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20th anniversary celebration of FIEDS – Italo – Ecuadorian Fund for Sustainable Development: an innovative and exemplary financing development strategy

FIEDS – Italo – Ecuadorian Fund for Sustainable Development, celebrated 20 years of its debt swap between Ecuador and Italy, this mechanism represents a strategic tool that allows financing of development projects, making it possible to transform the lives of even more vulnerable people.

In commemoration of the 20th anniversary, FIEDS held an event last Wednesday, March 29. The celebration brought together officials from the Italian government, federal and provincial Ecuadorian government, United Nations, and key Ecuadorian universities, as well as beneficiaries from all over Ecuador, who have been participants and witnesses of the projects’ excellence.

The Power of Reading: AVSI Provides Ivorian Children with the Opportunity to Dream

UN data reveals that more than 393 million children have failed to gain the basic literacy skills at age 10; and in the case of Ivory Coast, the reading rates have always been low, with the reality that one third of children who start in 1st grade will drop out before finishing primary school. In response, AVSI has been working to improve literacy rates in 613 schools of Ivory Coast through the USDA/McGovern-Dole Program. Led by the World Food Program from 2016 to 2021, 150,000 students were able to receive quality school meals. Amid the crisis, AVSI has stepped up its work with refugees and migrants in the region, leveraging the little money available to create pathways for long-term integration and development for Venezuelans in host countries. Through the project Integrados, funded by the US Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, AVSI provides legal protection, housing, and livelihoods assistance for Venezuelan refugees and migrants in three regions of Ecuador: Pichincha, Manabi, and El Oro.

Preparing vulnerable children in Lebanon, Ecuador and Uganda to go back to school

As the pandemic keeps raging around the world, it has become more and more evident that access to distance learning is uneven, with huge disparities based on income and geography. Globally, parents struggle to fill the gap, and there is a well-founded fear that the most vulnerable children will not catch up with their learning goals. At the beginning of the Summer, AVSI-USA launched the campaign “Let’s go Back to School.” The main goal was to help our partners in Uganda, Lebanon, and Ecuador prepare vulnerable children to go back to school after almost two years of online learning. To address these and other challenges created by the pandemic, AVSI and partners have planned customized responses together with families and communities. As part of our global campaign, our donors helped us reach the following results.

You are the Heart of Development: AVSI-USA 2021-2022 Annual Campaign

In last year’s Annual Campaign, we invited you to “Expand your Horizons” and to join us as we reached out with hope towards communities fighting to counter the negative impact of the COVID pandemic. Over the difficult year, we have all experienced how much our destinies are tied to each other. The life of someone across the globe can impact mine, just as my life can impact theirs. It’s time to take a leap forward in how we conceive of our self and our responsibility towards one another, especially towards those suffering, on the margins of society and at risk of falling short of their fullest potential.
Human development is something that must concern us all. You are the heart of development. These are times that require bravery. AVSI-USA offers you this chance to say yes to the dramatic needs in our backyard and around the world, by supporting important projects in Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, Haiti, Lebanon and Los Angeles.