A Global Strategy with Local Impact 

Funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Familia Imara (Swahili for “Strong Family”) implements proven interventions to break the cycle of abuse while strengthening family well-being and child development. 

Opening the event, Anna Wilson, Development Director at the British High Commission in Tanzania, underscored the project’s role in a broader international effort to apply rigorous evidence to gender-based violence prevention. 

“Familia Imara is one of the strategies supported through What Works 2,” Wilson said. “Today’s event brings together development stakeholders, civil society organizations, and academic institutions to reflect on what works, where evidence gaps remain, and how we can work better together.” 

The project has successfully completed its inception phase and is now transitioning into a two-year implementation period. While activities focus on the Mwanza, Mara, Dodoma, and Geita regions, Wilson emphasized that the learning and evidence generated will be shared nationally to inform broader decision-making. 

Scaling Coordination and Services 

Elfrida Kumalija, Senior Project Manager for Familia Imara at Global Communities Tanzania, introduced the project’s operational footprint, which spans 15 districts. The initiative focuses on high-level coordination with partners already active in nutrition, child development, and violence prevention. 

“Today’s meeting was an opportunity to introduce Familia Imara to partners working on related issues and to exchange ideas on how we can strengthen implementation and outcomes,” Kumalija said. “We’ve received valuable feedback and started building relationships that will be important as the project moves forward.” 

Key Program Pillars: 

• Curriculum Development: Designing family education materials to promote safety and equity. 
• Strategic Research: Conducting gender and equity studies to guide interventions. 
• Policy Alignment: Supporting MTAKUWWA (Tanzania’s National Plan to Prevent and Respond to Violence Against Women and Children). 

A Multi-Sectoral Partnership 

The project highlights the power of collaboration. Yassin Ally, Executive Director of the NGO Kivulini, noted that the organization works closely with Global Communities, the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), and Emory University in the United States. 

Together, these partners aim to strengthen families, promote improved nutrition, and ensure safe, nurturing environments for children’s upbringing. This launch marks a significant milestone for Global Communities, signaling a shift from planning to action in the mission to end violence against women and children in Tanzania.

The post Global Communities and Partners Launch Familia Imara to Combat Violence and Support Child Development appeared first on Global Communities.

Ironically, the project was a collection of “new” things: new carts, crisp uniforms, and a brand-new ambition. The idea of an established cooperative with a shared roof, a legal identity, and a seat at the table was still a dream the recyclers carried in those carts. 

Three years later, that dream has an address. 

This month, the Estação Reciclar Cooperative officially opened its headquarters in the Estação neighborhood, marking a turning point for the recyclers and a historic milestone for both the neighborhood and entire municipality of Montenegro. The new headquarters will be crucial not only for strengthening the cooperative but also for improving solid waste management in the municipality. 

The Estação Reciclar headquarters is the result of a partnership that began with a shared vision for long-term stability in the Estação neighborhood. We recognized that with the right training and support, the recyclers who lived there could formalize their expertise, moving from informal labor toward a structured, member-governed social enterprise. 

What started as informal brainstorming sessions in borrowed spaces has transformed into a community-run powerhouse. Today, the impact of the cooperative reaches well beyond its members, benefiting more than 1,100 local residents, schools, and businesses through organized door-to-door collection. 

What is a cooperative? 
Cooperatives are member-owned organizations that operate for the benefit of their members. They’re built on seven core principles: democratic governance, member participation, autonomy, education, cooperation among co-ops, equity, and community concern. They help people build wealth collectively, share risks and resources, strengthen social safety nets, and build community leadership, especially for women, young people, and entrepreneurs. Learn more about our deep roots in the cooperative movement. 

The Strength of a Shared Safety Net 

For families like the Tavareses, the specialized knowledge required to sort and rescue materials remains the heart of their work, but their daily life has been transformed by the formalization of the cooperative. In the past, they raced to beat garbage trucks in the pre-dawn shadows; today, thanks to organized door-to-door collection, they work during the day with materials already separated for them by a supportive community. 

