Meet Marta Adelia Cruz de Maravilla, a true force of strength and leadership in her rural community of Condadillo, El Salvador. 💪
Through the SOS program, Marta and her neighbors are transforming how they prepare for and respond to disasters like droughts, storms, and even forest fires. From leading her local emergency committee to rallying her community during a fire, Marta proves that preparedness saves lives and livelihoods.
Thanks to training, tools, and teamwork, her community is now stronger, safer, and more connected than ever.
📖 Read Marta’s story and see how she’s inspiring the next generation of resilience builders in her community: https://bit.ly/3KGCqsA
12/13/2025
🤝🏾 Ecobank Côte d'Ivoire and Corus International have signed a new agreement to strengthen agricultural cooperatives across West Africa — from cocoa to cashew to food crops. 🌱
Together, we’re investing in better cooperative governance, stronger financial access, and greater opportunities for the farmers who power these value chains.
A pilot in Côte d’Ivoire and Togo will reach 50 cooperatives in the next year, with plans to scale to 300.
On this final day of 16 Days of Activism, and on International Human Rights Day, we honor the women and girls in Ukraine whose safety and dignity continue to be threatened by the war. Their courage is the force that holds communities together and drives this work forward.
Over the past two weeks, Corus and our partners stood alongside local leaders, volunteers and survivors as they created spaces to speak openly, share experiences and strengthen pathways to support. Public exhibitions lifted survivor stories into view, community dialogues brought difficult truths to the surface and outreach teams helped people connect with care in moments of real need.
These efforts were rooted in one belief. Every woman and girl deserves to be safe, heard and supported, even in the midst of conflict.
Massive flooding and mudslides as seen in North Sumatra, Indonesia.
The devastating floods and mudslides caused by deadly storms have brought immense loss and hardship to communities in Indonesia’s Aceh, West Sumatra, and North Sumatra districts. Hundreds have died, more than 1.1 million displaced and infrastructure has been extensively damaged. Power and internet outages as well as blocked roads have cut off thousands of affected residents from accessing much-needed services and care.
Corus International is responding in collaboration with a trusted network of five local partner organizations, focusing on the hardest-hit areas, especially Humbahas in North Sumatra. We are also working closely with local authorities, including Indonesia’s Ministry of Home Affairs to expand our operations as needs grow.
Our emergency response and country teams are preparing a response, which will likely include urgent health care and mobile health clinics, disease prevention and distribution of essential items for those who have lost everything.
As the situation evolves, and more is known, we will provide psychosocial support and clean water, sanitation and hygiene services if necessary.
Given our long history of supporting coffee and cocoa producer communities in Indonesia, helping them restore their livelihoods after the severe losses caused by this disaster will be a key priority moving forward.
She is a successful entrepreneur with her own tailor shop in Bardiya, Nepal. She is also a survivor of domestic violence.
After enduring four years of abuse from her husband, Nasrin made the brave decision to leave. Determined to build a stable future for herself and her young daughter, Nasrin enrolled in the Youth and Women Entrepreneurship Development Project, led by Corus organization Lutheran World Relief.
Through the project, Nasrin learned tailoring, sewing machine repair, and business management skills. She launched a tailoring business with a fellow participant and now earns enough to support herself and her daughter. She has achieved economic independence and the freedom to make the decisions she believes are best for her life. ️
⬇️ Hear Nasrin tell her story below — how she protected her daughter, transformed her future, and became a successful entrepreneur in Nepal.
11/20/2025
🌍👩🏾🌾 When women have equitable access to the necessities for agriculture — including inputs, financing, and training — entire communities become more resilient. That’s why Corus has partnered with women farmers around the globe for more than 70 years.
We’re fueled by the expertise of our rural development organization, Lutheran World Relief, and by our impact-investing arm, Ground Up Investing. We back women-led and women-employing agribusinesses to help close systemic gaps.
