Fighting erupted in the South Sudan capital of Juba in December and has since spread throughout the country, not only displacing families, but separating them.
Save the Children fears that of the 121,000 people who have fled from their homes, countless children have been forced to fend for themselves in the surrounding swamp areas without access to shelter or clean water.
Over the course of three days in Juba alone, 60 children were reported as separated from their families. This is indicative of a larger problem, as the fighting is now concentrated in the northern part of the country, in Jonglei, Upper Nile and Malakal.
United Nations compounds and surrounding communities are providing refuge for some displaced families. However, due to the ongoing danger, access is limited where the fighting is at its worst, leaving the severity of the situation for South Sudanese children largely unknown.
United States missionaries in Malakal spent Christmas day protecting orphans from the conflict inside a U.N. peacekeeping base.
Forced from their home, the Campbells, a missionary family from Omaha, fled to their local base having pushed mattresses up against the inside of their doors and endured bullets through their windows.
Bradley Campbell, a former visual artist turned pastor, moved his family to South Sudan in 2012 as part of a Christian ministry based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Keeping Hope Alive.
Campbell recalls Christmas night spent trying to keep the orphans quiet inside the base, for fear the soldiers would find them.
400 U.S. government officials and private citizens have been evacuated since the conflict started, at least 60 more are awaiting evacuation, including the Campbells, although leaving may not be an option for the family.
The Campbells now count 10 Sudanese orphans as family members and fear what would happen to them if they are not considered U.S. citizens and granted the ability to leave.
Most of the orphans under Campbell’s care are ethnic Nuer, the tribe from which former vice president and current rebel leader Riek Macher hails.
The conflict arose when fighting broke out between those aligned with Macher and those with President Salva Kiir of the Dinka tribe. The president then accused Macher of starting a coup, after which an ethnic conflict erupted between the Nuer and the Dinka.
This recent violence in South Sudan is a continuation of Africa’s longest running civil war. Having gained independence just two years ago, South Sudan has endured decades of unrest, a total of two million lost lives as well as four million refugees.
An end to the current conflict does not seem eminent despite the insistence of East African mediators that the two sides must engage in peace talks.
Macher has requested the release of numerous imprisoned politicians before the talks can commence, a wish the government will not grant until the fighting has ceased.
– Zoë Dean
Sources: BBC, Save the Children, Washington Post
Photo: BBC
Get to Know the Global Fund for Women
The Global Fund for Women was founded in 1987 by Anne Firth Murray, Frances Kissling, and Laura Lederer, three women frustrated by traditional philanthropy’s lack of interest in funding women-led organizations around the world. They sought to create a new kind of nonprofit – one that would focus on giving women worldwide the resources they need to help themselves, their families, and their communities.
GFW was founded based on the idea that women are “powerful catalysts of change” who are uniquely positioned to impact their families and communities. Studies have shown that investing in women pays off. The UN reports that economies in the developing world grow 3% for every 10% increase in the number of women receiving secondary schooling. Increases in women’s education also make the biggest impact in reducing rates of child malnutrition. Additionally, the UN Population Fund (UNPF) found that women’s empowerment and girls’ education are the most effective strategies for reducing population growth.
GFW is a global network funded by 20,000 people and institutions, including the Dutch foreign ministry, invested in improving women’s human rights. The Fund focuses on three key issue areas: ending gendered violence, empowering women politically and economically, and improving sexual and reproductive health and rights.
GFW provides flexible grants to women-led organizations around the world to help them advance these causes. In addition to being run by women, grantee organizations and groups must use a rights-based approach that contributes to the larger women’s movement, and be connected, networking with stakeholders in their communities to tackle issues faced by marginalized populations.
Since it was founded, GFW has invested more than $110 million dollars to support 4,600 women’s organizations across 175 countries. Since April 30, 2013, it has already doled out $1.1 million in flexible funding to 52 organizations in 17 countries, serving 192,278 million and training 11,544 women and girls as leaders. GFW grantees have gone on to be elected to parliament, overthrow regimes, win the Nobel Peace Prize, and help end wars.
In addition to being highly effective, GFW is also popular with donors and volunteers. It was honored in 2011 as a “top nonprofit” by review site GreatNonprofits, where GFW enjoys a rare 4.8/5 star rating based on opinions and experiences of those who donated time and/or money. Earlier this year, GFW also won the Wheelock College Human Rights Leadership Award for advancing girls’ and women’s rights worldwide.
