Creative Action Institute

06/20/2026

🎨 Across our programs in Latin America, East Africa, and West Africa, visual art has been a tool for learning, dialogue, advocacy, and community action.

Participants and communities have used creative practices to raise awareness, strengthen local leadership, celebrate cultural identity, protect the environment, advance gender equity, and address social challenges. Through environmental leadership programs, girls' empowerment initiatives, and community-based advocacy, creative expression has helped people share their stories, build confidence, and spark real change. ✨

These 20 examples show just some of the many ways visual art has sparked collective action across communities. Take a look!

06/08/2026

Oceans absorb a quarter of our carbon emissions and feed billions of people, yet the communities closest to the coast often have the least say in how those waters are managed.

We work to change that through art, storytelling, and hands-on learning that move local leaders to act on marine threats, whether that's plastic washing up on the shore or fisheries under strain.

This World Oceans Day, we're recognizing the people doing that work, because the most durable protections for the ocean come from those who live alongside it!

06/05/2026

This , we're celebrating the partner organizations, youth leaders, Indigenous communities, and environmental advocates who show that the most sustainable solutions are rooted in local knowledge, creativity, and collective action.

Here are three ways local leaders protected the planet through Creative Action Institute's Creative Advocacy Practicums (CAPs):

🌿 Conserving the yellow-naped parrot
Youth in Nicaragua helped protect the yellow-naped parrot through environmental education, community engagement, and creative advocacy.

🌿 Protecting forests through ancestral knowledge
Communities in Peru drew on Indigenous knowledge and cultural traditions to safeguard high-Andean forests.

🌿 Protecting oceans and coastlines
Coastal communities in Guatemala reduced marine waste and mobilized local action to protect marine ecosystems.

Partners: Biometepe Semillas del Océano ECOAN - Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos

05/29/2026

We've been gathering materials from the last round of Creative Advocacy Practicums and are so excited to start getting them up on our website!

First up, this incredible project from Kajiado, Kenya with our partners at The Malkia Initiative where 33 girls from the Sauti ya Dada cohort used posters and dance to investigate and address what was keeping girls out of school in their community: teenage pregnancy.

Check out some photos from the project, and head to the link in bio to read more!

05/20/2026

20 moments from our Creative Environmental Leadership Course! 🌿

Last week our participants successfully completed the first module of our creative environmental leadership course. Congratulations to them all!

Next they're on to deepening their collaboration skills and creative capacity over the next 12 months.

This program wouldn't exist without our partners doing the real work on the ground!

💚

05/11/2026

Bienvenidos a Antigua!

Today we launched our Creative Environmental Leadership Program, a year-long course that develops the leadership skills of key changemakers across our partner organizations in Latin America.

Participants flew into La Antigua yesterday and are settling in for an intensive week of workshops with our incredible LATAM team.

Day 1 looked like: Ice breakers, life stories, honest reflections on leadership styles, and a deep dive into emotional intelligence.
..and because nobody can sit in a classroom all day without moving, we obviously threw in some dance breaks too. 💃

This is just the start! Over the next 12 months, these leaders will develop the resilience, collaboration skills, and creative capacity they need to become catalysts for change across their communities and the region.

Welcome to the journey! 🌿💚

04/29/2026

04/29/2026

For 20 years, Creative Action Institute has been training courageous grassroots leaders to champion gender equity and climate justice around the world. Behind that work is a pretty mighty (and adorable) team!

04/22/2026

Happy Earth Day 🌎

We believe that people protect what they feel connected to. That's why we partner with communities around the world to strengthen their connections to land, water, culture, and each other.

That looks different in every place. In Qenqo, Peru, it meant bringing together primary school students to learn about their local environment, build confidence in leadership, plant 1,000 trees, and establish a greenhouse for ongoing learning and restoration.

We hope this video inspires you as much as it inspires us!

🎥 Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gzBQrHIllg

Campesina Forestal

5 likes, 1 comment. "Empoderar el liderazgo de los nin@s en el Bosque Comunitario Qoricocha"

04/20/2026

Over two decades, Creative Action Institute has supported partners working to protect the species our ecosystems and communities depend on. Here are 20 snapshots from that work! 📸

Some recent species we’ve worked with include:

🐾 Giant Frog (Rana gigantea) — with RANA
🐾 Yellow-naped Parrot — with Fauna & Flora
🐾 Antillean Manatee — with Sarteneja Alliance for Conservation and Development - Belize