The most significant change, however, is the safety net that now surrounds these families. With the establishment of the new headquarters, their work has moved out of cramped backyards and into a professional infrastructure built to manage 780 tons of material every year. Beyond the new equipment, the project has transformed a once-solitary and informal struggle into a structured collective, backed by a R$ 6.5 million ($1.24 million USD) investment that provides 28 member families — with room for up to 60 — the formal standing and resources they need to thrive together. 

Montenegro has seen firsthand how environmental instability can upend a community, and this cooperative is a practical answer to that threat. By managing waste through a professional system and integrating the cooperative work into the circular economy, the city is ensuring that its most essential workers are no longer vulnerable, and the municipality is safer and more secure. 

The Next Chapter 

As the name implies, Projeto Reciclar is about the act of recycling, but it represents the validation of work that oftentimes goes unseen or underappreciated. None of this could be accomplished without the support of a coalition of partners like the John Deere Foundation, Sicredi Ouro Banco, Banco de Brasil Foundation, Baskrem and the Municipality of Montenegro.  

The opening of the Estação Reciclar headquarters is both a finish line and a starting point. As we move into 2026, the focus now shifts to scaling this model, securing new machinery, and ensuring that the cooperative remains a permanent engine for growth. 

Tomorrow morning, the carts will roll out again. Eloi will still prepare the vests, Florentina will still stir the coffee, and Daniel will still walk beside them. But this time, they aren’t rolling into the unknown, they are reporting to a headquarters of their own, backed by a cooperative strong enough to carry the weight of a brighter future. 

The post From Carts to a Cooperative: A Home for Montenegro’s Essential Workers  appeared first on Global Communities.

At the Yulchén JV elementary school in Guatemala’s Western Highlands, Marta noticed that her first- and second-grade students rarely reached for books on their own. Many of the stories available to them were not written in the languages they spoke at home. That gap made reading feel distant and, for some students, discouraging.

To change the dynamic, Marta introduced Megabooks — large-print reading materials written in local Mayan languages such as Mam, Q’anjob’al, Ixil, and K’iche’. The colorful stories reflect daily life and are paired with activities that help children connect sounds and letters, recall key details, and play with language in ways that feel natural and fun.

Rather than pushing students toward speed or perfection, Marta made space for curiosity. She encouraged them to linger over illustrations, talk through what they noticed, and recognize words that belonged to their communities. Slowly, reading became less intimidating and more of a shared experience they looked forward to each day.

“These materials motivated my students in a way I had never seen before,” Marta says. “Now, they ask for more books and want to continue exploring new stories.”

Marta teaches in a school that participates in UNIDOS, a school meals project implemented by Global Communities with local and national partners and funded by the U.S. government. Across 14 municipalities, UNIDOS works with 450 schools, pairing daily meals with bilingual literacy support to help children come to class nourished and ready to learn. The project trains teachers in new literacy approaches and brings parents into the process so they can reinforce lessons at home.

That connection matters. A 2024 study conducted through UNIDOS found that most students primarily use a Mayan language at home, and that learning in both their native language and Spanish supports progress toward biliteracy. When children understand what they are reading, engagement follows more naturally, along with confidence.

Over time, those shifts have shown up in measurable ways. In 2022, just over one-third of third-grade students demonstrated the ability to read and understand texts at their grade level. By 2024, that number had grown to nearly half. The evaluation was conducted independently and shared with the U.S. government to document how UNIDOS is contributing to meaningful learning gains.

Some of the most important changes, however, are harder to quantify. In UNIDOS-supported schools, students are encouraged to take a more active role in their own learning through everyday practices. Older students apply health and nutrition lessons in school gardens that serve as living classrooms, where they learn how food grows and tend crops that later complement what’s on their plate at lunch. Many bring those experiences home by starting family gardens that add variety to household diets and, in some cases, generate income.

Students also participate in School Governments, where representatives from each grade help lead hygiene and cleanliness efforts on campus. Using simple tools introduced through UNIDOS, they track progress and encourage accountability. Shared tasks are part of daily school life and help students see how their actions affect the wider community.

