GLOBAL BRIGADES BLOG

The Brigades Institute for Sustainable Development Launched in Panama Orion Haas 01/13/2009 Last week, 14 Global Brigades students completed the first ever Brigades Institute for Sustainable Development (BISD) event in Panama dedicated to rethinking the way youth, and the entire world, does development work. This workshop challenged the perspectives and pursuits of students, Global Brigades [...]

I’m about to set off on another journey to Panama, and I really can’t wait. This will be my fourth Brigade, but the feeling is still the same. I’m excited and anxious for the work that awaits. My first 3 brigades all took place in one community working on one project. Learning a new community [...]

The student-led sustainable development work of Global Brigades and partner organizations in Panama are featured in Hoodwinked, the new release of New York Times best selling author, John Perkins. Brigades university clubs have developed microenterprise and environmental solutions through a mutual partner, Earth Train, for the Mamoni Valley Reserve. The Reserve is a focus of [...]

Miriam Esquitín, a member of the Canada Brigades team, recently spent time exploring new opportunities for Global Environmental Brigades (GEB) in Panama. GEB works with community members to promote environmental sustainable development by focusing on socio-economic challenges linked to resource depletion. Projects typically include reforestation, rainforest preservation, energy-efficient design, eco-tourism and organic agriculture extension. Miriam [...]

‘Together we can save the world. We must!’- Jane Goodall

There’s no doubt about that! You know the feeling you have when you accomplish that one thing you have always dreamt of? What if I told you that on Wednesday Oct. 13, Global Brigades got “a taste of that feeling” on the night we were invited as a guest speaker to the “U.S. Navy League” [...]

Panama has been characterized by some, including its own citizens, as a third world country.  Others, especially within the academic circle, have characterized such countries as “developing”.  Nonetheless, what makes Panama unique is the financial,and often times cultural, divide between its citizens and residents.  Panama City can easily be mistaken for Miami—with its residential ocean [...]

So I’ve finally discovered why administrators are always complaining about having to interview applicants for job positions, it’s exhausting.  Daisy, Hiral, Jon and myself have spent the last week identifying communities that might be appropriate for our pilot run of Community Health Workers (CHWs from now on to save on typing).  We decided that we [...]

It’s been just over three weeks since I touched ground in the green, tropical paradise of Panama. I arrived to a full house of energetic, passionate, hard working, intelligent, dedicated and fun people all working for Global Brigades. Yes, that was a bit of an adjective overload, but these individuals deserve every one of those [...]

The term “business” is usually synonymous with terms like “profit seeking”.  At the end of the day, why do Wall Street firms, large multinational organizations, and big banks exist?… To make someone rich, right? Large businesses have once again gained some notoriety over the last year—as the U.S. global economy fell into perilous recession; Americans [...]