Building Resilience, One Community at a Time

Helen Keller Intl works hand-in-hand with communities to improve health and nutrition in some of the world’s most neglected places. By strengthening existing food and health systems, we build sustainability that local leaders can use to continue this vital work on their own.

Our approaches are fluid – never one-size- fits-all – because each community’s needs reflect a unique set of circumstances. And because we are trusted partners, advisors, and implementors, we are also able to respond quickly when crises strike.

Anticipating Extreme Weather

Families with the least means are the ones most affected by climate crises. Today, nearly a third of the world’s people lack reliable access to nutritious, safe, and sufficient food. When extreme weather events destroy crops in regions where families rely on subsistence farming, the effects can be devastating. In fact, as climate crises continue to intensify, the number of people facing hunger and malnutrition is predicted to rise another 20 percent by 2050.

Extreme and long-lasting droughts are making it increasingly difficult to grow crops in many regions of Africa. When a drought finally breaks, heavy rainfall in a short amount of time often causes landslides and flooding. Rising temperatures and intensifying monsoon rains in southeast Asia are also threatening the viability of crops. As these dangerous weather events become the norm, Helen Keller is helping communities develop effective techniques for mitigating the worst consequences.

In Sierra Leone, for example, we are helping women farmers like Isatu Njai to collect, store, and optimize the use of rainwater. Although methods for securing a reliable water source have long been used elsewhere, they are being deployed for the first time in many parts of Sierra Leone. Isatu has been farming for most of her life, and when she learned how conserving rainwater can maintain her crops during the dry season, she was delighted. By installing simple irrigation systems, farmers like Isatu are able to water crops with the turn of a lever – essentially eliminating the backbreaking work of carrying water.

In Bangladesh, where many farmers have the opposite problem – too much rain – crops are often washed away by floods. To address this, Helen Keller is training farmers like Hosne Begum in several climate-smart agriculture practices. By expanding her skills to include such protective measures as raised beds, raised pits, and tower gardens, Hosne can now continue gardening throughout monsoon seasons. Today, she not only has a consistent supply of nutritious foods that help protect her family’s health, but a source of income from selling surplus produce.

Mitigating the Effects of Conflict

In some of the countries where we work, families face the destabilizing effects of political unrest and terrorism. But even when unsafe conditions caused by violence prevent us from working directly in affected communities, we have effective ways of reaching families with the medical care they need. Our decades-long affiliations with leaders in national governments and local communities have demonstrated that we are trusted partners. When families must flee their homes to safer locations, we have the resources in place to make sure they receive the healthcare, nutrition, and livelihoods support they need.

In Mali, for example, despite persistent political instability and the remoteness of many communities, we have been successful in helping the government eliminate the blinding disease trachoma as a public health problem – due in large part to the training we provided to community health workers who educate and administer medications to their neighbors. Without these heroes, we could not have reached so many thousands of families.

In Nigeria, we are helping families displaced by armed conflict to gain a fresh start in their adopted communities. Rebecca Clement and the other model farmers we have trained help families improve their health and self-reliance by sharing knowledge about – and a passion for – vegetable gardening. This program is especially powerful in communities in Adamawa State, where nearly 2.3 million displaced people have found refuge.

Meeting Families Where They Are

Though we live in a deeply inequitable world, together with generous supporters like you, we are helping the most neglected communities gain greater resilience amid the combined effects of climate crises and armed conflicts. Whether it is helping community health heroes reach remote communities with critical care, enabling new ways of growing nutritious foods sustainably, or giving families a foothold after they were displaced from their homes, you are providing families with vital opportunities to thrive.