Responding to COVID-19
Each of our partner program countries have been tremendously impacted by the pandemic and have prohibitive travel policies. In addition to monitoring these travel policies, we are considering a variety of factors to determine when volunteers will be able to travel abroad to participate in brigades. In light of the constantly changing nature of the outbreak of COVID-19 and in an effort to support containment of the virus, Global Brigades has suspended brigades to all of our program countries and are targeting a reopening date of March 1st, 2021. We appreciate the trust you place in our teams, both nationally and internationally when you participate in our programs. Our team is dedicated to protecting the health and ensuring the safety of all our volunteers, staff, and community partners.
In the meantime, Global Brigades chapters are encouraged to join our new TeleBrigades programs and to continue preparing for 2021 in-person brigades.
Now more than ever, our community partners count on your continued support to ensure we can empower them to meet their health and economic goals. We want you to know that because of your past and current support, we continue to look toward our future with great hope and optimism knowing that our work with community partners will overcome these obstacles. Global Brigades has persisted through many global crises over our history and persevered by creating innovative solutions to weather unanticipated events. In addition to now offering TeleBrigades for volunteers, read more below on how our teams are adapting programs to best position our partner countries for continued impact regardless of in-person participation of volunteers.
How we are adapting our programs
HCP Access
Coordinated through our Community Health Worker network, participating community partners will have monthly access to primary care doctors and affordable medications. Doctors will leverage our pharmacy in Tegucigalpa and bulk deals for medications to buy medicine from us and “sell” the medicine during patient consultations in the community. In the first clinics we have been implemented to date, the sale of medicine during each community visit was able to cover the expenses of the doctor and support to cover some of GB Honduras' operational costs. The cost of medicine to the community members was still half of the retail amount and they avoided having to pay any transportation costs to access it (which can sometimes exceed the cost of medications themselves). In addition to providing basic supplies of over-the-counter and commonly prescribed medications for acutely sick patients, the program is critical to provide follow-up for chronic patients to receive their refills. We are also implementing a discounted fee-for-service program for vision and dental care.Microfinance
Direct lending to Community Banks is a key opportunity for GB to continue to increase access to basic financial services and strengthen local economies while creating new revenue streams for the organization. We will continue to support communities in Honduras through the establishment, training, and follow-up of Community Banks, while also significantly increasing our loan capital for these banks, shifting away from the more traditional ‘donation’ model. We will focus on working with communities to develop innovative financial products to continue to invest in their businesses, homes, WASH, and healthcare solutions. The continued improvement in the performance of Community Banks in Honduras will allow us the opportunity to further leverage the capital available from Kiva and other external sources. We are currently in the process of establishing a new subsidiary of GB, a Second Level Community Bank, designed to serve as the mechanism through which Community Banks can access and repay the capital. With the proceeds, GB can ensure a sustainable return on investment to support international operations and to continue investing in The Empowered 100 goals.WASH
Traditionally, GB contributes roughly one-third of the construction costs of the community-wide water systems and the other two-thirds is covered from counterpart funding from partner organizations, the local municipality, and community members. In our revised methodology, we will be striving toward having our portion recovered through the community banks (cajas) in the form of a longer-term and low-interest loan. We are currently conducting financial modelings of the timing and rates of payments and how this cost can be recovered through each household’s monthly bill from the local water committee for operation, maintenance, and administration. If successful, we can begin to leverage Kiva.org or other loan programs to capitalize the construction. Similarly, WASH and Microfinance teams will continue to develop innovative financing options aimed at increasing access to public health infrastructure, while recovering investment, to further perpetuate impact through a sustainable economic model.Microfinance
