a Cattle herder in Zimbabwe to now pursuing a PhD at Western Michigan University. As Kristof correctly pointed out, while this woman's story is inspiring and unique, her kind of talent and drive are not in short supply in Africa; what is in short supply is opportunity. That is why Amizade continues to work to support access to water, to education, and to opportunity. 


Thank you all for helping us bring more water access to rural Africa by voting in the online contest!