“Investing in these programs actively contributes to improving the health, prosperity, and quality of life within a community,” says Leonel Arguello, Director of Integrated School Feeding at Global Communities.

Across Guatemala, UNIDOS is creating learning environments where children feel recognized and supported — by honoring the languages they speak at home, improving school meals, and drawing parents and teachers into closer partnership. As a result, a more stable foundation is in place for students to grow, succeed, and plan for the future with greater confidence.

The post The Language of Home: How UNIDOS Supports Classroom Success in Guatemala appeared first on Global Communities.

Yves Rosalin’s achievement reflects his own determination, but it also points to the steady progress of Menalamba Community School. Once operating with a single classroom, the school now ranks among the highest performing schools supported by Mianatra. This U.S. government-funded project, implemented by Global Communities in partnership with Catholic Relief Services and FHI 360, works with 150 schools across Madagascar to strengthen literacy, improve learning conditions, and provide nutritious meals that help children stay focused and in class.

At Menalamba, these investments have made a noticeable difference. The school’s principal, Mr. Soazafy, is known for his discipline and commitment, often offering extra classes during holidays and school breaks. Teachers bring that same dedication to their classrooms, creating spaces where students feel supported and motivated to learn.

That sense of commitment extends beyond the school grounds and is shared by many families in Beloha. Through Mianatra and its partnership with the Ministry of Education, parents like Yves Rosalin’s have taken part in the Parent School program, stayed engaged through Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meetings, and followed their children’s progress more closely at home. This kind of involvement has become increasingly common, as families recognize the role they play in their children’s learning. In Yves Rosalin’s household, that consistency produced clear results: all three children passed the CEPE exam in the same school year.

Students are taking more ownership of their education as well. Some walk as far as eight kilometers to reach Menalamba Community School, arriving on time for the start of class. When lessons end, many return home together. Those who finish early often wait in the reading corner created through Mianatra to read quietly while classmates complete their work.

These small routines reflect larger changes at Menalamba. Since beginning work with the Mianatra project, the school has grown through close collaboration among parents, teachers, and local leaders. Together, the community has focused on making the school a safer and more supportive place to learn. Improvements have included fencing the schoolyard, planting a garden, and building three additional classrooms using local materials. They also added separate toilets for girls and boys, including a shower for girls. Each step followed a school action plan shaped by the community itself.

These collective efforts have led to measurable progress. In September 2025, Menalamba Community School received Level One certification as a “WASH-Friendly School,” reflecting strong engagement around improved hygiene practices. Enrollment has also risen steadily, increasing by 77% since 2022. More families are choosing to send their children to school and keep them there.

Inside the classroom, students are strengthening foundational skills. Through remedial classes using the Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) approach, students in grades T2 to T5 have improved reading and writing outcomes. At the beginning of the school year, only 19% were reading at their expected level. By midyear, that number had grown to 36%. By the end of the year, 109 students, or 78% of the group, had reached mastery.

Yves Rosalin’s CEPE results stand out, but they are not an exception. They reflect what can happen when schools receive steady support through projects like Mianatra and when families, teachers, and communities stay engaged over time. At Menalamba, the focus remains on helping more students reach this milestone for years to come.

The post How One Community School is Raising the Bar in Southern Madagascar appeared first on Global Communities.

That revival is at the heart of the Humanitarian Interventions through Lifesaving and Livelihood Support (HILLS) program. To reduce food insecurity in Syria’s conflict-affected areas, Global Communities and Syria Relief are helping farmers rebuild the wheat value chain from seed to bread.

Recently, HILLS provided 589 experienced farmers with seeds, fertilizers, fuel, and hands-on training to rebuild what years of instability had eroded. Across five carefully timed rounds of support, participants received the tools and training they needed to plant, protect, and harvest their crops. In return, each farmer contributed a small share of their harvest back to the program, creating a sustainable cycle that reinvests in future seasons. HILLS also rehabilitated a public mill and two bakeries in A’zaz City, linking farmers’ efforts directly to the bread on families’ tables.

