News

Empowering Yesterday Cyclone Kenneth made landfall near Pemba in Mozambique, the second cyclone to hit Mozambique this season. Only one month ago, Jon and I traveled to Beira in central Mozambique in response to Cyclone Idai. Damage to road infrastructure meant that Beira was cut off from many parts of the country for several days,…

Children in their thousands are suffering significant abuse and stigmatisation, or even being killed, due to accusations of witchcraft against them. There are tens of thousands of cases, in many nations worldwide.

‘I’m not a witch’ is a powerful, new short film produced by Congolese film maker, Tshoper Kabambi, designed to promote awareness of the problem.

Our partner, Seva, working among tribal people in Maharashtra had gone to distribute SD cards for latest audio programmes for the ‘speaker boxes’ when they discovered the community in Kahandol in great distress due to lack of water. They found people desperately trying to dig pits to find water, but with little effect. Seva’s Chief Executive, Shilpa Shinde said they had to do something to alleviate the community’s distress.

In Australia, 1 in 6 women have experienced physical or sexual violence and 1 in 5 have been sexually assaulted or threatened. These statistics are even more alarming at the local level. So in response to this, the Geraldton community joined together to make a stand together to say violence is never okay.

After only one month, the ‘Kickout Teenage Pregnancy” campaign (Piga teke mimba za mapema in Swahili) by HCR partner-station Amani FM in eastern Kenya, has been so successful, the call-in lines are jammed.  The team has been hosting talk shows, call-in programmes and getting out and about in the schools of Tana River County, to promote awareness of underage pregnancy.

Last week, Dane and I provided radio training at a camp for high achieving 10- and 11-year-old students who live in rural communities throughout the Mid West and Gascoyne. One student living on the coast in an area where many tourists visit developed this CSA around protecting coral and reef systems. We have never come across anyone so expressive! 

HCR (now Amplifying Voices UK) joins with the AVS (Amplifying Voices through SALT) Project in Sierra Leone to celebrate 3 years of strengthening communities and locally generated action with a big vision for the future. There is much to celebrate! The project is actively working in 7 communities in Freetown with a strong group of…

In Australia, we are extremely lucky to have public education for all children, which is why it might sound surprising that in some communities, there are children missing out on years of school or even their entire schooling. This has huge ramifications for their future abilities to live a fulfilling purposeful life.

“Only 28 days until the water runs out”, says Patil Ramdas Warde, the leader of a village in Maharashtra. Such is the plight of many tribal communities across the county. The lack of rain has led to major crop failure. Eighty per cent of the rice plantations have failed to yield a harvest. As the Patil – meaning ‘village head’ – shared his worries with us, the need of the Adivasi Village Project became increasingly apparent.

Amplifying Voices is back in India! It’s been six months since Jon visited, and he’s excited to see the progress that Seva Social Welfare Foundation has made. Amplifying Voices, formerly HCR, is about journeying with partners as they build capacity, equipping local people to make a meaningful social impact within their communities. Just as Amplifying Voices is journeying with Seva (meaning ‘service’), I am journeying with Jon.