Blog

With USAID support, an Afro-Colombian community received a collective land title, guaranteeing ownership of their traditional lands. Magic Comes to Life Central to the oral history of the Santo Madero community is the legend of a miraculous tree that fell in a violent storm only to reappear a few days later, upright and green. The event, which…Read More

Q&A with José Hernández, founder of SumaPaz Foods In 2018, José Hernández, the founder of gourmet exporter SumaPaz Foods, discovered the secrets of Colombia’s sesame in the hills of Montes de María in the Caribbean region. In the municipality of Córdoba Tetón, SumaPaz began working with families involved in sesame for generations. In 2023, USAID’s…Read More

Strategic partnership helps rural farmers gain access to gourmet markets and repair the wounds of the past. For thousands of years, sesame seeds have been a key ingredient for a wide variety of Greek foods, from tahini to sesame bar snacks to Greece’s most popular street food, the indistinguishable, sesame-covered rings known as koulouri. Sesame…Read More

Cross-posted from USAID Medium USAID is committed to placing Indigenous communities at center of locally led development In Latin America, Indigenous communities are an essential part of efforts to address development challenges — such as issues with equity, government transparency, and environmental sustainability — and they amplify development gains far beyond the life of programs….Read More

After a four-year hiatus, the World Bank resumed its annual Land Conference in Washington, DC. Attendees from around the world convened in mid-May to connect and learn about innovations in the international land sector.  USAID was busy throughout the week: USAID’s Chief Climate Officer Gillian Caldwell spoke on a panel on forest tenure and Indigenous…Read More

Cross-posted from SERVIR When countries need to make sustainable decisions about how best to use their land, they need highly detailed and current information—but accurately measuring how much of a country is forested or not (including land used for farming or undergoing urban expansion) can be incredibly difficult. More and more countries like Nepal are…Read More