“The agricultural engineers visited us regularly,” said Muhammad Mahmoud Othman, a participating farmer from the village of Tal Malid. “They provided agricultural training, field visits, and guidance on plant diseases. We learned things we did not know before.”

Despite harsh weather and limited rainfall, participating farmers successfully delivered 181.187 metric tons of wheat from their production back to Global Communities and our implementing partner, which was processed and fortified to boost its nutritional value. The resulting flour, totaling 143.223 metric tons, then became roughly 2,196,086 loaves of bread sold at subsidized prices to families across the region.

“We did our best, and despite the drought conditions, production was good,” said participating farmer Mahmoud Youssef Shabban. “… I hope this project continues in future years, because it covered almost three-quarters of the production costs. It greatly reduced the burden on farmers, especially in these difficult times.”

By reconnecting and strengthening every link in the wheat value chain, HILLS restored a daily staple that had all but disappeared from local markets. In doing so, the program is helping more than 338,350 people meet their immediate food needs while ensuring farming communities are equipped to thrive from one growing season to the next.

The post Rebuilding Syria’s Breadbasket from Seed to Loaf appeared first on Global Communities.

In Tanzania, community health workers (CHWs) are often the first point of contact for care, particularly in underserved and hard-to-reach communities — monitoring child growth, preventing the spread of disease, delivering critical health education, and connecting people to lifesaving services. Their support is also vital to achieving universal health coverage.

Although several CHW initiatives have emerged over the years to support service delivery, they have largely operated in parallel, with uneven alignment across regions and programs. As a result, many focus on only a few health areas, struggle with management and training challenges, and continue to depend on donor support. This has underscored the need for a more unified and integrated CHW approach in Tanzania, one that can serve all communities while reflecting Tanzania’s cultural and socioeconomic diversity.

The Need for a Unified, Government-Led Approach

The good news? Change is already underway. Today, the Government of Tanzania is showing what’s possible when CHW initiatives are standardized and coordinated, existing government systems are enhanced and financed, and frontline care is sustained.

In January 2024, Tanzania’s Ministry of Health, launched its Integrated and Coordinated Community Health Workers (ICCHW) Program to standardize and coordinate the recruitment, training, and deployment of CHWs, while digitizing monthly stipend payments for thousands of CHWs nationwide. Until recently, CHW onboarding and stipend payments were managed by a patchwork of public health partners, each with its own recruitment process, stipend amount, and disbursement methods. This fragmentation made it difficult for the government to track who was working, where, and whether they were receiving consistent and timely stipends for their work.

Digital Payments as a Catalyst for Inclusion and Coordination

The Digitalizing CHW Payments Program is addressing many of these challenges by building a unified, government-led digital payment platform to deliver monthly stipends to over 137,000 CHWs by 2028, with funding support from Gates Foundation. Looking ahead, the platform is designed to expand, eventually covering other categories of contracted workers such as casual laborers and other workers. Leveraging Tanzania’s growing digital public infrastructure, the platform is enhancing and enabling data exchange across existing financial, human resource, and performance management systems to facilitate CHWs registration, payroll, and stipend disbursement.

Led by the Ministry of Finance and working in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the Prime Minister’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government, University of Dar Es Salaam, and IntraHealth International, a Global Communities subsidiary, a cross-ministerial task force of government software developers and systems analysts is enabling the development process and setting the foundation for an efficient, scalable, and secure payment system.

This is both a technical upgrade and a systemic shift in how governments support frontline workers and advance community health delivery.

From the outset, the system was designed with inclusion in mind. Many CHWs, especially women and those in rural areas, lacked access to bank or mobile money accounts. The platform incorporates Know Your Customer (KYC) processes using Tanzania’s National Identification Number, ensuring that CHWs can be verified and paid securely. In addition, a dedicated bank account that is pre-funded by government and donor sources was established to hold stipend funds, improving transparency, and coordination.