As we mark the International Year of the Woman Farmer, we’re proud to honor their leadership and reaffirm our commitment to investing in their success. We look forward to contributing to the NASDA working group and information hub, where we will continue to amplify women farmers' stories and advance prosperous partnerships for women farmers in the U.S. and around the world.
Press Release ARLINGTON, Va. — The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture along with 15 members of an International Year of the Woman Farmer working group launched an information hub dedicated to celebrating and advancing women in agriculture. The site debuted Oct. 15, the Intern...
11/19/2025
Across the globe, Corus International joins with committed partners that work tirelessly for a safer, stronger, and more prosperous future — including Partners for Good and JHCO. Together, we deliver lifesaving aid and drive lasting solutions where they’re needed most, even in the most fragile and complex environments.
Stronger collaboration means deeper, more systemic impact. That’s why Corus remains committed to working with and continues to seek new trusted, dedicated partners who share our commitment to a more equitable world.
Corus Sr. Strategic Advisor May Salameh recently visited JHCO to explore new opportunities to strengthen our cooperation and support communities in need.
We are grateful to JHCO for their hospitality and look forward to continuing to grow our partnership for greater impact in Jordan and the region.
11/14/2025
💬 “One of the key messages [of MSS 2025] was the power of networks and how they’re evolving into new ways of connecting as systems and spaces change.”
— Cathy Phiri, Corus Senior Director for Technical Services – Market Systems
As the development landscape continues to shift, Corus and Lutheran World Relief were eager to join market systems actors, policymakers, and fellow development practitioners at this year’s Market Systems Symposium in Durban 🇿🇦 to discuss ways to adapt, innovate and drive systemic change together. 🌍🤝
💭 “Being here with grassroots players—farmers, cooperatives and market actors—and hearing their realities firsthand was invaluable... It’s how we stay connected, adjust our thinking and redeploy our strategies for greater impact.”
— Mahmoud Bah, Corus Chief Operating Officer
Rigorous evaluation isn’t easy in fragile, conflict-affected settings — but it can inform how we can save more lives in a crisis.
From Nov. 2023-2024, Corus organization Lutheran World Relief implemented an emergency nutrition program for malnourished children under 5 in Mali, funded by the Gates Foundation. Committed to generating and sharing high-quality evidence on what works in humanitarian crisis response, we are pleased to share this new evaluation of our programming.
📋 About the evaluation
Conducted across 9 health facilities in Gao and Tombouctou, this mixed-methods study reviewed 1,806 child treatment records and conducted 36 caregiver interviews to assess outcomes against Sphere international standards. Despite operating amid conflict, displacement, and flooding, data verification achieved 99% accuracy—a rare benchmark in humanitarian programming evaluation.
📊 Key results
✅ 97.3% recovery rate — surpassing the 75% Sphere standard
✅ Zero mortality and only 1% dropout
✅ Median recovery time of 28 days — significantly faster than regional averages
✅ 97% adherence to follow-up visits — achieved without incentives
✅ Universal caregiver satisfaction with health care staff
✅ 80% of caregivers reported improved trust and ongoing use of health services
🔎 Next steps
Recommendations include scaling the integrated humanitarian response model that drives demand for quality local health services, digitizing facility records, engaging men in health care decisions, and supporting local production and testing of nutrition supplements to enhance sustainability and health outcomes.
🧠 Why it matters
This evaluation provides robust evidence that integrated service delivery—combining therapeutic feeding, food vouchers, counseling, and community engagement—can accelerate recovery and strengthen health systems. It also demonstrates the feasibility of rigorous monitoring, data integrity, and ethical evaluation in emergency contexts.
From health to employment, lasting change happens when business, government, and civil society work together.
Corus organization Lutheran World Relief recently joined partners from the pharmaceutical industry, private enterprise, and public institutions in Honduras to explore how cross-sector collaboration can strengthen community health systems, expand youth employment opportunities, and drive shared economic growth across Central America.
