Since establishing Powerful Information we have resourced over 70 grassroots projects in low- and middle-income countries. We have helped improve information management, communication and advocacy skills in over one hundred indigenous organisations; supported dozens of practical local projects concerned with environmental conservation and awareness-raising; helped inform and empower hundreds of local activists and social entrepreneurs; and last but not least, raised the resources needed to make these things happen. And we have done this with and through some very special people in our partner organisations and in the local the communities where we are working.

Taking Care of Precious Water Resources

Well dressing ceremony in Bestemac, Moldova. One of a number of wells that were refurbished and improved by the community.

We are particularly proud of:

our joint work in Romania which has helped school eco-clubs develop and undertake extra-curricula activities in the community -- we have so far supported over 70 school environmental projects: 12 have come 1st in Regional Competitions organised by the Department of Education, and eight have gone on to take prizes at the national level.

our joint work in Lithuania, which has involved inter alia supporting the development of community groups in more than 20 rural villages and a range of local projects concerned with clean water and public healthcare;

our joint work in Moldova, which is helping train and empower opinion-leaders and representatives from 15 communities in the Cahul Raion with a solid grounding in environmental issues and the techniques of public education and consultation in the light of new environmental legislation and the requirements of the Aarhus Convention;

our joint work in Albania, which is helping tackle the damage to fragile mountain ecosystems caused by the unregulated harvesting of aromatic plants by training farmers to grow herbs as a crop; and another project which is building up a picture of what happens to lead acid batteries so that we can make proposals as to how the EU’s 2006 Battery Directive might be implemented to reduce the threat to people’s health and the environment.

our joint work in Sierra Leone, which has provided non-formal basic education for nearly 1,000 women and teenage girls, most of whom have not been to school because of poverty or war; and education and skills-training for over 100 blind men and women, many of who were only surviving by begging.

And we are proud of the information management systems that we have developed which give us instant access to information on a wide range of issues, from project finances and planning, to running cash flows and recording monitoirng visits and contacts with partners and supporters.