Contributor: Amie Wells

Why vote for Mercy Corps everyday until December 25th? There are only 6 days left in the www.50daysofgiving.com campaign and GCC Jordan wants you to keep voting!

Meet the GCC crew from staff to students at their computer clubhouse in Amman, Jordan. I was lucky enough to get to visit this crew and hear about all the projects they are doing and their plans for the future. They are really excited about a potential international youth summit so keep voting at www.50daysofgiving.com!

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In Baalbek, Lebanon youth leaders organized a run to promote health and well being.

Working with Global Citizen Corps youth around the world, I’ve come to realize that change is possible — and these young people are leading the way. So, for a little inspiration to us all today on World AIDS Day, here's a glimpse at how hundreds of youth from seven countries around the globe are taking action on global health issues. These leaders have gone through global citizenship trainings to design and implement meaningful action projects — that empower not only themselves but their communities.

Events are going as I type and we’ll hear more about the scale of these projects in the coming weeks — but here are just a few activities that leaders have been involved in, in the lead-up to World AIDS Day…

In Baalbek, Lebanon youth leaders organized a run to promote health and well-being. Hundreds of young people gathered in the streets to draw attention to health issues in their community. Only a few weeks back, I was lucky enough to meet these students as they excitedly discussed the event that they had planned. It’s amazing to see that they pulled off their event! Congratulations to this crew, it’s been months in the making to organize local officials and manage the resources to implement.

GCC leaders in Swat ran a training around HIV/AIDS issues with students from a local middle school.

Leading up to World AIDS Day Global Citizen Corps leaders in Swat — a district in Pakistan about 160 km outside of Islamabad — ran a training around HIV/AIDS issues with students from a local middle school. Swat was hit hard by recent flooding and youth have been organizing campaigns locally to gather materials and resources to distribute to the community as well as organizing trainings and events.

In the United States students are organizing awareness events across the country. One group is hosting an exhibit, followed by a dance to raise funds for a global AIDS organization. Harlem Children’s Zone in New York City has been volunteering at a local HIV/AIDS clinic.

And right now, in Iraq, youth leaders are organizing blood drives and trainings for schools on global health issues from diabetes to malnutrition. In Indonesia, Global Citizen Corps leaders are supporting relief efforts and working with local Mercy Corps development projects.

It's amazing to see our youth around the world making today count.

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Last week I met with the Global Citizen Corps team in Northern Iraq. They put together a video to get all of you involved in voting for Mercy Corps every day for 50 days to win $150,000 from Western Union.

If Mercy Corps wins, Global Citizen Corps will receive $50,000 to fund our Global Citizen Corps Youth Summit. Be sure to watch the video to hear from our team in Iraq — they're excited to see Mercy Corps win! But we need your help to do so — we're 1% point behind taking the lead, so cast your vote today!

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Comayagua, Honduras — Sara is an atypical 14-year-old in rural Honduras. The reason? She's still in school.

Most children in this tropical valley stop going to school before age 12, mostly because their families need them to work in limestone factories or to help harvest coffee, sugar cane or other crops.

Sara lives in a village a short drive outside Siguatepeque, one the larger cities in Honduras. But standing in front of her house, you wouldn't know you were anywhere close to a population center. Located along a dirt track, the village consists only of a single-room schoolhouse, a tienda and a smattering of modest metal-roofed homes.

This village was constructed in the late 1990s for those displaced by Hurricane Mitch, which among other things destroyed 33,000 homes in Honduras and damaged another 50,000.

Proyecto Aldea Global (PAG), a longtime Mercy Corps partner, was one of the agencies to respond to Mitch's trail of devastation. In Comayagua, a department in central Honduras, PAG replaced schools destroyed by floods and built new ones — 67 in total.

But PAG did more than just erect buildings; it built a foundation for education to prosper.

Fourteen-year-old Sara is the youngest daughter of Marta, a middle-aged mother of 10 who is playing a key role in PAG's efforts to improve education for Comayagua's youth.

When I visited Marta one afternoon, we sat down at the only table in her tidy two-room home. The first thing she did was point to one wall, which was covered by framed awards, certificates and other academic honors earned by her children.

Educational certificates and awards earned by Marta's children hang prominently on the wall. Photo: Amie Wells/Mercy Corps

Marta's two youngest — Sara and her 17-year-old sister — are still in school. Marta is committed to seeing them graduate — unlike her older children, who didn't finish as a result of both inadequate schools in their pre-Mitch community and the family's pressing financial needs.

For four years Marta has volunteered with PAG in a program to ensure quality education in rural schools.

Marta explained that one of the problems with public education in Honduras is the way the system treats teachers. They're assigned schools by the government, are given very little training and are paid poorly for their work. What's more, their salary isn't tied to their attendance.

Marta holds the ledger she uses to track teacher attendance. Photo: Amie Wells/Mercy Corps

To support teachers and make sure they're providing quality instruction, PAG does two things. One is giving teachers comprehensive training, empowering them with the resources they need to be better educators. The other is making the community responsible for tracking teacher attendance and distributing paychecks based on those records.

Marta has been keeping track of all the teachers employed at her daughters' school. Every day, teachers must sign in and out with Marta, who showed me the well-worn ledger she used.

If teachers don't show up, they're not paid. And if it's a continual problem, the community can request their resignation.

The program appears to be working: Marta said the program makes the teachers feel more committed to the families, and vice-versa, and that only one teacher had been fired for non-attendance in the last four years.

In fact, the teachers have embraced the opportunities that accompany PAG's program, including training sessions and efforts to improve school infrastructure.

Activities of the program — called Programa de Educacion Lenca de Honduras in Spanish — include:

• Seminars for teachers to improve their teaching and evaluation skills, enhance classroom control and refine instruction techniques;
• Support to help parents better understand and increase their level of involvement in their children's education;
• Education for children on how to advocate for and defend their rights; and
• School infrastructure including classroom buildings, fences, latrines, water tanks and more.

The result? About 2,200 students in 13 municipalities have benefited from PAG's efforts to ensure sustainable and quality education. For Marta, that quality education will bring unprecedented benefits. Chances are good that in the next four years, she will hang the family's first two high-school diplomas on her wall.

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