Those looking to donate to an organization with an excellent reputation and impressive impact record need look no further then the Global Fund for Women. Go to www.globalfundforwomen.org to learn more and donate today to empower women to create lasting social change.
– Sarah Morrison
Sources: Global Fund for Women-2, Global Fund for Women-3, Global Fund for Women, Great Nonprofits, PR Web
Photo: Global Fund for Women
Merchant Marines and Food Aid Bill
For some, the U.S. Merchant Marine represents an organization that shuttles American imports and exports around the world during peacetime while becoming a naval auxiliary during wartime. For others, they represent the largest obstacle to food aid reform.
Current food aid regulations stipulate that at least 80% of aid must be shipped by U.S. citizens on U.S. flagged vessels. Critics argue that needless money and time is spent hauling items around the world when food could be purchased locally in a much more timely fashion.
President Obama proposed a food aid overhaul in 2014’s fiscal budget that would reach an estimated 2 to 4 million more people within the year. Specifically, he wished to expand local and regional procurement procedures and food vouchers.
U.S. mariners were not amused by this proposal, however. When the food aid amendment attached to the farm bill reached the Congress floor, maritime lobbyists worked strenuously to ensure it wouldn’t pass, and succeeded.
The U.S. merchant marines provide a unique service for the United States. As they are not employed by United States military, they are able to service both the government and private sector.
The duality of their role in regard to the United States is significant for a number of reasons. The Navy League, a special interest group representing the U.S. maritime community, reports that they provide over 33,000 jobs for Americans, account for $1.9 million in economic output and $24 million in household earnings. Although food aid reformists argue that the shift in these numbers would be slight, by only a few hundred, Merchant Marine advocates contend that change would usher in the end of the merchant marines all together.
The Merchant Marine’s ability to transport troops and supplies during wartime, known as sealift, may be severely impacted if reform results in job loss. The U.S. Maritime Service was established by President Roosevelt in 1938 in anticipation of needed shipping vessels to both the European war front and Pacific Theater. The Merchant Marine provided invaluable service during the war, and current mariners argue that their services are still necessary.
Despite the mariners concerns, the Obama Administration has plans to counteract any negative effects the reform may usher in by providing aid directly to the U.S. Merchant Marine.
The administration proposes shifting $25 million of the efficiency savings that will be obtained through the food aid reform to the Department of Transportation’s Maritime administration. According to the White House International Food Aid Fact Sheet, this additional funding will provide a vehicle to support sustainment of militarily-useful vessels and a qualified pool of citizen merchant mariners.
Although this may not be the solution the merchant mariners were hoping for, the strong advocates for food aid reform may ensure that this is the best they can expect.
– Emily Bajet
Sources: The Center for Public Integrity, U.S. Merchant Marine FAQ, The Maritime Executive, The White House: International Food Aid Fact Sheet
Photo: Giphy.com
WISH Summit Innovates Health Care Systems
The inaugural World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) – a conglomeration of entrepreneurs, business leaders, academics and technicians in the health space – convened last week in Qatar. As its title suggests, WISH serves as an arena for international delegates to create and implement innovative, nontraditional solutions to pressing issues in global health.
One participant, Londoner Lord Darzi of Denham (chairman of the Institute of Global Innovation at Imperial College), succinctly stated after the announcement of the Summit that “WISH is about action.”
Qatar’s newfound consideration as a hub for frontline innovation- principally through the Qatar Foundation- landed the nation the opportunity to host the prestigious two-day summit event. The Foundation has been on the forefront of the nation’s “visionary national health strategy” and initiated a first-of-its-kind investigation into the healthcare systems of eight major world players, the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, India and Qatar. The Global Innovation Diffusion Report, unveiled on the second day of the summit, presented a well-researched report card of how each nation fosters and incorporates innovation to maximize health outcomes for their citizens.
The report noted both victories and areas in need of improvement for the eight nations of study. Each succeeded on a general level in identifying and addressing doctors and involving patients in treatment. Unfortunately, however, every nation but Qatar fell short in matching research-based suggestions with real changes in the health care space. Expert assessments of appropriate technological or practical innovations were ignored for different reasons in each nation.
