All People Making a Difference
- Colombia's 'new men' confront machismo and gender violence
The past decade has brought a growing recognition that boys and men must be in the forefront of combating violence against women.
- Shine and Inspire asks those it helps to 'pay it forward'
The nonprofit group wants to know 'if we help you to shine, what would that inspire you to do?'
- Difference MakerAlexis Hurd-Shires found her calling helping Syrian refugees
She headed to Lebanon with the general aim of doing some good. Finding a struggling refugee community badly in need of a school, she decided to open one.
- Online 'mappers' track child slavery in Ghana
A crowdsourcing project is working with The Global Fund to End Slavery to produce accurate, public data for use by activists and governments to clamp down on trafficking.
- Cheap, off-the-shelf technology cuts climate losses in Bangladesh
A multimillion-dollar investment improves a dam system, but it only works because a $50 salinity monitor allows villagers to make good day-to-day decisions.
- Three cool solutions to the clean water problem
Providing safe water around the globe is a huge undertaking. But several solutions – from drinking straws to a 'drinkable' book – are making a difference.
- TripAdvisor-style ratings may save migrant workers from slavery
Contratados.org, a site for migrants from Mexico working in the US, lets migrant workers rate their experiences with recruiters or employers online, by voicemail, or by text message.
- Difference MakerJohn Hope Bryant wants African-American students to be smart about money
Operation HOPE is helping to fill a yawning gap that many finance experts see between what Americans know about financial planning and what they need to know.
- New ways to help Hong Kong's human trafficking victims
Hong Kong is a hotbed of sex trafficking and forced labor but it narrowly defines what trafficking is. Now Liberty Asia is creatively applying existing laws to trafficking cases.
- Young Iraqis in Baghdad hold a peace carnival
The goal for next year: a ‘day of peace’ celebrated in every province of the war-torn country.
- More Than Words uses books to boost foster teens
The Boston-area nonprofit employs troubled teens to run online and storefront bookstores while also teaching them life skills.
- Engineering Smiles aims to bring mobile dental care to those in need
A group of engineering students in Arizona, most of them women, is designing a mobile dental facility for use in Nicaragua.
- Difference MakerJeff Lee and Ann Martin started a place to read about – and experience – the West
The Rocky Mountain Land Library, 32,000 books about the American West, will find a suitable home on the historical Buffalo Peaks Ranch in Colorado.
- Geek teams on two continents write poverty-breaking apps for Kenya
The Nov. 20-22 Poverty Hackathon will be the first international development-focused virtual hackathon. A panel of judges will choose a winning idea.
- Difference MakerTemsutula Imsong picked up a broom and bucket and cleaned up a riverbank
The ghats, or steps, along the Ganges River seemed to be beyond help. But her volunteer effort has now been lauded by India's prime minister.
- How one American found a way to help Syrian refugees: baby carriers
Mothers around the world are sending baby carriers to Syrian refugees, revealing a compassionate face behind the ongoing immigration debate.
- Syrian journalist wins award for her courageous reporting
She has been targeted by both the Syrian government and militant forces after setting up an underground newspaper to report on what was really happening.
- Online university offers Syrian refugees an opportunity to study for free
Kiron University, founded by students in Berlin, promises to provide college courses to refugees without fees or the need to supply missing legal documents.
- Among US tribes, a movement revives native foods and lands
The Fond du Lac band in Minnesota is planting wild rice and restoring damaged wetlands. Across the US tribes are reviving traditional food sources and healing scarred lands.
- 'Frugal innovation' does more with less to find solutions
Technological advances have added expensive bells and whistles. Getting back to basics allows low-income populations to play a major part in their own progress.