To bring the new system to life, the team worked hand-in-hand with CHWs, facility staff, and district leaders on the design and to conduct subsequent user acceptance testing, ensuring the platform was intuitive, reliable, and responsive to local realities. Following successful trials, Tanzania has begun rolling out the digital payment platform in phases starting with ICCHWs priority regions, where transactions were validated through both mobile money and bank transfers. With sustainability and national ownership at the forefront of the process, a cadre of facilitators was trained to cascade their knowledge across districts and health facilities, strengthening the capacity of Tanzania’s health system from the ground up.

The initiative is already demonstrating how digital payments can improve government efficiency, strengthen public financial management, and expand financial inclusion for remote workers. In the months of July, August, and September, over 7,600 monthly CHW stipends were successfully processed. User training sessions were conducted across twenty-three priority districts, with two more scheduled to take place in the next month.

As a next step, Global Communities will be conducting research to generate insights on how mobile phone affordability, security, perceived benefits, digital literacy, and norms affect access to and use of digital payment systems for last mile service providers, funded by Gates Foundation. We also hope to conduct nationally representative implementation research on other aspects of the initiative to assess lessons learned and impact to support further scale up in Tanzania, as well as inform other country’s efforts.

A Replicable Model for Strengthening Community Care Systems
Tanzania’s CHW payment platform offers a replicable model for other countries seeking to better coordinate and incentivize health workers, improve accountability and transparency, and build resilient health systems. It provides a glimpse of how smart systems and committed leadership can transform everyday realities for those working on the frontlines of health.  Most importantly, it shows that financial inclusion isn’t a sideline issue — it’s a frontline strategy.

The post Digitizing Health Payments: A New Era for Community Health in Tanzania appeared first on Global Communities.

“We have been displaced from the southern countryside of Aleppo to Azaz 10 years ago. My husband is sick, I have 5 children — 2 of them have disabilities. We had a very bad economic situation, and I am the breadwinner for my family.” — Um Mohammad, mother of five children living in a temporary settlement in Northwest Syria

Her story is not unique. Across Syria, millions face similar struggles after experiencing 14 years of conflict and displacement. The country ranks sixth globally in the Hunger Hotspot Outlook for November 2024–May 2025. A staggering 14.56 million people are food insecure, with 9.1 million acutely affected and 1.3 million severely so. Inflation and currency depreciation have made basic food unaffordable, and  minimum wage in Syria now covers only 16% of the cost of basic food needs, as defined by the humanitarian benchmark known as the Survival Minimum Expenditure Basket (SMEB) — a tool used to estimate the minimum amount of money a household needs to survive. Rising costs and destroyed infrastructure have eroded resilience, leaving families like Um Mohammad’s with few options. 

That’s where the Lifesaving Interventions for Emergencies (LIFE) program steps in to assist internally displaced people in and out of camps in Northwest Syria. 

Supported by the U.S. Government, LIFE is a lifeline and was designed to meet the urgent everyday needs of families in the country’s hardest-hit areas.  It provides monthly food assistance through cash and vouchers tailored to meet the full nutritional needs of a household, in addition to daily distribution of free bread bundles. Each family receives $65 per month, enough to cover 2,100 calories per person per day, in line with humanitarian standards.   

In 2024 and 2025, LIFE reached over 10,000 households across 28 camps in Azaz and 17 villages in Idleb. In 2024 alone, the program provided food assistance to 170,000 people, safe water to over 127,000 displaced individuals, and support for farmers, children, and survivors of gender-based violence. 

For Um Mohammad, this support was critical. Her family was prioritized due to their severe health and economic conditions. The regular cash assistance helped her secure basic meals, continue her daughter’s medical treatment, and avoid the need for irregular labor inside the camp. It gave her a vital sense of stability, allowing her to focus on her children and husband’s care and begin imagining a future beyond crisis. 

As LIFE enters its third year, the program is expanding its impact to create durable solutions for displaced individuals returning to their areas of origin. For many, resettling home is both a hope and a hardship as communities face destroyed infrastructure, limited employment options, and fragile local economies.  

