Global Brigades National
Global Brigades
Global Brigades National
Our Mission
Global Brigades is a volunteer student-based collaborative dedicated to the research, design, and construction of socially responsible, environmentally sustainable solutions to problems in the developing world. Ultimately, extended relationships between brigades and communities will result in not only the implementation of a variety of projects, but also the accumulation of a vast wealth of knowledge from which future students and communities can learn.
The Global Brigades Model
GB was founded with only Medical Brigade trips, but after several brigades, volunteers noticed the same kinds of diseases afflicting the community members and looked to the source of the problem. Doing so caused the realization that there needed to be more sustainable methods of improving quality of life, resulting in the creation of Public Health and Water Brigades. Soon, GB expanded into not only health brigades (Medical, Public Health, Water and Dental) but also development brigades such as environmental, architecture, business, microfinance and law. This holistic model would encompass all the aspects of providing communities with the tools to sustain a healthy and self-sufficient way of living, from clean water and medical and dental services to micro-loans and public health infrastructure as well as legal empowerment and environmental protection.
History and Current Standings
Global Brigades, Inc (USA) was founded in 2007 as a California-based not-for-profit organization and achieved US 501c3 status in 2008. Prior to its creation, Global Brigades solely operated as a Honduran charitable organization as a division of Sociedad Amigos de los Niños. Click on the annual report above to learn more about its history and social impact.
Currently, Global Brigades USA mobilizes more than 3,000 annual volunteers through 120 University chapters. View the map on the right to view chapters by location and see a link to their Brigades.org page to support or volunteer with them.
Where do we work?
Global Brigades focuses on countries where family members survive on less than $2 per day and where medical and economic needs are severely neglected and resources for basic services are low.
Honduras and Panama were selected based on their high need for services in their rural areas, strong on-the ground partnerships for sustainability, accessibility to logistical needs, and safety.
Through on-the ground full-time staff in Honduras and Panama, Global Brigades is able to work with communities to ensure sustainable work and perpetuate on-going services in between brigades.
Honduras
Honduras is a Central American country undergoing a demographic transition that has had a democratic government for 26 years. More than 1 million Hondurans of indigenous or African ancestry remain highly marginalized, with limited access to basic services and low levels of social participation. More than half the population lives in poverty, with black and indigenous populations suffering from marked economic and educational inequality and inequality in access to services. In 2000, the foreign debt represented 68% of the gross national income (approximately US$ 5000 million). Unemployment rose substantially between 1999 and 2004, with an increase in hidden underemployment. Under the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/WHO Strategic Plan 2003-2007 Honduras is designated a priority country, being one of the four poorest highly indebted countries in the Region of the Americas. This implies intensified technical cooperation to bridge the health gaps both inside the country and with other countries of the Region.
Panama
Panama, a young republic with a growing economy and a democratic social organization, has in the last four decades experienced gradual changes in its health determinants that have made it possible to overcome many of the challenges that communicable diseases usually impose upon developing countries. However, the model of development and the redistribution policies that the country follows have generated trends of social and epidemiological polarization that have resulted in poverty levels that reach approximately 40% and the overlap of communicable and noncommunicable diseases in all sectors of the population. Due to this social and demographic transition, new challenges have emerged that demand special attention to younger and aging populations while still encouraging advances in infant/maternal health. All of this helps to envision the needs of health development and reorient the cooperation strategy. Panama’s noteworthy health expenditure (8.4% of the GDP) demonstrates the efforts of both the country (US$ 794 million) and the families (US$ 360 million) in the achievement of better health. However, greater integration would make the health care system more efficient in the management of resources and more effective in exercising its administrative role. In this way, Panama may be able to meet its objectives of reducing disparities in the access to health care, which would have a significant impact in the marginalized rural, urban, and indigenous populations.
Ghana
Ghana, a country on the West Coast of Africa, is one of the most thriving democracies on the continent. It has often been referred to as an “island of peace.” The country’s economy is dominated by agriculture, which “employs” about 40 percent of the working population. Ghana is one of the leading exporters of cocoa in the world. It is also a significant exporter of commodities such as gold and lumber. A country covering an area of 238,500 square kilometres, Ghana has an estimated population of 22 million, drawn from more than one hundred ethnic groups – each with its own unique language. English is the official language, a legacy of British colonial rule. Global Brigades is currently establishing a headquarters in the Central Region, in the City of Cape Coast. We will be serving under resourced villages within a one-three hour drive from our facilities in conjunction with Ghanian government and partnering NGOs. Our focus in 2010, will be to deliver water, medical and microfinance brigades in a holistic approach utilizing our European volunteer base. During academic year 2011, GB USA and Canadian universities will have the opportunity to serve there as well.
Columbia University Global Brigades (CUGB)
GB was founded with only Medical Brigade trips, but after several brigades, volunteers noticed the same kinds of diseases afflicting the community members and looked to the source of the problem. Doing so caused the realization that there needed to be more sustainable methods of improving quality of life, resulting in the creation of Public Health and Water Brigades. Soon, GB expanded into not only health brigades (Medical, Public Health, Water and Dental) but also development brigades such as environmental, architecture, business, microfinance and law. This holistic model would encompass all the aspects of providing communities with the tools to sustain a healthy and self-sufficient way of living, from clean water and medical and dental services to micro-loans and public health infrastructure as well as legal empowerment and environmental protection.
Our Mission On Campus
To create a student-run multidisciplinary club dedicated to providing sustainable development solutions in Honduras and Panama, as well as to maintain an on-campus initiative to educate the wider Columbia community about our organization’s efforts and the current standard of living around the world, especially in developing countries.