Search Nonprofits

The Center for Renewable Energy and Appropriate Technology for the Environment (CREATE!) was established in 2008 to help rural populations in the developing world prepare for water, food, and fuel shortages resulting from the impact of climate change on their communities. CREATE! operates on the principle that all people have a right to water, food, shelter, energy, and the means to earn a living. We work with village populations to meet these needs through a culturally respectful, participatory process grounded in our belief that people must have a stake in their development and contribute towards solving their own problems. The cooperative groups in our beneficiary villages have already demonstrated the validity of this approach. CREATE! currently operates in Senegal. Senegal is representative of many Sub-Saharan African countries that are hardest hit by the increasingly disastrous effects of global climate change. CREATE! responds to the inter-connected crises generated by climate change with strategies that decrease dependence on fossil fuels, conserve natural resources, and increase the use of appropriate technologies. Our programs produce sustainable, human needs-based development at the village level while forging resilient and vibrant communities across rural Senegal. CREATE! seeks to face these challenges and assist rural Senegalese residents with small-scale, accessible, and "appropriate" technologies - technologies that are adapted to, and fit, their local conditions - and with human needs-based strategies that can both better their lives and build their capacity to meet these inter-connected challenges. CREATE! works in six villages in two regions of Senegal. One region is in the rural north of Senegal, centered around Linguere in the Louga Region, where CREATE! implements programs in the village of Ouarkhokh. The other region is in the central-west of Senegal, centered around Gossas in the Fatick Region. CREATE! implements program activities in five villages in this region. The total beneficiary population of the six villages is approximately 12,000 people, comprised of both agricultural and pastoral peoples. The average per capita annual income of the population in these villages is approximately $350 a year. In each of these villages, CREATE! staff work closely with local and traditional authorities, including village chiefs and imams, in addition to other community leaders, families, and public schools. CREATE! values the expertise and input of community members and strives to incorporate their knowledge and participation into each stage of our programs. As a registered NGO in Senegal, CREATE! works with government officials from the regional office of the Department of Water and Forestry. CREATE! also respects the Senegalese government's strategic development goals for rural communities. Although CREATE!'s administrative office is located in the United States, CREATE! relies on local Senegalese staff and volunteers to plan and implement successful development interventions. Barry Wheeler, CREATE! Founder and Executive Director, has spent the past 27 years working to alleviate suffering and to provide basic human needs for rural villagers, displaced persons, and refugees in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. After serving in the Peace Corps for six years as an Improved Cook Stove and Appropriate Technology volunteer, trainer, and technical advisor in Togo, Barry earned a Master's degree in International Agriculture and Rural Development from Cornell University. Barry has served as Country Director for the American Refugee Committee's programs in Uganda, Sudan, and Rwanda; as a consultant for UNICEF and UNHCR; and as a team leader and training coordinator in local capacity building, renewable and appropriate technology, and sustainable rural development. CREATE! Chief Operations Officer Louise Ruhr has more than 30 years of private sector and nonprofit management experience and has spent the past eight years working with international NGOs, including the American Refugee Committee, to support women's cooperative groups in Rwanda and Senegal. CREATE! Country Director Omar Ndiaye Seck oversees program activities and conducts site visits in CREATE! communities. He also manages CREATE!'s finances and staff in Senegal. Omar closely collaborates with local and traditional authorities, community volunteers, and CREATE! staff to achieve both organizational and village goals.

FOUNDATION

Ranchlands Foundation, our non-profit arm, is committed to developing immersive environmental educational experiences for the general public, educating the next generation of ranch managers, and preserving the rangeland that makes all of this possible.

The core ideas that underpin the mission of Ujyalo Foundation are: Innovation, Gender Inclusive Leadership, and Social Enterprise. Based on these core ideas, Ujyalo Foundation's mission is "to empower communities through technologies, innovation, social enterprise, and gender inclusive leadership, collaboratively locally and globally". We strongly believe that the best way to create sustainable development in any community is by investing in its young women. With initiatives like EmpowHER, and Women Leadership Summit, we provide safe platforms for young women to enhance their leadership skills, explore their unique selves as leaders in their communities, and develop their ideas into potential livelihood opportunities in Nepal. These programs give women a safe space to learn and lead without any social stigma or fear of discrimination. After going through our programs, our women have become confident, independent leading their ideas in different capacities, and creating their own strong collectives of young women. After leading these initiatives for two years and working with 1600 young women, we have discovered just how much such an effort can contribute in the advancement of young women and their causes, especially in a society driven by patriarchy. We want young women in Nepal to believe that a space where young women can lead fearlessly on the basis of their merit and idea, not their gender is possible. Our vision is to create a world where young women can live, learn and lead without any prejudice and discrimination, and have men as the champions to promote women safety and leadership.

We preserve open space and natural lands, protect rivers and watersheds and promote stewardship of our environment.