Long-term recovery planning is essential to ensure that returns are safe, voluntary, and sustainable. The LIFE program’s support includes rehabilitating community infrastructure to restore essential services and public spaces, strengthening local market systems to create sustainable income opportunities, and offering on-the-job training and livelihoods support to help individuals gain skills, secure employment, and reduce long-term dependency on aid. During this transition, LIFE will continue to provide clean water, safe shelter, and protection services while individuals plan for and begin reconstructing their lives.  

Together, these interventions form a bridge from emergency response to recovery, from instability and displacement to resilience and self-reliance. For families like Um Mohammad’s, LIFE is creating the foundation for rebuilding, healing, and moving forward. 

The post After More Than a Decade of Conflict, LIFE Offers a Path Forward for Syrian Families appeared first on Global Communities.

Today, ESK boasts an enrollment of 532 students, the majority of whom are women. The latest graduating class of 119 new professionals achieved remarkable results:

• 83.33% passed the health technician exams
• 94.54% earned their bachelor’s degrees

This success is the result of a close collaboration between ESK and IntraHealth. By using a competency-based approach and offering a modern, inclusive learning environment, C2C helps to strengthen the skills of nurses, midwives, and health technicians.

INNOVATIVE FACILITIES SUPPORTING FEMALE STUDENTS

According to Dr. Siriman Sissoko, director of ESK, the partnership with IntraHealth has brought fundamental improvements to the school. Among the most impactful is the enhanced mother-and-baby room. 

“This initiative allowed many young mothers to complete their studies,” he says.  

Indeed, having a dedicated space tailored to the needs of pregnant and breastfeeding students has significantly improved female retention in academic programs. Student testimonies confirm this.

Bertin Baya, a graduating health technician, explains: “The baby room had a huge impact and positively influenced the learning experience for many women.” 

ADVANCED EQUIPMENT FOR PRACTICAL, HANDS-ON LEARNING

One of the key strengths of C2C is its investment in equipping skills labs with advanced simulation tools. These allow students to gain hands-on experience in a safe and controlled environment. 

Adiaratou Dembélé, a graduating student, praised the quality of the modern tools made available: “Even before going into the field, we practiced deliveries, injections, and other procedures on highly realistic mannequins provided by the project.” 

Kadiatou Ouattara, another graduate, added: “I learned essential new skills like IV insertion and blood draws.”

In Ségou, on May 24, 2025, the Vicenta Maria Center — another C2C project partner — celebrated the graduation of its 6th and 7th Bachelor of Health Sciences classes and its 25th class of Health Technicians. This was the first graduation since the beginning of Vicenta Maria’s collaboration with IntraHealth under C2C.

Success rates ranged from 88% to 100%, depending on the program.

Aïssata Déborah Kassogué, 22, a student in Ségou originally from Koutiala, shared: “The skills lab helped us understand how to use the equipment. Thanks to it, we know how to find veins and assist in childbirth. The mother-and-baby room lets students stay close to their children, knowing they’re safe. C2C gave me more confidence — I know now I’m ready to care for patients.”

Augustin Yamkoudougou, a full-time instructor and head of the internal quality assurance unit, explained:
“Before C2C, we relied on traditional lectures that didn’t support practical learning. Now, with the competency-based approach, students are at the center. Thanks to the simulation labs and the OOAS harmonized curriculum, we’ve seen major improvements in teaching and learning. The quality assurance cell supported by the project has also strengthened our governance structures.”

COMPETENCY-BASED EDUCATION IN ACTION

The quality of teaching at ESK has significantly improved thanks to the competency-based approach promoted by C2C. One faculty member explained how her teaching methods have evolved: “Before, we mostly gave theoretical lectures. Now we use demonstrations, case studies, and simulations — and it makes learning much easier.” 

She continued: “When we evaluate students now, we’re truly satisfied with the results compared to before.” 

QUALITY INSTRUCTION FOR ALL

C2C’s inclusive approach has also allowed partner schools like ESK to embed principles of fairness, accessibility, and respect into their daily operations. The project conducted in-depth assessments of institutional needs related to creating welcome and supporting environments and organized workshops to share findings and create action plans. This strategy not only ensures access to quality education for all but also fosters a respectful and safe learning environment.

