2023-24 Annual Report
Cuso International
Skills to Share.
Futures to Build.
Our Vision is an equitable, inclusive, and sustainable world where all people are treated with dignity and can participate fully in society.
Our Mission is to share skills for better futures.
Our values: Accountability. Inclusion. Courage. Sustainability.
Made with Visme
Message from the CEO and Co-Chairs
This past year has been dynamic, with many changes happening around the organization as well as our sector.
On the road of the transformations outlined in our Strategic Plan, in 2023-2024, we secured funding to deliver more programs in partnership with local organizations. This included Building Bricks, which is increasing advocacy and access to programs for the LGBTQIA+ community in the Caribbean, and a cost-extension of our U-GIRLS2 project, supporting more girls to pursue their educational goals in Ethiopia.
A second phase of the successful Women’s Voice and Leadership project in Peru is also in progress and a new Northern Indigenous Program in Canada has been launched.
We invite you to read about some of the many key initiatives we undertook this year. These include supporting inclusive and economic growth in the Democratic Republic of Congo; advancing gender equality in Peru; providing business training and supports to refugees in Nigeria; and a new program CORE, which is providing technical assistance around climate action in the Caribbean.
We also celebrated the achievements of our Sustainable Colombian Opportunities for Peacebuilding and Employment (SCOPE) project, which concluded after nine successful years. We remain firmly committed to supporting refugees in Colombia, thanks to the invaluable support of UNHCR. The ongoing instability in Venezuela and the escalating migration crisis across Latin America is deeply concerning. We stand in solidarity with the Venezuelan people, and through our SCOPE program, thousands of women, youth, conflict survivors, and Venezuelan migrants have found hope and stability through formal employment opportunities. Together, we are fostering resilience and transforming lives in the face of adversity.
This year, Cuso International allocated a significant additional sum from its unrestricted funds to support the delivery of our Volunteer Cooperation Program (a program funded by Global Affairs Canada). This decision was made to reduce Cuso’s future cash match commitments on the program. On our financial statements, this investment in the volunteer program is why Cuso presents an operational deficit of $2.4 million for the year ended March 2024. Thanks to years of prudent financial management, we are in a strong financial position to make this commitment to our volunteer cooperation program and expect to return to a balanced budget in the 2024/25 fiscal year.
Thanks to the unwavering support from our partners, volunteers, donors, and our teams around the world, Cuso International will continue to deliver programs to marginalized people.
The internal changes, new investments and capacity put in place over the last year ensure our work will continue for many years to come.
As we look to Cuso International’s next chapter, we are determined to continue to build even more inclusive and sustainable communities. We are grateful for your ongoing support as we continue this journey.
Sincerely,
Nicolas Moyer
Chief Executive Officer
Lucie Edwards
Co-Chair
Darrell Gregersen
Co-Chair
Cuso's focus areas in 2023-24
Supporting Indigenous Communities
Cuso International’s program in Canada supports Indigenous Peoples in communities in the Northwest Territories, working with students to help improve their self-confidence and school attendance.
In 2023-2024, Cuso embarked on a journey with VIDEA to engage First Nations, Inuit, Métis, rural and urban, communities across Canada. The main goal of this partnership was to create a strategy for the Canadian Program that incorporated Indigenous voices, achieved primarily through a series of conversations in several Indigenous communities on Turtle Island. We gained valuable insights and are deeply grateful to the elders, youth, and community members who generously shared their time and knowledge.
Talents Pluriels
Talents Pluriels supports youth, particularly young women and LGBTQ2I youth, like André Nduaya by creating economic opportunities, improving safe, inclusive and gender-responsive work environments, and building community awareness about the situation of marginalized communities.
Women’s Voice and Leadership
Started in 2019, our Women’s Voice and Leadership project has been working to advance gender equality in Peru. For Dina, the program has supported her in growing her small crop in a sustainable way. She sells her produce at the market and earns her own income. She also gets to connect and socialize with other women in the community.
SKILLS
Since 2017, the ongoing conflict in Cameroon has caused thousands of people to flee their homes to neighbouring Nigeria, including Annette.
Cuso International’s Skills for Improvement of Lives and Livelihoods for Refugees (SKILLS) project, in partnership with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), provides training in business development, entrepreneurship, and vocational and technical skills. Additionally, participants receive starter kits to support their businesses.
CORE
Started in 2023, the Caribbean Organizations for a Resilient Environment (CORE) project aims to provide technical assistance to National Conservation Trust Funds (NCTFs) around the region through Canadian volunteers in areas of gender equality main-streaming; monitoring and evaluation and organizational sustainability.
SHARE
Initiated in 2020 and funded by Global Affairs Canada, Cuso International Sharing Canadian Expertise for Inclusive Development and Gender Equality (SHARE) program helps improve the economic and/or social well-being of marginalized and vulnerable people.
In Cameroon, SHARE program TechWomen Factory is supporting women like Habiba. During her training, Habiba succeeded in applying digital technology in the health sector, where she worked on an application to predict the risk of preeclampsia or eclampsia in pregnant women. Techwomen Factory also gave her additional skills to design applications that will generate, store and analyse data.
SCOPE
After nine years helping women, youth, victims of conflict, and Venezuelan migrants find formal employment, Cuso Inter-national’s Sustainable Colombian Opportunities for Peacebuilding and Employment (SCOPE) project will conclude at the end of March.
Cuso International's Reach and Impact
Latin America and the Caribbean: Colombia, Jamaica, Honduras, Peru, Dominica, Ecuador, Grenada, St. Lucia, Saint Vincent and The Grenadines
Africa: Benin, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania
Canada: Northwest Territories
Financials
Thanks to your strong support and generosity, Cuso International’s financial position provides us with a secure basis for our work.
Why I Volunteer
Edith Chan, moved from Australia to Vancouver in 2016, before work brought her to Toronto. Now, she is working with Cuso International partner the Abilities Foundation in Jamaica, has been working as a project support officer, helping with daily operations, doing a lot of things related to audit process flow, financial mapping and operational mapping.
Abilities Foundation is a vocational school for people with disabilities, helping to bridge the gap and become trained, employable and independent.
Edith has also been teaching music, which has allowed her to interact more with the students, an opportunity she feels blessed to have.
“Because I'm able to see them daily, it really, for me anyway, makes such a huge difference to work directly with them.
Why I Give
Jenni started supporting Cuso International after traveling to India, Bangladesh and Nepal in the 1970s and 80s. Seeing the reality of lives there, she said it became clear how fortunate she was. Tom first heard of Cuso in university. Years later, knowing Jenni had been donating to Cuso, Tom felt the organization, along with a few others, was a good way to help developing countries.
Donating has now become routine for Tom and Jenni, who say Cuso’s mission and vision, as well as working with people and meeting the needs on the ground, make them want to continue donating to the organization.
After doing a lot of saving while living comfortably and modestly, Tom and Jenni feel fortunate to be able to now donate stocks and shares.
“By donating shares that have high capital gains, I can leverage the donation that I’m giving. I can essentially give more money than I might otherwise have given,” said Tom.