Counterpart International, an NGO that partners with local organizations around the world to build inclusive, sustainable communities, will celebrate 60 years of hard work and dedication to those in need.
Counterpart International primarily works towards building locally based partnerships between citizens, government, civil society, and the private sector in the areas of food security, democracy, rights and governance, women’s empowerment, and climate resiliency.
According to Dr. Ann Hudock, President and CEO of Counterpart International, the organization puts a lot of effort into working with their partners who enable them to implement their agendas and plan out the best ways to enact them and begin working with communities that are in need. Hudock says one of the most important aspects to the work the organization does is inclusion. When Counterpart begins working in a new location, the team ensures they meet with and take direction from the local community members.
This approach is taken to ensure the team at the organization are fully aware to the needs of the community and to include people who are often overlooked in decision making. Once Counterpart has a full understanding of the type of work that needs to be done they can begin their operations. A large part of Counterpart’s mission is to bring community and governmental members together, so they can begin the process of contributing to positive change in an environment that fosters collaboration. Hudock says Counterpart takes this approach to ensure people have their voices heard.
“We have found that when we would go to countries to start helping communities the local people were often left out of the discussions, and the people in power would be the ones making all the decisions,” says Hudock. “By bringing people from the local communities together with regional leaders we are striving to create a foundation where everyone is included in the process to make change and build a better future.”
Since 2000, Counterpart has supported solution creators – our counterparts – in more than 65 countries to build inclusive, sustainable communities in which people thrive. Counterpart has implemented more than $1 billion in programming across the globe in civil society and governance strengthening, resilient food systems and food security, women empowerment, and climate change. Counterpart uses localization approaches that shift power to local actors, formal and informal networks, and community-based organizations that represent local communities and historically marginalized and vulnerable people.
Under its women’s empowerment practice area, Counterpart has invested in women as leaders, managers, and decision-makers across the globe with training in business management since 1978. The unique and long-term mentorship model, provides the space for women leaders to reflect, learn, and grow together with like-minded leaders from across the globe. With over 1,000 alumni representing 77 countries, Counterpart continues to engage this network of women leaders through an online portal.
Among its many noteworthy achievements, Counterpart International has worked with over 35,000 farmers in Guatemala from 2016 to 2022 to improve their skills, developed textbooks and teacher guides, which were adopted for use in 3,400 primary schools across Mauritania in 2022, and, in the past year, provided daily school meals to over 150,000 children in Africa.
The organization was founded in 1965 by Betty Silverstein, an Australian movie star, and Stan Hosie, a Marist priest, under the name Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific. The creation of the organization stemmed from their love for the communities in the region. Since then, Counterpart International has worked with communities in countries all over the world and Hudock says they will continue to grow their operations and help more people.
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