What is The Grandmother Project?
The Grandmother Project (GMP) is an international development organization working globally to improve the health and well being of women and children. GMP was officially registered in the U.S. in 2005 as a non-profit, non-governmental tax-exempt 501(c) (3) public charity by the US government.
GMP carries out its mission with support from a diverse group of people from across the globe who are committed to promoting the health and development of individuals and communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
GMP's History
The Grandmother Project grew out of a series of successful experiences involving grandmothers as resource persons in community health programs in Laos, Senegal, Mali, Uzbekistan, Albania and Mauritania. Eachexperience was carried out with different non-governmental organizations with the assistance of GMP resource persons. In each of these cases it was found that involving grandmothers contributed to increased results
and also to improving the perception of grandmothers on the part of both community members and of health and development workers. You can read about the experiences in each of those countries.
GMP was established in 2005 with the support of a group of professionals from around the globe, committed to promoting the health and development of communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
GMP's Vision
In all societies, grandmothers are valued and actively contribute to building healthy families and communities.GMP's Mission
To improve the health and well-being of women and children in developing countries by building the capacity of development partners to implement grandmother-inclusive and intergenerational community programs.GMP's Core Values
EQUALITY irrespective of gender, age, or ethnicitySOCIAL JUSTICE in all initiatives
RESPECT for positive cultural values, roles, and traditions
PARTICIATORY LEARNING in addressing community issues
COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT for bringing about change
SUSTAINABLE IMPACTS in all we do
GMP's objectives
We accomplish this mission by:* Providing support to development organizations and training institutions engaged in promoting the well being of children and women
* Training and coaching partner organizations in the use of grandmother inclusive and intergenerational approaches
* Developing guidelines and tools for development organizations and training institutions to include grandmother inclusive and intergenerational approaches in policies and programs
* Promoting the use of participatory adult education methods for community empowerment and capacity building
* Documenting lessons learned in grandmother inclusive and intergenerational programs and disseminating them in a variety of ways
* Increasing awareness of the importance of grandmother inclusive and intergenerational approaches in all development programs to improve the lives of women and children