History of Global Service Corps

For GSC program details, see Newsletter Archive

1992     Global Service Corps began its work organizing village-based sustainable development short-term volunteer projects.

1993     GSC’s first project – In Costa Rica, GSC volunteer participants worked on a rainforest preservation and beach restoration program. Work continued in 10 Costa Rican communities in organic gardening, teaching English, health programs, sustainable development and rainforest preservation

1994     GSC expanded into Kenya with biointensive gardening projects, increasing the number of gardening beds in the region by almost 2,000. We also began a health education project with the focus on HIV/AIDS prevention education. These projects evolved into the Community Self-Help Program.

1995     GSC initiated a program in Thailand teaching English and working on rural village community projects.

GSC joined Earth Island Institute, founded by David Brower, the first executive director of the Sierra Club.

1996     GSC sponsored a sustainable agriculture project in Guatemala.

1998     GSC launched its college internship program in Tanzania in partnership with the University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY).

1999     GSC collaborated with the Brower Fund on the Global CPR (Conservation, Preservation and Restoration) Program in Costa Rica and Kenya. GSC started working with a Thai hospital and the Ministry of Education on education, public health, and cultural immersion programs.

2001     GSC launched HIV/AIDS and Sustainable Agriculture programs in Arusha, Tanzania. During the first 3 years GSC staff and volunteers trained approximately 3,000 youth and community members.

2002      GSC registered Global Service Corps-Tanzania as a Tanzanian International Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).

2004      GSC started a Fellowship program partnering with Tanzania Fellows and their local NGOs. This program trained 26,536 youth and community members in Tanzania and Malawi.

2005     GSC Thailand expanded the program to include language and culture lessons and an overnight Buddhist temple experience.

2007     GSC launched a Thai program bringing HIV/AIDS prevention and education training to 300 secondary school students and 45 teachers. The Tanzania Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security Program began assisting local farmers in marketing. In 2007-2008 2,427 community youth and adults were trained.

2008    GSC Cambodia Program was launched with began with HIV/AIDS Prevention Education, Orphanage Care and Teaching English service-learning programs.

2009    GSC launched the Thailand Buddhist Immersion-EFL program. GSC Tanzania received 5 years’ funding totaling $1.5 million from the USDA and the Mennonite Central Committee to expand its food security and HIV/AIDS Prevention work. Another project in Tanzania vaccinated nearly 1,000,000 chickens through an inoculation program for Newcastle Disease, which kills 70% of the chickens belonging to poor households that rely on chickens for food and income. GSC staff and volunteers also trained rural households to establish home gardens, rainwater collection tanks, build grain storage, immunize cattle, plant tree nurseries and establish conservation agriculture methods.

2010    GSC moved its Tanzania office to a larger facility in Arusha with work spaces, training areas, and demonstration plots utilized by our expanding Tanzanian staff, which grew to 35 members. In collaboration with SUNY Albany, GSC launched a 15 week, 15 credit semester program in Tanzania.

2008 – 2012     GSC – Tanzania trained 17,926 rural youth and adult community members.

2013     GSC launched its second 15-credit semester program in Cambodia in collaboration with SUNY Albany and Pannasastra University in Phnom Penh. 

2013 – 2015     GSC Tanzania trained 18,355 rural Tanzanians in HIV/AIDS prevention, nutrition and sustainable agriculture – food security through a $300,000 USAID sub-grant with Fintrac.

2015     GSC became a free standing project of GSC International, a 501(c)(3) non-profit. GSC concluded its work of 14 years in Tanzania. 60,975 Tanzania and Malawi community members had been trained through the GSC programs in that time.

2016     GSC was approved by the Cuban Government to run a pilot project trip teaching English at the University of Matanzas. The Cuban government decided not to allow US organizations to work within institutions of higher learning. Along with a number of other organizations planning to work with Cuban universities, GSC was unable to continue this work.

2017     GSC expanded its work in Cambodia by partnering with a local NGO to provide assistance to disadvantaged children at a Phnom Penh feeding center and orphanage.

2018    GSC Executive and Associate Directors hosted a team of two Master’s Degree students, a retired master public health nurse and a Professor of Public Health in Cambodia. The team helped further develop our Public Health, Leadership and English Training Programs at a province high school of 1200 students.  GSC also launched the Meditation Buddhist Immersion/Teaching English Program in a large historical wat north of Phnom Penh.

2020 GSC paused the Cambodia Program due to the COVID outbreak.

2020 – 2021 GSC launched the CoGenerations and the Collaborative Online Domestic and International Service-Learning (CODIS-L) Program pilot projects.

2022 GSC launched the Ukraine Project and the Drop-in Cafe Conversation Clubs.

Over the course of the development of GSC, the organization has benefited from the efforts of regular and volunteer staff members. One of the major reasons for the initiation of this organization was to provide opportunities for adults to learn about and become more actively involved in addressing our many global issues. GSC will continue to emphasize volunteer and intern service-learning opportunities, both at our headquarters office and in the field as opportunities become increasingly available.

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