The World Bank has named our Panama team as the most effective microfinance workers in rural Central America. We will continue to support communities in Panama through the establishment, training, and follow-up of Community Banks. Using the Merkel Funds and Kiva.org, we will also significantly increase our capital available to these banks. and develop innovative financial products so small businesses have access to affordable loans. We are currently in the process of establishing a new subsidiary of GB, a Second Level Community Bank, designed to serve as the mechanism through which Community Banks can access and repay the capital. With the proceeds, GB can ensure a sustainable return on investment to support international operations and to continue investing in The Empowered 100 goals.HCP Access
Our Panamanian health team is currently exploring ways to adapt the HCP access model from Honduras to focus on dental health at first for the existing community partners. However, additional research is being done to expand our scope to primary health care in the far West of Panama in Ngäbe and other isolated communities with less access to health services and medicines.HCP Access
Our health team has adapted the community pharmacy model in Nicaragua for our operations in Ghana. This will consist of a central pharmacy strategically located from partner communities, taking advantage of their closer geographical proximity as compared. We are also considering opening a private clinic to provide primary health and complement the services that are being conducted in the community health outposts. We will continue to collaborate with the government’s National Health Insurance Agency to align their efforts with our developing cost recovery solutions.Microfinance
GB Ghana has renegotiating its relationship with its lending partner, Microfin, to take over follow-up of the MHope lending groups that we have established. We will be continuing to build capacity of our local coordinators to strengthen the MHope groups (similar to Community Banks in Central America) to ensure the continuation of strong repayment rates and the identification of new businesses to lend to.WASH
GB Ghana will continue to work on strengthening its relationship with large international partners like Lions Club and Rotary Club, with the focus of securing funding for water infrastructure projects to meet E100 communities' goals. In addition, the team will work with communities and local government partners to develop innovative cost recovery solutions for both toilet projects and household water connections to the Ghana Water Company’s already existing clean water network.Community Pharmacies
The GB Nicaragua team will continue to collaborate with the existing Community Health Workers and follow-up with Community Pharmacies to provide basic services in certain Empowered 100 communities. The team is also pursuing a telemedicine solution that is being piloted with a local partner organization and working to adapt Honduras' Health Care Professional Access program to provide monthly primary health care services.Microfinance
We will continue to support communities in Nicaragua through the establishment and training of new and follow-up of existing Community Banks. Using the Merkel Funds and Kiva.org, we will also significantly increase our loan capital available to these banks. As in Panama, the strength of the loan performance of Community Banks there are critical to our ability to leverage capital from Kiva and other external sources.WASH
In Nicaragua, we will strive to complete water and public health infrastructure that has already been started. At the same time, we will be renegotiating with partner organizations to reposition the GB portion of financing from a donation to a cost recovery model.HCP Access
Leveraging the HCP access model developed in Honduras, we will be piloting a similar program in Guatemala. Coordinated by Dra. Gladys Turcios, who was previously the one leading the initiative in Honduras before moving to Guatemala, the communities that we were planning on running brigades will have regular access to primary care doctors and affordable medications. Doctors will leverage our current medical supply and “sell” the medicine during patient consultations in the community. Similar to Honduras, the sale of medicine during each community visit is meant to cover the expenses of the doctor and provide a margin to GB. We are currently assessing the present costs of medication in community partners and overall demand from a feasibility side while navigating travel restrictions within Guatemala to access those communities.Microfinance
Our Executive Directors in Central America are collaboratively seeking a funding opportunity with the World Bank to expand our microfinance programming in Guatemala.Health Access
While access to the population of asylum seekers in Long Term Accommodation Sites in Greece is greatly limited due to COVID-19, our Greece team is taking this opportunity to explore the possibility of establishing our own private health center in Athens focusing on improving access to primary healthcare for vulnerable populations. As such, the potential clinic in Athens would serve the general Greek population, allowing for a sustainable business model, while also designating times to serve under-resourced populations, pro-bono. The current plan is to identify a space that is also large enough to run primary health clinics with Medical Brigades as well in the future as a back-up strategy when conditions in the camp are not conducive for volunteers.*Statistics provided represent impact across all countries and all communities