In Spain and the United Kingdom, the least innovative countries, funds for research and development are scarce. New ideas simply cannot get off the ground because there is no money to put wind in their sails to begin with. Australia, Brazil and South Africa were slightly more successful than their European counterparts, but need to improve incentives for academics and policymakers who spread innovation. The United States and India showed a consistent, but small, gap between the ideal and reality.
The thorough case study concluded that innovation is most successfully spurred in the United States when incorporated into (or alongside) insurance and the accompanying payment system. Incidentally, the report identified the rollout of Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) programs as a major success for the U.S. in terms of innovation implementation. PCMH programs encourage primary care providers to tailor payments around patient outcomes and foster cooperation between medical and social services.
Moving forward, hot areas of progress for medical innovation will likely include: the application of mobile technology to share and store medical information; policymaking that encourages clinicians to adopt new ways of working; mobilization of resources to allow coordination between researchers and clinicians; and the development of an “innovation culture” and leadership among front line health care professionals.
Delegates representing our nation will undoubtedly confer about these recent findings and carve out a designated space for innovation in discussions touching on future policies, programs and technologies.
– Casey Ernstes
Sources: Gulf News, NCQA, PR News Wire, World Innovation Summit for Health: Home, World Innovation Summit for Health: Global Diffusion
Photo: Vintage 3D
Beyoncé and Philanthropy
Beyoncé Knowles is a fashion icon, musical genius and world-class performer. Going beyond the world of pop-culture, Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z work closely with many philanthropy organizations.
Beyoncé partnered with Kelly Rowland to found the Survivor Foundation after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The organization provided transitional housing for those affected in the Houston area. Within five years the organization has provided more than $2.5 million dollars to housing projects like Habitat for Humanity, Temenos Place, and the Knowles-Rowland Community Outreach Center. The foundation has expanded to work out of other U.S. cities affected by natural disasters.
Beyoncé has also contributed her talents to many benefit concerts such as Hope for Haiti Now, World Humanitarian Day by the UN, World Children’s Day, and Chime for Change, a group advocating women’s rights. In 2010, Beyoncé partnered with Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign to end childhood obesity. A strong partner with Stand Up to Cancer, Beyoncé recorded a single for the cause with Leann Rimes and Mary J Blige.
Beyoncé uses her role as a music and style icon to act as the face for CFDA’s Fashion for Haiti campaign and the co-founder of the Cosmetology Center at Brooklyn’s Phoenix House, a drug rehabilitation center. In 2008, the music icon took philanthropy to another level when she donated all of the proceeds from her Cadillac Records deal to the Phoenix House. The star also supports the food donation charity, Miss-a-Meal, and the Goodwill foundation among others.
When Beyoncé and Jay-Z had their baby, Blue Ivy Carter, the couple chose to donate her baby gifts to charity. Most of the gifts have gone to young mothers and their children. “Reaching out and touching lives is incredibly empowering,” says Beyoncé, “that’s why I want my fans to experience the joy of making a difference by helping someone else.”
– Stephanie Lamm
Sources: Huffington Post, Seventeen, Look to the Stars, Microgiving Blog
Photo: Giphy.com
Families Separated in South Sudan
Fighting erupted in the South Sudan capital of Juba in December and has since spread throughout the country, not only displacing families, but separating them.
Save the Children fears that of the 121,000 people who have fled from their homes, countless children have been forced to fend for themselves in the surrounding swamp areas without access to shelter or clean water.
Over the course of three days in Juba alone, 60 children were reported as separated from their families. This is indicative of a larger problem, as the fighting is now concentrated in the northern part of the country, in Jonglei, Upper Nile and Malakal.
United Nations compounds and surrounding communities are providing refuge for some displaced families. However, due to the ongoing danger, access is limited where the fighting is at its worst, leaving the severity of the situation for South Sudanese children largely unknown.
United States missionaries in Malakal spent Christmas day protecting orphans from the conflict inside a U.N. peacekeeping base.
Forced from their home, the Campbells, a missionary family from Omaha, fled to their local base having pushed mattresses up against the inside of their doors and endured bullets through their windows.
Bradley Campbell, a former visual artist turned pastor, moved his family to South Sudan in 2012 as part of a Christian ministry based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Keeping Hope Alive.
Campbell recalls Christmas night spent trying to keep the orphans quiet inside the base, for fear the soldiers would find them.
