The GES Jinja project is being carried out in an organization called CESEF and activities began in July 2010, under this project, we want to show the community that change can be brought about in society even by the local population, its all about reorganizing them, making use of the community assets as well as using a community/group/association as the best avenue for change We believe that a community of individuals united by a shared passion is the most powerful avenue ...

By Anna Krist, GES staffer For the past few weeks, the Media and Marketing team has been working to include Evanston middle school students in the GES experience through an exciting new project called GES Colors.  Just last week, staff members went to Nichols Middle School and worked with 6th, 7th, and 8th graders in their art classes to create posters inspired by global engagement.  Their work will be part of a contest, and the finalists’ posters will be displayed on the GES website for ...

Chapter 2: Think Different Be Creative We knew that the transition from conventional to innovative projects depended on our people. Fortunately, we ensured that our association had a combination of both creative and performer entrepreneurs to create and implement our projects. Our latest innovative project "Sustainable ECO-Roofs" was the brainchild of one of our creative entrepreneurs. It began as a simple idea taken from the study "Global Cooling: Increasing World-wide Urban Albedo to Offset CO2" of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University ...

By Elizabeth Derby, GES Staffer About two weeks ago, I attended a viewing of Water Pressures on campus. It was a documentary about water conservation in rural India and featured a group of several Northwestern students who traveled to a small Indian village to help put in a better water system. Juxtaposing Northwestern's access to Lake Michigan with this rural Indian village's access to water from wells and small ponds, I was struck with the realization that we are pretty lucky.  We ...

By Rose Conry, GES Staffer While the rest of the world or at least the rest of the hallway prepared for the Harry Potter premiere, sporting Gryffindor colors and fake glasses, I opted for a quite different theatrical experience. Instead of transporting me to the twisting hallways of Hogwarts, the International Student Association screening of the 2009 film Ajami took me to the dangerous streets of the Israeli city Jaffa. Although equally unfamiliar to me of that of the wand-wielding wizards of Harry Potter, the setting and ...

I wanted to talk a little bit about the significance and history of the traditional techniques and designs that Y’abal uses and the implications of an organization like Y’abal. Traje, traditional Mayan clothing, is intricately embroidered huipiles (blouses) and colorfully woven skirts traditionally woven and worn primarily by women. Traje is worn almost exclusively by women---there has actually been an increase in the number of women who wear traje throughout the 20th century and a sharp decrease in the number of ...

Check out the origins of Y'abal Handicrafts: Y'abal Handicrafts Story

By Jeremy Intel, GES Staffer So I came across this article on an uber-cool website my friend showed me over the weekend. I suggest you all check it out if you have a general interest in LIFE! While reading the article, I thought to myself, “Is there ever such a thing as impartial third parties in investigative/journalistic reporting on controversial issues?” We are often bombarded, whether we like it or not, with opinions from high ranking officials, popular journalists, and even our ...

Recently, Northwestern alumni Will Butler of The Arcade Fire spoke at Northwestern as part of the Center for Civic Engagement's Civically Engaged Young Alumni Conference. He discussed the band's work with Partners in Health, the non-profit healthcare organization co-founded by influential global health leader Paul Farmer. For every ticket that the Arcade Fire sells, $1.00, £1.00, or €1.00 is added as a surcharge that gets donated to PIH. “The consumer doesn’t really notice it with Ticketmaster,” Butler jokingly explained, ...

Chapter 2: Think different Don't follow the safe path Five years ago when we founded “Talento & Emprendimiento”, we used to organize conventional social projects; such as sporting events, vocational conferences and volunteer work in schools and hospitals in the city of Arequipa (south of Peru). Years passed and we continued organizing similar projects. Two conferences of vocational guidance were organized in 2007 & 2008 and we couldn't managed to fill even half of the auditorium. Also, the other projects began to decline. ...