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In the News

Five Years Post-Earthquake, Shaken Haiti Still Rebuilding

By: Claire Gilbert | Janeiro 12, 2015

Five years ago on this day, a colossal shifting of the ground brought Haiti to its knees. On January 12, 2010 the island nation was devastated by the trembling. 0ver 300,000 people were killed according to Haitian government statistics, but the truth is that nobody knows how many were killed that day. Port-au-Prince was left devastated and in ruin. Today is a day to remember and mourn the people who were killed. It is also a day to reflect on how the devastation came to be so great, what happened afterward, and where Haiti is today.
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Blog

Rural Communities in Guinea Combat Ebola

By: Mina Remy | Janeiro 7, 2015

Since 2014 Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have been stricken with the deadly Ebola virus. According to the United Nations (UN) and World Health Organization (WHO), the virus has affected over 20,000 and killed nearly 8,000 people. The virus is expected to continue at epidemic proportions until the end of this year.
The outbreak first began in Guinea, and Guinea continues to be one of the most affected countries. Due to poor-to-non-existent public health infrastructure throughout the country, especially in rural areas, combating the virus has been an impossible task made worse by fear and distrust of the government and outsiders in local communities.
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In the News

Shared Knowledge, Shared Struggle

By: Carol Schachet | Dezembro 31, 2014

Below is part one of a three-part blog series highlighting the Brazil Agroecology Learning Exchange. Grassroots movement leaders and small farmer organizations sent representatives [24 people from 6 countries] to join Grassroots International staff in Goias, Brazil to participate in the eight-day exchange. The first of our series of blogs unpacks the phrase “Agroecology Learning Exchange” and why it is essential to creating a more sustainable food system.
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Blog

Land, Resistance and a Door in the West Bank

By: Claire Gilbert | Dezembro 23, 2014

The hulking Separation Wall cuts Abu Nidal off from his Palestinian Village. He lives in the home he built in 1974. Israel began to build a settlement on the land just four years later and, since, has steadily surrounded Abu Nidal’s small house with towering barriers and illegal housing projects. At one point he had a cafeteria on the road. Israel demolished it. He had a storage facility for his farming equipment. Israel destroyed it 10 times. He had a green house. Israel bulldozed it.
I visited Abu Nidal with one of Grassroots International’s partners, the Stop the Wall Campaign. His story remains with me, feeding outrage at the atrocities he endures and hope for the ongoing resistance to land grabs.
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Blog

Two Dreams Come True in Brazil

By: Jovanna Garcia Soto | Dezembro 22, 2014

Geraldo de Matos Barbosa and Maria Elena each had a dream when they joined the Landless Workers Movement (MST) 13 years ago. The couple has been part of the movement in Maranhão, Brazil including six years living in a dusty encampment, enduing six violent evictions before finally securing title to the land.
The process of shifting from an encampment (without buildings, electricity and sometimes even water) to a settlement helped make both their dreams come true. Grasssroots International's support for land rights in Brazil, including with the MST, provides much-needed solidarity and funding for the movement, and for the apsirations of the courageous individuals putting themselves on the front lines of the struggle.
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Blog

Migration, Food Sovereignty and Land Rights: A conversation with Carlos Marentes, Sr.

By: Chung-Wha Hong | Dezembro 18, 2014

On this International Migrants Day (December 18), Grassroots International pays tribute to the courage and dedication of many of our partners and allies, internationally and in the U.S., who are working at the intersection of migrant justice and resource rights. One of these partners is Carlos Marentes, Sr., director of Centro De Los Trabajadores Agrícolas Fronterizos (the Border Agricultural Workers Center) in El Paso, Texas. A close Grassroots International partner and co-coordinator of Via Campesina North America.
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Blog

Biodiversity and Creole Seeds Focus of Global Learning Exchange

By: Lydia Simas | Dezembro 16, 2014

Peasant groups from around the world joined an international agroecology learning exchange in Goiás, Brazil.
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In the News

The Struggle for Indigenous Land and Autonomy in Honduras

By: Carol Schachet | Dezembro 15, 2014

Honduras is the country with the highest level of homicide of any nation not at war, where government violence and human rights abuses have almost total impunity. It is also the country contributing most of the flood of children who have been recently forced to migrate to the US, because of that violence and by poverty – both, in part, a legacy of US policy in the region.
Yet something else is afoot. A fierce social movement, composed of many sectors, is pushing back to protect democracy, lives, and political rights. Indigenous peoples, including Garifuna, Lenca, Pech, Miskito, Maya Chortí, and Tolupan, are asserting their human right to autonomy, territory, and cultural survival.
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Blog

10 Photos for International Human Rights Day: A Tribute to International Social Movements for Resource Rights

By: Sara Mersha | Dezembro 9, 2014

December 10 is celebrated around the world as International Human Rights Day. On this day, Grassroots International is honored to call special attention to the social movements that are on the frontlines of the struggle for resource rights – the human rights to land and water, as well as food sovereignty and climate justice. We have much to celebrate, with several major successes that social movements have achieved in the struggle for resource rights over recent years. At the same time, over the past year, we have been heartbroken as we’ve lost many people who have been courageously defending resource in each of Grassroots International’s program areas. The photos and stories below are just a small sample of some of these movements and human rights defenders.
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Blog

