Local initiatives, grassroots movements, and neighbors coming together to build something better.
In southern Zimbabwe, a UNDP and Green Climate Fund project has reached 229,414 women directly. Earth augers and threshers cut their farm workload by a reported 76%, and women now hold about half the seats on irrigation committees.
In Kyrgyzstan's Ferghana Valley, a UNDP project led by women has restored more than 22 km of irrigation and installed 204 drip systems, benefiting 3,980 people where 77% of residents had faced conflicts over water.
In Prey Veng, five 16-year-old volunteers have taught about 1,300 primary schoolchildren about healthy food and persuaded snack vendors to drop banned products, through a UNICEF-backed youth program that has reached 50,000 students.
Project Sinxay, run by the Lao Youth Union with UNICEF, has now reached more than 7,000 young people in seven provinces, up from just over 1,000 a year ago. Its youth-led projects range from rice-straw products to campaigns against child marriage.
In February, 27-year-old Bounpanh Chaleunsin started picking up one bag of trash a day on the Mekong riverbank in Pakse. One Bag A Day now has about 400 members and groups in 13 provinces of Laos.
In Berehale, a town in Ethiopia's Afar region, 900 families now have water connected to their homes through a solar-pumped network for refugees and host communities, supported by UNICEF under the Dutch-funded PROSPECTS partnership.
An Australia-funded UNDP recovery project in Thái Nguyên province has built 20 flood-resilient homes, repaired 100 more and given cash aid to 1,340 households after the 2025 typhoons Bualoi and Matmo.
Six of eight planned solar-powered community water points are complete in Garissa County, Kenya, bringing water closer to homes and livestock in Yumbis, Labisigale, Hagadera and Welher.
In Mzogole, Tanzania, a solar-powered water treatment system now supplies community taps, the health clinic and the local school, so Salome no longer walks a kilometer each day to collect water.
UK charity Hope Spring Water has completed a borehole in Angwan Kyauta, Nasarawa State, so more than 500 residents no longer need to walk to distant streams, and children can get to school on time.
Cape Recife High School, a special needs school in the Eastern Cape, won South Africa's 2026 Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition with a device that turns plastic bottles into 3D-printer filament for sports gear.
In Kolofata, in Cameroon's Far North Region, a UNDP and KSrelief program is teaching trades from solar installation and water-pump repair to tailoring and catering to people rebuilding their lives after insecurity.
Young people from 18 of Papua New Guinea's 22 provinces drew up the country's first Youth Climate Manifesto and presented it to government officials in Port Moresby.
Moldova's new EduResurse platform gathers textbooks, lesson plans, videos, exercises and exam materials for every school level in one free website, built by UNICEF and the education ministry with EU support.
Since St Martins High School in Lesotho’s Mokhotlong district was connected to solar power, its 170 students can study early in the morning and after sunset, and teachers can use laptops and online resources.
Seven prototype Living Coast signs unveiled in Hermanus combine Braille, large print, seated-height access, several languages and audio guides, the start of a planned national series of 97 accessible coastal signs.
Today FM's first Power Hour campaign raised €500,000 for the Jack and Jill Children's Foundation, enough for 25,000 hours of in-home nursing care and respite for families of children with complex medical needs across Ireland.
Young Musicians Unite runs free in-school and after-school music classes in 131 Miami-Dade public schools and counts 21,166 students this school year, more than double the 9,000 it served in 2024-25.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2483 on 28 September. It standardizes the credentials earned in California's prison fire camps and gives formerly incarcerated firefighters hiring priority for some entry-level Cal Fire jobs, without guaranteeing a job.
Since 1 October, landlords in Washington DC may not refuse a tenant's dog, or charge more for it, because of its breed, size or weight. It is the last part of "Roscoe's Law," which already caps pet deposits and pet rent.
In 2018, Payton Obert raised $768 at a lemonade stand to buy toys for hospital patients. Eight years later, Payton’s Lemonade Stand has raised more than $5 million in cash and donated goods for children in Greater Cincinnati.
Days after the Nashville Symphony suspended its season over a $10 million budget gap, Oracle pledged $10 million so the orchestra can reinstate its 2026-27 season and recall the musicians and staff who faced furlough.
Kevin Sinfield ran seven ultramarathons in seven days, visiting all 12 Super League clubs before finishing at Old Trafford on October 3, in the last of his annual challenges for motor neurone disease charities.
The 18th Burgers to Beat MS campaign raised $1.56 million for MS Canada this summer, bringing the partnership's total close to $25 million. Canada has one of the highest MS rates in the world.
About our community coverage
Community stories are about people improving life where they live: a village getting clean water, a school wired for solar power, students winning a science prize, neighbors and local groups solving a problem together. Many come from small organizations and local governments that rarely reach international news.
We look for a concrete result, such as a borehole handed over, a program that has reached a set number of people or a law that has passed, rather than an announcement alone. Where a story comes from a charity's or government's own release, we say so, and we report planned reach separately from what has already been delivered.