400 U.S. government officials and private citizens have been evacuated since the conflict started, at least 60 more are awaiting evacuation, including the Campbells, although leaving may not be an option for the family.
The Campbells now count 10 Sudanese orphans as family members and fear what would happen to them if they are not considered U.S. citizens and granted the ability to leave.
Most of the orphans under Campbell’s care are ethnic Nuer, the tribe from which former vice president and current rebel leader Riek Macher hails.
The conflict arose when fighting broke out between those aligned with Macher and those with President Salva Kiir of the Dinka tribe. The president then accused Macher of starting a coup, after which an ethnic conflict erupted between the Nuer and the Dinka.
This recent violence in South Sudan is a continuation of Africa’s longest running civil war. Having gained independence just two years ago, South Sudan has endured decades of unrest, a total of two million lost lives as well as four million refugees.
An end to the current conflict does not seem eminent despite the insistence of East African mediators that the two sides must engage in peace talks.
Macher has requested the release of numerous imprisoned politicians before the talks can commence, a wish the government will not grant until the fighting has ceased.
– Zoë Dean
Sources: BBC, Save the Children, Washington Post
Photo: BBC
Yorm Bopha Released on Bail
In late November, Cambodian housing rights activist Yorm Bopha was released on bail after spending 14 months in prison. The young female activist has been a major figure in the fight to prevent forced evacuations from established households across Cambodia.
Serving as a beacon for nonviolent protest among Cambodian citizens, Yorm Bopha grabbed the attention of Cambodian authorities when 13 activists, the Boeung Kak 13, were hastily imprisoned after a three hour trial. After publicly protesting against their imprisonment, Bopha was warned by authorities that she could be next if her spirited activism continued.
Their warnings failed to dampen her fervor and soon she and husband were apprehended in September 2012. While her husband walked, Yorm was held on trumped up charges accusing her of planning to harm two men.
After no evidence was presented and several witnesses provided conflicting testimonies, it became apparent the charges were completely fabricated.
Many attribute her release on bail to the concerted efforts of those within the Cambodian community as well as a push by the human rights group Amnesty International who rallied thousands of members in over 40 countries. Thousands signed petitions calling for her release and posted relevant photos and messages across social media platforms.
Yorm Bopha was singled out by authorities specifically for her vocal opposition to the forced removal of families from their homes around Boeung Kak Lake (BKL). The policy of forced removal was announced in 2007 in order to allow the development of an $80 million dollar real estate project around the lake.
The project is headed by companies with close ties to the Cambodian People’s Party. The lake development is spearheaded by Shukaku Inc. In 2007, the company was granted a 99 year lease to the BKL region.
Despite, the huge business and political power both Shukaku Inc. and the Cambodian People’s Party hold, residents of BKL are fighting back. However, their resistance has been met with extreme force by the Cambodian authorities.
For instance, initial protests were met with deadly force as police killed numerous men involved in the protests. As a reaction to the brutality, many women began to form protests. Yorm Bopha soon became an integral part of these peaceful protests.
Unfortunately, these forced evacuations of populated land are nothing new. They have been taking their toll on Cambodians for close to a decade. This has manifested itself in the erection of rubber plantations created by investors friendly with the ruling party.
Many of these investors do not even reside in Cambodia. Some hail from China or Vietnam.
The combination of powerful moneyed interests, both in government and in business, suggests the atrocity of forced evacuations will be plaguing Cambodians for years to come. However, inspiring and influential activists such as Yorm Bopha continue to fight and raise awareness regarding housing rights.
Despite being arrested, Yorm Bopha has not been intimidated by the Cambodian authorities. Just two days after her release she was spotted protesting as police removed a group of residents from their homes.
– Zack Lindberg
Sources: Amnesty International, The Economist
Homes for the Homeless: “Names for Change”
Nonprofit organization Urban Ministries of Durham partners with advertising agency McKinney in order to create “Names for Change,” a venture that allows the renaming rights to household products.
The concept is simple: the items available at the shelter are open to be rebranded with the proceeds going towards providing homes for the homeless. The prices range depending on the product, and can vary from a jar of peanut butter to a refrigerator.
The renaming can be for oneself or can be offered as a gift for someone else. Afterwards, there is a choice to create an official poster of the given product.
From there, a serial number and certificate of authenticity is branded on the product, further immortalizing the newly named item and the step towards helping a recipient out of homelessness.