Through innovative initiatives ranging from an integrated workforce wellness and hiring app to partnerships with the pharmaceutical sector, we’re connecting purpose with possibility—creating sustainable pathways out of poverty and toward opportunity.
💬 “Our goal is to generate sustainable value through strong partnerships that boost both employability and entrepreneurship.” — Galo Quizanga, Managing Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Corus International
🔗 Read more about how these partnerships are shaping a more resilient future in Central America: https://bit.ly/49vDbyx
10/30/2025
This week, Corus was pleased to participate in the Market Systems Symposium 2025 in Durban, South Africa, hosted by the Vikāra Institute. Bringing together nearly 200 participants from 40 countries, the event explored how those seeking to positively impact market systems can adapt to a rapidly shifting development landscape.
Our Chief Operating Officer, Mahmoud Bah, opened the first panel with an insightful discussion on how international development organizations must evolve toward more sustainable models. He highlighted three essential shifts for success:
1️⃣ Political and Country Ownership – Building an enabling environment for efficient market systems.
2️⃣ Capacity Building – Empowering individuals, cooperatives and small businesses to engage effectively with market actors.
3️⃣ Networking and Collaboration – Strengthening connections among all market participants, including between buyers and sellers.
Later, during a session on business development services (BDS), Cathy Phiri, our Sr. Director for Technical Services - Market Systems, shared Corus’ innovative Producer Enterprise Agent (PEA) model. The PEA model can be used to employ local community members, especially women and young adults, to provide agricultural extension services in fragile contexts. Learn more about the PEA model: https://bit.ly/3WwHT7z
💡We’re inspired by the ideas and partnerships that emerged at and look forward to continuing the conversation next year!
10/29/2025
Big thanks to the organizers and all fellow participants at the African Cocoa Summit & Awards for the important conversations on how we build a sustainable African cocoa ecosystem. 🌍 🍫
From discussions on digital traceability and low-carbon financing to research on resilience and cocoa economics, the Summit reinforced that collaboration, data-driven solutions, and farmer empowerment are key to shaping a fair and thriving cocoa future.
We’re grateful to have had the opportunity to share our ongoing work in strengthening cocoa value chains and traceability systems across Africa—and to continue learning from and partnering with others to advance this vital mission at the Summit.
🤝🏾 Together, we can ensure that Africa’s cocoa is fair, traceable, value-driven, and centered around farmers.
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In August 2016, a wave of violence swept through IMA World Health’s project regions in the Democratic Republic of Congo. More than 3 million people were affected, and several health centers we support shut down due to mass population displacement. Yet we met or even exceeded annual targets for several important health services. Thanks to our longstanding relationships with local chiefs, we even negotiated the passage of medicines for resupplying health zones that were cut off from receiving supplies for many months.
When famine struck in South Sudan, IMA’s longstanding relationships with local partners helped to ensure rapid access to emergency care for those facing imminent starvation. Our presence in the world’s youngest country has survived this famine, the ravages of war and extreme drought since 2009.
IMA World Health works in some of the world’s most fragile areas, where stability can be fleeting and there are no guarantees. A devastating hurricane in Haiti or violence in eastern DRC could have forced us to pack up and leave.
We didn’t. Our projects overcome because the people overcome. Person by person and community by community, together we rebuild, we reconvene, we rediscover hope again and again. We are able to continue operating in these fragile places because we invest in each community we serve. We are committed to change that lasts. This is resilience, and we believe IMA’s best work is in empowering individuals and communities with skills and tools to turn this ineffable quality into real-world solutions for overcoming their health challenges.
In our 2017 Annual Report, we present some of the highlights of IMA’s work the past year. As you read, we encourage you to look beyond the numbers to see how IMA is building resilience to create lasting impact in the communities we serve. Please know we are deeply grateful for how you, our donors and partners, share in our vision and make this work possible.
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