In October 2014, Project Redwood seeded 13 projects with a total of $262,600. Most of those projects wrapped up in late 2015; here’s a summary of their many accomplishments!
Embrace used its Project Redwood grant to make a measurable impact on the health of low birth weight babies in impoverished communities in Uganda. Availability of 60 easy-to-use infant warmers reached more than 1,500 babies in need, and 200 healthcare workers were trained to prevent, recognize, and treat neonatal hypothermia. Sponsor: Bill Barnum
Click here to learn more about Embrace.
Project Redwood funding supported thirteen at-risk, low-performing inner city students who were not qualified to participate in Cristo Rey New York High School’s required work-study program. These students instead received individual attention at school to help them acquire needed technical, communication, and business etiquette skills. Nine flourished and were subsequently placed in outside jobs. Sponsors: Rick Agresta and Rich Jerdonek
Click here to learn more about Cristo Rey New York High School.
Global Batwa Outreach (GBO), with Project Redwood funding, established a birthing center for impoverished and often marginalized Batwa women in Uganda. In addition to safely delivering 270 babies, the center provided prenatal care to 630 mothers and postnatal care to 400. GBO now uses an insurance program to promote the center’s effectiveness and to sustainably fund some of its expenses. Sponsor: Gail Schulze
Click here to learn more about GBO.
As part of its microenterprise incubator program, Generation Enterprise recruited and screened 1,000 vulnerable, mainly slum-relegated young adults in Lagos and Ilesa, Nigeria. The program improved the marketable skills and financial literacy of 500, and funded 130 youth-run ventures, which on average will increase the wages of those they employ by twelve-fold. In consultation with GSB 1980 classmate Peter Acton, Generation Enterprise scoped out a plan to scale the most promising startups to enterprises that sustain ten or more employees. Sponsor: Connie Bodine McCann
Click here to learn more about Generation Enterprise.
Through development of local partnerships in Tanzania, miraclefeet was able to leverage Project Redwood funding to treat more than 500 new patients afflicted with clubfoot, far more than originally projected. The non-surgical treatments offered can be life-changing for the poor who are otherwise stigmatized and often uneducated. Expanding capacity for outreach and follow-up should continue to accelerate miraclefeet’s impact in 2016. Sponsors: Mary Pruiett and Amy Minella
Click here to learn more about miraclefeet.
In spite of a year of political upheaval, teacher strikes, food shortages and a refugee crisis in Haiti, Haitian Educational Initiatives (HEI) continued to support schooling for the poorest children of Jacmel. Through HEI, Project Redwood paid tuition for 28 youngsters, and supported after school tutoring and job training for 76 as well as summer camp enrichment for 56. Input and introductions from Project Redwood partners Martha Parry Clark and David Fletcher improved HEI’s board governance, financial policies and fundraising in ways that resulted in two significant gifts and that also enhanced HEI’s attractiveness to skilled young professionals seeking board memberships. Sponsor: Martha Parry Clark
Click here to learn more about HEI.
In its first year of operation in Rwanda, EarthEnable quickly learned that its original plan to micro-franchise flooring sales and installation wasn’t feasible. Instead, the non-profit internally hired and trained 55 installers and engaged an independent sales team of 8. In spite of the initial reconfiguration of their business model, EarthEnable still was able to provide 350 low cost, low maintenance, healthy floors for 1,700 people. Project Redwood sponsors helped out with financial management and financing advice, preparing EarthEnable to scale in 2016. Sponsors: Kirk Renaud and Kirk Holmes (Stanford GSB Class of 1987)
Click here to learn more about EarthEnable.
The Saint Paul and Rose Orphan’s Centre in central Uganda used Project Redwood funds, supplemented by personal donations from co-sponsors Ann McStay and Kermit Eck, to build facilities that will generate on-going income to feed, clothe, and educate 51 resident children. After some delay, a prerequisite and vital deep water well was installed on property last January. A newly constructed kitchen and store are already providing income, and recently purchased cows and pigs will generate funds in the coming year. Project Redwood’s involvement facilitated a partnership between the Centre and the One World Children’s Fund, which greatly simplifies the Centre’s process for accepting donations. Sponsors: Ann McStay and Kermit Eck
Click here to learn more about Saint Paul and Rose Orphan’s Centre.
Development in Gardening (DIG) completed construction of its Project Redwood-subsidized Agriculture Training Center in Uganda and installed an adjacent demonstration garden. Nearly 200 locals and small holder farmers learned sustainable agriculture techniques there, and subsequently created 135 home gardens which provided families each with about six meals per week. In addition, DIG trained more than 80 “master” instructors who will in turn teach twenty-six community groups and non-government organizations. Sponsor: Bill Westwood
Click here to learn more about DIG.
With a fourth year of funding from Project Redwood, Village Health Works (VHW) expanded its integrated approach to improving the lives of the poor in Kigutu, Burundi. Although the region’s arid soil presents difficult challenges, food cooperatives more than doubled output through crop diversification and application of best practices. Meals programs fed 1,500 malnutrition patients and 97 preschoolers. VHW’s clinics provided 1,400 prenatal visits, up 30% from 2014. Cultural resistance to family planning runs high, though, an issue that VHW is addressing through community dialogs, local partnerships and improved outreach. Sponsor: Ken Inadomi
Click here to learn more about VHW.
With a sixth cycle of Project Redwood funding, Compatible Technology International (CTI) deployed chlorinators to 130 additional communities in rural Nicaragua. CTI’s program, thought to be the country’s largest rural water treatment initiative, now reaches 353,000 poor. An assessment study supported by Stanford GSB 1980 classmate Steven Kelly confirmed that CTI’s chlorinator eliminates water-borne bacteria effectively and demonstrated that 95% of installations (both recent and long-standing) are properly maintained by locals. Sponsor: Jorge Fernandez
Click here to learn more about CTI.
The completion date for Village Enterprise’s (VE) ambitious project to pilot non-agricultural enterprises among the landless poor of Uganda has been extended to June 30, 2016. In the project’s research phase, VE learned and documented much about selecting small businesses that are most likely to succeed and about developing and delivering the training needed to equip youthful and more mature would-be entrepreneurs for success. More than 120 business owners, who work together in four business savings groups, have launched 30 businesses. VE continues to seed, mentor, and monitor these ventures and will report results this summer. Sponsors: Kristi Smith-Hernandez and Jon Hamren
Click here to learn more about VE.
Because of delays in attaining local accreditation for its Patient Care Assistant training program, Hope worldwide Bolivia will not complete this Project Redwood funded venture until June of 2017. Five at-risk, orphaned young adults commenced six months of training in January 2016 with a curriculum designed to impart skills needed for employment in La Paz’s understaffed healthcare sector. An additional five needy students will begin the program in January of 2017. Sponsor: David Blenko