To date, the campaign has raised $41,065, enough to raise eight individuals out of homelessness.
Jenny Nicholson, the brainchild behind the naming campaign, is associative creative director at McKinney, a company part of the larger mother communications corporation Cheil Worldwide.
Hailing from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s social work master’s program, Nicholson teamed up with Urban Ministries, a homeless shelter, to start up an online game that engages the issues of homelessness.
The online game “Spent” allows players to offer a donation post-game and proposes over 169 new items to having its respective naming rights changed.
Executive director Patrice Nelson mentions the collaboration with Urban Ministries wherein the non-profit serves over 600 meals per day in its community café as well as offering community shelter, a clothing closet and food pantry.
With winter snowstorm Hercules settling in the northeast and key communities declaring Code Blue, the Durham community itself is rallying its homeless to available shelters. Durham Rescue Mission notes that alcoholism and drug addiction keep these individuals away from the shelters
The hope behind “Names for Change” is to create a permanent household that will eventually render shelters as a solution to the problem.
– Miles Abadilla
Sources: Herald Sun, McKinney, Names for Change, Weather.com, WNCN
Photo: Giphy.com
Most Charitable in Hollywood
Money is not the only way to contribute to charities, although it is arguably the most effective – unless you are a celebrity. Apparently just being associated with a charity is enough to boost donations by $100,000 per year. Research from the Rutgers’s Business School found charities with celebrity endorsements received a 1.4 percent increase in donations over charities that were not associated with stars.
In that respect, the popular celebrity news website, The Daily Beast, found out who the most charitable celebrities were in regards to lending out their name and fame. Using an in depth survey with forty-eight characteristics via E-poll market research, a list was created with the top celebrities in the charitable running. The list was narrowed after secondary research on www.looktothestars.org, a site that tracks how many charities celebrities are actually supporting. Using Traackr to record the number of actual hits on Google, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and personal blogs, the list was further weighted to reflect the celebrities’ personal effort put into promoting their respective organizations.
Elton John was at the top of the list with support towards a whopping forty-eight charities. Furthermore, his foundation to help treat AIDS victims, Elton John Aids Foundation, is one of his personally founded charities. Though it may be due to the passing of many of Elton’s close friends of because of AIDS/HIV, he hosts enormous galas open to his multitude of famous friends as fundraisers for his organization.
Second on the list is Angelina Jolie, recognized worldwide for her long list of humanitarian efforts. She has visited various nations such as Tanzania, Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, Egypt and Costa Rica, even during times of conflict and war. Taking a hands on approach, she has provided care and aid to refugees in the aftermath of natural disasters, apartheid, oppression and more. She is the founder of the Maddox Jolie-Pitt, named after her first adopted Cambodian son, an organization which serves to implement sustainable community improvement policies for women and children in Cambodia. Angelina and Brad Pitt sold the first images of their newborn twins to People and Hello! Magazines for $14 million, utilizing the entire sum of money for the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation.
Following Angelina on the top 25 list is Bono, the incredible U2 front man, Oprah Winfrey and Ellen Degeneres. Some of the most famous stars on television and film are giving huge chunks of their success away to help others, thus becoming role models in the world of charity and fundraising. It is simultaneously inspiring and humbling to recognize that people have the ability to help those in need no matter how famous, wealthy or well off we are in their own lives. Celebrities have a name and a face but their actions are worth so much more than that, and anyone can take action against global poverty.
– Kaitlin Sutherby
Sources: Marie Claire, The Daily Beast, Look to the Stars
Photo: Giphy.com
Quotes from 15 World Leaders on Human Rights
1. David Cameron, UK Prime Minister
“If we are going to try to get across to the poorest people in the world that we care about their plight and we want them to join one world with the rest of us, we have got to make promises and keep promises.”
2. Irene Khan, former Secretary-General of Amnesty International
“Poverty is not only about income poverty, it is about the deprivation of economic and social rights, insecurity, discrimination, exclusion and powerlessness. That is why human rights must not be ignored but given even greater prominence in times of economic crisis.”
“Discrimination and multiple deprivations of human rights are also frequently part of the problem, sentencing entire populations to poverty… It is surely a matter of outrage that over half a million women die annually from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. This is nearly half the annual global death toll, and arguably, a direct reflection of the disempowerment of women in social, economic and political life.”
