ADRA STP Page Ranking

According to Techweb.com page ranking defines as "...the priority given to the placement of a link on the results page of a Web search." ADRA STP is proud to present a site report given by Netcraft.com the page rank of 6,147,835. We are hoping to increase the web popularity in order to promote awareness to fight poverty and promote development in Sao Tome and Principe.

AWARE Reinforces Local NGO's

Reinforcing the capacity of local NGO's was built into the scope of the AWARE Project, which is funded by USAID and implemented by ADRA-STP. "While there is a considerable number of NGO’s (81) registered in the National Federation of NGO’s (FONG), one of the major setbacks in the fight against poverty and promotion of development in São Tomé and Príncipe is the reduced number of NGO’s with capacity to implement effective programs, especially in the health sector," writes Emanuel G. Costa, Country Director for ADRA-STP and one of the primary authors of the AWARE Project. To address this, the AWARE project organized three training sessions for local NGO's in August: one in Project Proposal, one in Monitoring and Evaluation, and one in Financial Management. More than 25 local NGO's sent representatives to the training sessions. AWARE contracted several professional consulting agencies to conduct the trainings, which were attended by over 30 people on most days.

But reinforcement of capacity doesn't stop with trainings. "I am very happy to announce that we will be entering into partnership with four local NGO's as a result of these trainings," writes Dr. Adam D. Kiš, AWARE Project Director. "We have set aside funds within our budget to be awarded as subgrants to local NGO's, who will use the funds to help achieve specific AWARE Project objectives, such as constructing community health posts. Now, because of the training sessions provided by AWARE, these NGO's have been empowered to write good proposals and will have practical opportunities to practice good financial management and monitoring and evalution through implementing their subgrant activities."

At the end of the final training session, a certification ceremony was held to acknowledge the efforts and accomplishments of all involved. The ceremony was covered in the news by the national television company, and this news coverage can be viewed in the video clip at the top of this blog entry. If the embedded video is not working, you can click here to view it in a separate browser window.

NOTICE: This video clip was purchased by ADRA-STP (the Adventist Development and Relief Agency – São Tomé e Príncipe) with USAID/AWARE funds (the United States Agency for International Development/Action for West Africa Region Project) from TVS (Televisão Sãotomense), the national television company of São Tomé e Príncipe. ADRA-STP wishes to give full credit to TVS for filming all parts of the video clip, and for cropping, deleting, editing, narrating, and otherwise formatting the final content of this video clip.

AWARE Project Receives Donation

ADRA STP's AWARE-RH Project (Action for West Africa Region - Reproductive Health) recently received a large donation of medical equipment (valued at nearly $25,000) from the AWARE-RH headquarters. Funded by USAID (US Agency for International Development) and implemented through AWARE-RH and EngenderHealth, ADRA STP's AWARE-RH Project aims to rehabilitate sagging health clinics, construct new clinics in areas without one, and boost the quality of healthcare received through providing health skills refresher training and sustainable employment to health clinic workers.

This shipment is the final piece of the puzzle that enables the AWARE-RH Project to inaugurate and open the Ribeira Peixe Health Post, which was built many years ago, but languished without the finishing touches necessary to operate. Part of this shipment will also go to bolster the functionality of Hospital Dr. Manuel Quaresma Dias da Graça, the only hospital on Príncipe island. "We are deeply grateful for this generous donation," writes the AWARE-RH Project Director for ADRA STP, Dr. Adam D. Kiš. "This equipment is very badly needed in our intervention areas, and we would have had to pay exorbitantly for what we received as a free gift instead."

10,004 Website Visits

ADRA STP website started around November 8, 2006 with an "Under Construction" sign. As the months progressed, we kept track of who placed a mark on our map. Each time a new dot was placed on the map overwhelmed us with happiness.

As of today, July 3, 2007, ADRA STP website is proud to announce 10,004 visitors and would like to thank all those who have made this happen. In commemoration of this event, we have created a new look to make your next visit more memorable.

The image that is placed with this article, is the official print screen image of our valued 10,004 visitors to our website. Again, we thank you for making this happen. We hope to see you with us soon and we appreciate your comments/suggestions. You can comment by either commenting on our articles or signing our guestbook.

STP welcomes new project director

ADRA STP announces the arrival of the Project Director for the AWARE project, part of a regional USAID/AWARE program. “We are delighted to welcome Adam, his wife Kristi and their son Zachary into the ADRA STP family. Adam has the skills to successfully lead our main project and contribute greatly to the overall mission of our office.” says Emanuel Costa, country director for ADRA Sao Tome and Principe.

Adam and his family - first day in Sao Tome

Adam Daniel Kiš, the new Project Director for the USAID/AWARE health project in São Tomé and Príncipe, has previously worked in Benin with Adventist Frontier Missions (student missionary), Malawi with the University of Florida (Master’s research on AIDS), and Guinea (Conakry) with ADRA (Deputy Country Director and HIV/AIDS Technical Assistant) and the University of Florida (doctoral dissertation research on AIDS). Adam received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Florida in May 2007. Adam has also taught anthropology courses as a contract teacher at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. His wife, Kristi, grew up in Malawi for 13 years as a missionary kid; their 21-month-old son, Zachary, will be the fourth generation family member to grow up overseas while his parents work for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. “We are excited to be here in São Tomé and Príncipe and are eager to work for ADRA,” Adam writes. “We look forward to collaborating with local officials to achieve the goals of the AWARE project and to increasing the capacity of people living and working in Caué and Príncipe to serve their communities better.”

Promoting Beans

As a response to ADRA's rural Magazine, “Actividade Rural”, three communities started a pilot experience with beans production.

Small farmer signing a contract and taking ownership over the intervention

“Actividade Rural” is a quarterly, high quality, glossy magazine, published since June 2004, with its main objective the promotion of the exchange of information between small farmers in the rural communities of Sao Tome and Principe. This intervention is completed by a National Radio program and provides field technical support to small farmers. This intervention is financed by ADRA Canada (http://www.adra.ca/).

The interest created in several small farmers, as a response to articles published in magazine Number 7, led ADRA to choose 3 neighbor communities to be supported (Plancas Primeira, Plancas Segunda and Santa Luzia) with around 25 Kg of been seeds. This will cover a total cultivated area of 4 hectares with a potential production of 1.5 Tones of beans. The actual price of beans is around USD 1.9 per kilogram, having an attractive potential income for the farmers involved. If this experience is well succeeded it will be enlarged in amount of support and in number of communities involved.

The most recent magazine, covering the months of April to June 2007, promotes and teaches techniques to improve the cultures of avocado and peanut; equally are promoted the use of vitamin A, the protection of the environment and apiculture. In the first quarter of 2007, 94 workshops were held and 24 communities benefited from technical expertise, over 1800 persons participated in the ADRA program during that quarter.

Worker's Day at ADRA

May 1st, the International Worker’s Day or Day of the International Solidarity of Workers, was marked by a tea party, promoted by the Event Committee of ADRA STP.

As the representative of the Event Committee, Conceição Agatti, explained in the opening speech, “… the objectives of this tea party are to promote the unity between coworkers so we can be not only colleagues but an ADRA family.”

ADRA STP Event Committee

The event was held in a brand new ADRA compound space, an open hall with multipurpose objectives such as recreation, workshops and meetings.

ADRA STP coumpound - the red circle identifies the new multipurpose space