Erick Brocoy
Philippines
“Community cooperation and cohesiveness increase while livelihoods and incomes become steady. The people develop an entrepreneurial drive accompanied with working hand in hand with community members. The sense of unity and camaraderie flourish.”
***
Despite the number of interventions done to promote empowerment through basic human rights, women are still suffering from inequities around the world.  The role of women in our society is crucial and we must continue to empower them. Without them development will never occur. I met two women who defied cultural limitations, finding ways to empower fellow …

Laura Shaz
Israel/USA

“In general, people here consider meeting Israelis as kind of betrayal.  I believed that any kind of contact or talking with Israelis was like betraying my country and ignoring the long history of suffering of my people,” said Faras, a Palestinian.  
***
Every moment is an opportunity for change.  What can you do to be the change in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?  In intimate interviews with Faras, Goni, Fadwa and Yuval,* four dialogue-group participants, I chronicle the real and honest transformations of these women and men from victims of a war between East and …

Caroline Anderson
Blog and Social Media Manager
“How can we tell the stories of specific people in specific places while still revealing broader truths?”
***
A couple of weeks ago I came across the Writers Bloc project on Guernica Magazine. (Big shout-out for Guernica, by the way – if you’re not reading it, you should be!) The project, as introduced by the indomitable Zadie Smith, seeks to produce development journalism that is “… not especially concerned with a man’s eternal soul or his statistical representation, but with his life.” Specifically[mll1] , this project focuses on …