A MODERN LAB OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY

During the graduation ceremony, an ESK representative highlighted the importance of continued support from technical and financial partners. Their contributions have enabled the establishment of a modern lab now accessible to students, researchers, and even nearby health centers — bridging the gap between education and clinical realities. 

A MODEL FOR HEALTH TRAINING IN THE REGION

Ultimately, the recent graduation ceremonies in Koutiala and Ségou were more than celebrations of individual achievements. They reflected a deep commitment to training highly qualified health professionals, ready to address local and regional health challenges. 

Thanks to C2C, both ESK in Koutiala and Vicenta Maria in Ségou have become benchmarks for health education in Mali. The outstanding results of these graduating classes are clear indicators of the success of this innovative initiative — one that paves the way for a better future not only for health professionals, but also for the communities they serve. 

The post Classroom to Care Equips Mali’s Next Health Leaders appeared first on Global Communities.

Each year, global leaders gather in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), a pivotal moment for stakeholders to outline priorities, confront global challenges, and advance collective action on global health. On the sidelines of UNGA80, the Frontline Health Workers Coalition – an alliance advocating for increased investments, coordinated action, and pragmatic policies to strengthen all cadres of the health workforce – led dialogue on advancing the roles and interests of the global health workforce.

The Coalition’s presence at UNGA week opened with Executive Director Tina Flores’s appearance as a panelist at “Health Without Borders: Building a Global Health Workforce for the Future,” hosted by Devex and the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties. Tina urged for stronger global cooperation around health systems strengthening, emphasizing that a trained, supported, protected, and fairly compensated health workforce– wherever they may live, regardless of country of origin – is critical to addressing noncommunicable and infectious diseases, safeguarding global health security, and responding to health emergencies.

The Coalition’s high-level event, “A New Vision for the Health Workforce: Addressing NCDs, global health security, and emergencies,” hosted in partnership with Global Communities, CARE USA, Johnson & Johnson, Living Goods, Project HOPE, Seed Global Health, Smile Train, CMMB, Operation Smile, and Partners In Health, garnered more than 300 in-person and virtual attendees across 60 countries. Keynote speakers included the Honorable Attorney Hans Leo Cacdac, Secretary of the Philippines Department of Migrant Workers, and the Honorable Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, Minister of Health of Rwanda. Leaders, funders, advocates, and global implementers exchanged insights on urgent challenges– from health workforce shortages and navigating demands for diversified catalytic financing, to the rising role of digital technology and AI in the care environment. The dialogue served as a reminder of the power of knowledge exchange and collaborative leadership across the sector.

In addition, the Coalition hosted two closed roundtables. “Protecting the Mental Health of Health Workers: Resilience and Retention for the Future,” hosted alongside Dartmouth’s Dickey Center for International Understanding, highlighted the intensifying mental health crisis among health workers. Stakeholders explored evidence, tools, policy solutions, and best practices to reduce burnout, combat stress, and strengthen workforce retention. The discussion marks the beginning of an ongoing effort to accelerate collective advocacy and progress around mental health as a workforce priority. Lastly, the Coalition held its annual Executive Roundtable, “Where Do We Go From Here? Leading Global Health and Human Resources for Health during Times of Uncertainty.” Participants emphasized the urgent need for coordinated, country-led strategies to diversify funding sources, invest in and empower the health workforce, responsibly harness AI and digital innovation, and strengthen cross-sector partnerships to sustain progress and impact.

Beyond events, the Coalition successfully coordinated advocacy alongside governments and other stakeholders to influence revisions to the final draft of the Political Declaration on Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, which will see final negotiations over its adoption in October. To learn more about the Coalition’s work at UNGA and ongoing work to champion the global health workforce, visit frontlinehealthworkers.org.

The post Frontline Health Workers Coalition Executive Director Tina Flores at UNGA80 appeared first on Global Communities.