4. Jesse Jackson, American Statesman and Civil Rights Activist
“The great responsibility that we have today is to put the poor and the near poor back on front of the American agenda.”
5. Pope Francis “A way has to be found to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth, and not simply to close the gap between the affluent and those who must be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the table, but above all to satisfy the demands of justice, fairness and respect for every human being.”
6. Dalai Lama XIV “No matter what part of the world we come from, we are all basically the same human beings. We all seek happiness and try to avoid suffering. We have the same basic human needs and concerns. All of us human beings want freedom and the right to determine our own destiny as individuals and as peoples. That is human nature.”
7. Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani Human Rights Activist
“I don’t know why people have divided the whole world into two groups, west and east. Education is neither eastern nor western. Education is education and it’s the right of every human being.”
8. Pranab Mukherjee, President of India
“There is no humiliation more abusive than hunger.”
9. Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations
“Education is a human right with immense power to transform. On its foundation rest the cornerstones of freedom, democracy and sustainable human development.”
10. Barack Obama, President of the United States
“This is the moment when we must build on the wealth that open markets have created, and share its benefits more equitably. Trade has been a cornerstone of our growth and global development. But we will not be able to sustain this growth if it favors the few, and not the many.”
11. Desmond Tutu, Noble Peace Prize Laureate
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”
12. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia
“History proves that all dictatorships, all authoritarian forms of government are transient. Only democratic systems are not transient. Whatever the shortcomings, mankind has not devised anything superior.”
13. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian President
“The world is in need of an encompassing and of course, just and humane order in the light of which the rights of all are preserved and peace and security are safeguarded.”
14. Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, Cuban Foreign Minister
“This problem will knock on the doors of all of us, whether through uncontrolled and unmanageable migration flows, by means of diseases and epidemics, as a result of the conflicts generated by poverty and hunger, or as a result of events which are today unforeseeable.”
15. Warren Buffett, American Investor and Philanthropist
“Someone is sitting in the shade today, because someone planted a tree a long time ago.”
– Tyson Watkins
Sources: Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights: Quotes, Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights: Statement by Navenethem Pillay, Catholics Confront Global Poverty, Dalai Lama, Think Exist, Brainy Quote
Photo: Vintage 3D
Relief Organization: Stop Hunger Now
Stop Hunger Now (SHN) is a hunger relief organization with the mission to end world hunger by providing food and other life-saving aid to children and families in countries all over the world. The organization believes addressing the problem of hunger is the single point where they can leverage relief for all humanitarian issues.
In 2005, SHN created its meal packaging program, which dedicates to make and distribute meal packets for countries in need. People working and volunteering in the program combine rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and a flavoring mix including 21 essential vitamins and minerals into small meal packets. According to SHN website, each meal costs only 25 cents. The food stores easily, has a shelf life of two years and transports quickly.
This program has branches in the United States, South Africa, Malaysia, Philippines and Italy. Many religious institutions, civic organizations, corporations and schools have organized SHN meal packaging events. One SHN packaging event can result in the packaging of more than 1,000,000 meals.
So far, SHN has provided over 70 percent of its meals to support transformational development programs across 65 countries, such as school feeding programs, vocational training programs, early childhood development programs, orphanages, and medical clinics. It has packaged about 127 million meals.
SHN aims to allocate 80 percent of its meals to transformational development programs by 2015.
This organization partners with many non-profit organizations around the world to provide food and other aid to those in need. Those partners are chosen based on a comprehensive evaluation, including their effectiveness, sustainability, ability to import, store and distribute meals and impact.
In December 2013, SHN built a partnership with Share Your Calories (SYC,) a movement to improve people’s health and to end world hunger. It dedicates to impact both weight-loss issues and hunger issues by empowering users to take control of their own health and to make an impact in the fight against world hunger.
SYC is developing a mobile app, which is expected to be available in May. The app will allow users to track calories consumed and burned off. Users can store unused calories into a Calorie Bank and then donate them to SHN by “sharing” them via the app. Every 250 shared calories will be converted to $0.25.
SHN believes that the world has sufficient resources to feed everyone and it is possible to end hunger in people’s lifetime.
– Liying Qian
Sources: Stop Hunger Now, Stop Hunger Now-2, Stop Hunger Now-3, Share Your Calories