A Guide to Hopebuilding Stories
Categorizing these stories (330 as of Aug. 20, 2008) is often challenging, because many of them talk about people's or community activities that addressed a number of issues at once, or grew from one small project into something much larger. Reflecting this, some stories appear in several categories. Clicking on the links highlighted in blue will take you to that page. Please do read my GuidelinesForSharing before you post.
Stories about Agriculture
- Radio scripts will share local adaptations to climate change across Africa
- World Food Program builds small farmer supply base in Mozambique
- Chillies keep elephants out, give southern African farmers new income
- Livestock and watermelons help pastoralists and farmers live peacefully in north Sudan
- Eating locally to support local farmers, improve health, and protect the environment
- Find all stories about agriculture by clicking here
Stories about Community Capacity
- Grassroots environmental heroes from around the world win largest prize
- Maasai warriors run London marathon to bring water to their tiny Tanzanian village
- Indigenously-driven health success stories in Australia acclaimed internationally
- Indian women with a nose for news have big impact
- Mobile business school brings information to women in drought-stricken area of India
- Find all stories about community capacity by clicking here
Stories about Governance
- Brazilian city of Curitiba may be most livable city in the world
- Model national Vitamin A supplementation campaign reaches 19 million Bangladeshi children
- Somalia is the legal state, but unrecognized Somaliland is a real state, says new book
- Benin is an ongoing success story in eliminating endemic river blindness
- Small organizations that challenge conventional thinking win major US award
Stories about Health
- Recycled phones and free software revolutionize health care for Malawi hospital
- Low cost ceramic water filter improves health, creates jobs for rural poor
- Low-cost Vietnamese vaccine could pave way for control of cholera worldwide
- International coalition makes hospital and health care safe, sustainable, healthy for all
- Successful Tanzanian trachoma treatment offers hope for nomadic communities
Stories about Money
- Humanitarian agency uses mobile phones to deliver cash aid in Kenya
- Mobile phone banking comes to remote Maldives, Mongolia
- Mobile phones allow people to transfer money person to person in Kenya, Afghanistan
- 70 dollars and seven years create 26 jobs in Kenyan village
- Pioneering deal offers new hope for preserving tropical forests, global climate, local jobs
- Find all stories about money by clicking here
Stories about Peace
- Irish drama helps Afghanis come to terms with years of war
- Israelis working in partnership with Palestinian villages could be model for others
- Film tells the story of kidnapped Ugandan child soldier who became world boxing champion
- Replanting olive trees in Palestine symbolizes hope for a peaceful future
- Peace would be the best present for Afghan women
Stories about Rebuilding
- Homeless World Cup changes lives, attitudes about homelessness
- Refugees are the filmmakers, actors and audience in unique Kenyan film festival
- Guerrilla tourism brings hope for new future in Aceh
- Rebuilding on Pinatubo with ash from 1991 eruption
- South Africa leads project to preserve Timbuktu's cultural treasures
- Find all stories about rebuilding by clicking here
Stories about Schools
- Canadians reach out to help the orphans of Lesotho attend school
- Teaching and overcoming fear about HIV are both vital jobs in Swaziland
- Affordable menstrual pads keep girls in school, create jobs
- Recycling paper in Malawi benefits schools, communities and environment
- From Kenyan slum to UK university, Sammy Gitau's achievement inspires others
Stories about Sharing
- Gift of a goat from US schoolchildren leads to Ugandan village’s first college graduate
- Old US hospital equipment, vital supplies bring new life in developing countries
- MalariaEngage hopes social networking will bring funds to African researchers
- Creative grantmaking by US foundation lets travellers give back to developing world
- Canadian students reach out to provide first library in Angolan town
Stories about Sustainability
- China could become a global low carbon leader, report says
- Tanzanian blacksmiths pass on skills, creating jobs and saving forests
- Unique rental model brings solar power to remote Lao villages
- Buffalo replace tractors, chemical fertilizer on Thai farms
- Award-winning business brings efficient stoves, kilns to small industries in South India
- World’s first solar cooker village helps cut deforestation in Somalia
- Find all stories about sustainability by clicking here
Stories about Work
- More than 100,000 Tanzanian homes built with bricks fired by agricultural waste
- Unique Honey Bee Network promotes rural Indian invention
- South African program to clear invasive trees creates jobs, reduces poverty
- Pygmy communities, loggers in Congo use GPS, community radio to protect cultural sites
- SEWA empowers Indian widow in rebuilding her life, community
More stories are added regularly. You are welcome to send or share stories of similar achievements. See Great Links for links to websites that provide many other stories of achievement.
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Pumping water is child’s play in South African communities
The PlayPump, a water pump driven by children playing on a merry go round, is a startlingly simple and effective innovation that addresses many major development challenges at the same time. It offers a renewable, self-sustaining system for supplying uncontaminated water to a community, it frees women and children from collecting water, allowing girls to go to school, and it attracts children to school because the merry-go-round is inside the school yard.
Operating much like a windmill, the merry-go-round powers a pump system that propels water from underground and stores it in an overhead 2500 litre capacity storage tank. The stored water is accessed via a regular faucet with the turn of the handle. The tank provides space for advertising that also funds the system’s maintenance costs. Four billboards on the storage tank carry education, health and consumer product messages. As an early supporter, Coca Cola used the space to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS.
The PlayPump can pump up to 1400 litres per hour with less effort than other manually operated pumps. A PlayPumps system, including equipment, testing, setup, installation and training, costs US$14,000. Drilling a new borehole costs between US$5,000 and US$10,000. To keep costs low, PlayPumps encourages a collaborative model that involves government and NGO participation.
The organizations behind the PlayPump offer a unique business model for development projects. While the NGO, PlayPumps International, relies on partnerships with local governments, corporations and the non-profit world to supply the boreholes and provide funding for the pumps, its counterpart, Roundabout Outdoor installs the pumps, sells the advertising, and guarantees that the pumps are maintained.
PlayPumps International has successfully installed more than 1,000 PlayPump systems in
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