To Our Readers,

The United Nations Population Fund recently picked a symbolic date on which the seventh billionth child would be born on Earth. Now, more than ever, countries understand the need to provide sustainable livelihoods that permit people to lead peaceful and fulfilling lives. Freedom from fear and want can be achieved with food, security and economic opportunities. This edition of Creative magazine provides a window on how we as an international development partner provide agile, thoughtful and workable approaches to supporting societies as they work to provide for livelihoods, better governance, education and skills.

Our feature article chronicles the extraordinary story of how Creative quietly helped the Colombian government extend legitimate governance and a licit and secure market economy in regions formerly under the control of guerilla groups financed by drug trafficking. The Initial Governance Response Program in Colombia’s Meta Department employed a comprehensive and inclusive approach to help reinstate governance structures to mitigate the economic drivers of insecurity. This is the story of how Creative worked with local producers, producer groups and communities to identify and, through real opportunities, overcome the sources of insecurity and instability that disrupted their ability to provide for their families.

Along with our coverage of the Colombia project, we also bring you reports about Creative’s livelihoods activities in Yemen and other good work on behalf of our project beneficiaries. Also, special to this issue we bring you a salute to the Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman by a courageous young Yemeni human rights advocate who is herself also seeking a better life for all Yemenis. We hope you will enjoy this edition’s feature articles with coverage of our livelihoods’ activities from Yemen to Afghanistan to the Americas.

Peace,

M. Charito Kruvant
President & CEO
Creative Associates International