BALTIMORE, Oct. 7, 2021 — Lutheran World Relief was awarded a $500,000 expansion grant by The Starbucks Foundation to fund the Multisectoral Collaboration for Inclusive Health & Opportunities for Women (MECIHO) project that will empower women and improve the health, hygiene and living conditions of households and communities in Indonesia.
The three-year grant extends the work of Lutheran World Relief's Kopi Nande: Women-Led Community Health and Hygiene project, made possible by funding from The Starbucks Foundation from 2018 to 2021 in Karo, North Sumatra. The Kopi Nande project empowered women to have greater agency over local governance, improved household and community sanitation, and created a knowledge-sharing space for advancing water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) goals in communities.
Through the MECIHO project, Lutheran World Relief will expand women's leadership and civic engagement and improve mechanisms and services that support the advancement of healthier homes and improved living conditions. Complementing the Indonesian government’s nutrition and stunting interventions, the MECIHO project responds to significant needs in coffee-growing communities in Karo where one in four households lack clean water, sanitation challenges endanger public health and current systems of local governance regularly exclude women.
Lutheran World Relief has already supported nearly 30,000 people through Kopi Nande. MECIHO, which translates to "clean" in the local dialect, will impact a further 25,000 lives.
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About Lutheran World Relief
Founded in 1945, Lutheran World Relief collaborates with local partners to grow inclusive and climate resilient rural economies, reduce poverty, and respond to emergencies and humanitarian crises. Lutheran World Relief works in concert with Corus International, an ensemble of faith-based organizations working together in the world’s most fragile settings to deliver the holistic, lasting solutions needed to overcome the interconnected challenges of poverty, health care access and climate change.
Contact:
Rick Peyser, Senior Relationship Manager, Coffee & Cocoa
@email