Haitian Organizations Call for Elections

By: Claire Gilbert | Dezembro 8, 2014

Since coming to power in 2011, the administration of President Martelly has failed to hold elections for senate seats, the chamber of deputies, and local. Fed up with inactivity, the Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations (POHDH) renewed calls for elections in Haiti, joining other human rights organizations throughout the nation.
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Common Oppressions and Powerful Solidarity

By: Chung-Wha Hong | Dezembro 5, 2014

I joined the chants of “Black Lives Matter” last night, together with other staff of Grassroots International and several thousand other Bostonians, marching to the steps of the State House. This was my first demonstration since I came onboard as Executive Director of Grassroots International (two days ago!) and solidified the local-global links that are so central to this work.
For me, and for so many others who care about human rights and social justice, the issue goes far beyond Michael Brown or Eric Garner or a litany of other names on a case-by-case basis. The issue is the systemic devaluing of some lives and the protection of others in such a way that benefits some and subjugates others.
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Blog

Day of Action Against Violence Towards Women

By: Carol Schachet | Novembro 25, 2014

Grassroots international joins with our partners at the Via Campesina in denouncing violence of all kinds against women -- including personal and structural. No woman should fear to live in her home, be barred from owning the land she farms or experieince barriers to full livelihood and dignity.
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Blog

Day of Action Against Violence Towards Women

By: Carol Schachet | Novembro 25, 2014

Grassroots international joins with our partners at the Via Campesina in denouncing violence of all kinds against women -- including personal and structural. No woman should fear to live in her home, be barred from owning the land she farms or experieince barriers to full livelihood and dignity.
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In the News

Acclaimed Human Rights Advocate to Head Grassroots International

By: Grassroots International | Novembro 19, 2014

Human rights campaigner Chung-Wha Hong will soon join the Boston-based global justice organization Grassroots International as Executive Director. Chung-Wha served most recently as the executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), which during her tenure developed into one of the largest and most diverse statewide immigrant rights groups in the country and played a significant role with national policy.

“We are delighted to welcome Chung-Wha to Grassroots International,” said Soya Jung, chair of the Board of Directors. “She brings proven leadership and management skills, and a profound understanding of and passion for social change and global justice.” Chung-Wha begins her new position in December.
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In the News

Trade Deals Criminalize Farmers’ Seeds

By: Carol Schachet | Novembro 19, 2014

What could be more routine than saving seeds from one season to the next? After all, that is how we grow crops on our farms and in our gardens. Yet from Guatemala to Ghana, from Mozambique to Malaysia, this basic practice is being turned into a criminal offence, so that half a dozen large multinational corporations can turn seeds into private property and make money from them.
But people are fighting back and in several countries popular mobilisations are already forcing governments to put seed privatisation plans on hold.
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Blog

Exposing the “Green Revolution” in West Africa

By: Carol Schachet | Novembro 18, 2014

Farmers have worked the rugged land in Western Africa for generations, moving seasonally from field to forest for food and livelihood. While life was never easy, the community worked together, in harmony with their surroundings, to provide for themselves and their neighbors.
All that changed when the government planted a virtual For Lease sign on the land. China and other buyers grabbed it up, quickly draining the land of nutrients with vast fields of monocrops for export.
This is the plight of many farmers across the Global South. Massive land grabs combined with the influx of genetically modified seeds under the banner of the Green Revolution come with empty promises of increased agricultural productivity and the end of hunger.
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Press Releases

Acclaimed Human Rights Advocate Chung-Wha Hong to Head Grassroots International

By: Carol Schachet | Novembro 14, 2014

Human rights campaigner Chung-Wha Hong will soon join the Boston-based global justice organization Grassroots International as Executive Director. Ms. Hong served most recently as the executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), which during her tenure developed into one of the largest and most diverse statewide immigrant rights groups in the country and played a significant role with national policy.
“We are delighted to welcome Chung-Wha to Grassroots International,” said Soya Jung, chair of the Board of Directors. “She brings proven leadership and management skills, and a profound understanding of and passion for social change and global justice.” Ms. Hong begins her new position in December.
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Blog

Video of Grassroots International Palestinian Partner Accepting 2014 Food Sovereignty Prize

By: Shannon Duncan Bodwell | Novembro 14, 2014

On October 15, 2014 Ali Abd El Rahman accepted the 2014 Food Sovereignty Prize on behalf of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC). UAWC shares the prize with Community to Community Development/Comunidad a Comunidad (C2C) of Bellingham, Washington.
UAWC is a Grassroots International partner and has been a leading force for the promotion of food sovereignty (not just food security) in Gaza and the West Bank.
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In the News

Land Rights and Food Sovereignty in Brazil

By: Carol Schachet | Outubro 29, 2014

When Maria and Rubem dos Santos were pushed off their land in northeast Brazil to make way for a sugar cane plantation, their lives changed forever. In previous years, the family supported itself by growing food for a balanced diet. Now, instead of farming, Rubem had to work in the cane fields. The chemicals made him sick, and his meager income didn’t stretch far. The family was going hungry.
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In the News

Keep your Coins, I Want Change

By: Grassroots International | Outubro 28, 2014

This spring, Grassroots International was invited to participate in a project of the Kindle Project called the "Indie Philanthropy Initiative." For more information about the project, visit indph.org. The interview below includes reflections from Nikhil Aziz and Sara Mersha.
How do you do your funding and please describe your organization’s approach and process, explaining how it is different from conventional philanthropy.
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