From Our Blog

A Fish Story: Luis Solís

By: Kelly Pendergrast, Communications Specialist; Julie Budkowski, Operations Director Translation by Ivan Greco, Research and Implementation Lead (Future of Fish)

Versión en Español más abajo

Fernando Jorquera and Luis Solis (right), Chilean open-air market vendors, implement new public health measures in response to COVID-19. Credit: Luis Solis for Future of Fish.

Fernando Jorquera and Luis Solis (right), Chilean open-air market vendors, implement new public health measures in response to COVID-19. Credit: Luis Solis for Future of Fish.​

Luis, born and raised in Renca, Chile, is a tireless worker and champion for his community, dedicated to working with small scale producers and businesses to improve food supply chains and access to nutritious food for all Chileans. Over the course of his career in both the private and public sectors, he observed a lack of connection and organization between workers, causing inefficiencies in the food supply system, as well as a growing concern over the declining nutrition, health, and wellbeing of his fellow Chileans. Luis’s passion for finding solutions to these two issues drives the work he does today.

Read More

Recent Blog Posts

Subscribe to our blog
Read our blog

Organization Profile

Taking a Page From Global Businesses, Splash Finds a Way to Ensure Kids Get Clean Water and Lessons in Good Hygiene

By Joanne Lu

Children in line

Photo courtesy of Splash.

What do Big Macs, orphanages and clean water have in common? More than you’d think, it turns out.

In 2003, Eric Stowe was working in orphanages in China and around the world, when he decided to ask the caregivers and administrators, “What can I do for a child living in an institution that would have both an immediate and long-term health impact?” He got a lot of answers, but the two most consistent ones were better training for caregivers and clean water. In institutions where three children are sharing a crib and 150 kids are living together, a case of diarrhea spreads like wildfire without clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). Stowe had no idea how to train caregivers, but providing clean water seemed “totally approachable and achievable.” After all, it made no sense to him that just down the road from these orphanages, the hotel where he was staying had clean water, as did McDonald’s, Starbucks and Burger King.

Read More

Goalmaker

Om Prasad Gautam, Senior WASH Manager at WaterAid UK

By Penny Carothers

Dr. Om Prasad Gautam, Senior WASH Manager, WaterAid UK

Dr. Om Prasad Gautam, Senior WASH Manager, WaterAid.

Dr. Om Prasad Gautam was a handwashing champion before any of us had heard of the novel coronavirus and COVID-19. And while he’s pleased to see governments everywhere encouraging handwashing as a primary defense against the disease, he doesn’t believe that what you could call the coronavirus effect will increase handwashing worldwide once the crisis is over.

That’s because Dr. Om has seen and studied disease outbreaks and the role of handwashing. At first, there is an uptick in handwashing, but inevitably that upward trend plummets once the threat retreats. Understanding this phenomenon is central to his work on behavior change.  Knowledge and fear, though heady motivators in the face of a pandemic, do not lead to the kind of long-term behavioral change we need to combat the next pandemic, not to mention the everyday epidemic of diarrheal diseases in low- and middle-income countries.

Read More

Members News

40+ Global Washington members registered for GiveBIG 2020

Support Vulnerable Communities Globally by Giving LocallyGiveBIG logo
The annual GiveBIG event in Washington state (May 5-6) celebrates individuals, businesses, and organizations coming together to invest in our communities. At Global Washington, “our communities” are global in nature.

Members of GlobalWA have ties to Washington state and are working with people in developing countries to provide access to clean water, protect crucial food supplies, treat and prevent the spread of disease, improve access to education, promote greater gender equity, protect human rights, and so much more.

As COVID-19 spreads around the globe, non-profit organizations working on the front lines need our help. The following Global Washington members are participating in this year’s GiveBIG event. Please consider donating to support their work.

Recent News Posts

Read Members In The News