Archive for category: Nonprofit Organizations and NGOs

Information and stories about nonprofit organizations and NGOs

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Australian Foodbank Increases Efforts

Australian Foodbank Increases Efforts
Food charities around the world, particularly those in Australia, are struggling to meet the increasing demands of their recipient base.

In supplying 90% of Australia’s food welfare, the organization Foodbank provides welfare recipients with over 25 million kg of food each year. Foodbank general manager Greg Warren claims that his fleet of 20 trucks that supply the equivalent of 32 million meals a year is less than half of what Australia needs to fully address its food security problems.

Food charity organizations formerly relied on collecting leftovers from restaurants and just-expired foods from grocery stores as their main source of supplies. However, these organizations are now finding that the yields from these resources are inadequate for meeting the ever-increasing demand of the world’s poor and homeless.

Nearly 25% of people that collect from welfare agencies around the world are neither homeless nor living in developing countries. Rather, they are newly unemployed people trying to make ends meet, or those accepting pay cuts at work as the cost of living climbs. These people begin struggling to support a family and turn to food charities like Foodbank for help acquiring certain staples like milk and bread on a consistent basis.

Warren insists, however, that Foodbank’s foremost concern is with not sacrificing quality as the group seeks to increase quantity and welfare access points. Warren claims that the utmost goal is for food to be “safe and delivered in a safe manner.”

Foodbank currently accepts supplies from the Australian Red Cross’s Good Start Breakfast Club, Kellogg’s, Arnotts-Campbells, and Kraft, among others. Foodbank has also begun to expand to working directly with farmers and wholesalers for increased access to fresh fruits and vegetables. This initiative corresponds with Warren’s stipulation about maintaining high quality.

According to Warren, it’s all a matter of logistics, in transporting food from areas of surplus to areas of scarcity. Food charities around the world should seek to mimic the Australian Foodbank in their efforts to end chronic hunger across socioeconomic lines through careful planning and practical connections.

– Alexandra Bruschi

Sources: The Daily Telegraph, Foodbank
Photo: American Aid Foundation

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AMREF USA’s Pledge for a Healthy Africa

AMREF USA’s Pledge for a Healthy AfricaDespite the substantial improvements made in the last few decades, Africa still faces major public health problems. The continent accounts for two-thirds of the global population infected with HIV/AIDS, with 22.5 million citizens suffering. Malaria and diarrhea continue to kill children daily. The rise of tuberculosis, prevalent in mining areas across Africa, infected 2.3 million citizens in 2011 and killed 220,000. And childbirth still remains very dangerous, with 1 in every 16 women dying while giving birth.

African Medical and Research Foundation USA seeks to improve the health standards of all African nations, one community at a time. Founded in 1957, AMREF looks to improve the quality of life for African communities and eradicate public health problems.

AMREF understands local health systems are essential in developing quality, sustainable health standards. AMREF has trained many African locals to return to their communities in order to improve health conditions. The organization educates volunteers and on the symptoms and treatment of diseases to prevent diseases from spreading further and decrease the number of citizens infected. AMREF has trained over 10,000 health workers in over 40 African nations.

AMREF estimates that a million more health workers need to be properly trained and educated to meet the United Nation’s Millenium Development Goals for improved public health. As the fight for better health conditions in Africa continues, educating and training citizens may be the solution for healthier African communities and improved health standards.

– William Norris

Sources: AMREF USA, All Africa
Photo: Flickr

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Digital Divide Data: Incubator of Human Capitol

Digital Divide Data: Incubator of Human CapitolDigital Divide Data (DDD) recognizes that many young men and women around the world who do not have access to good jobs or higher education still possess the motivation and talent for employment. DDD empowers their staff with the skills and experience needed to escape the cycle of poverty.

Once identifying and recruiting qualified youth, they are trained and employed with a fair wage and offered scholarships to attend university. DDD alumni eventually move on to high-skilled positions where they earn four times the average regional wage. Not only are these individuals able to escape poverty, but also they are equipped with the resources to send family members to school while raising their household’s standard of living.

DDD has data management locations in Cambodia, Laos, Kenya, with sales and client support in the United States. The workers are connected to the world market and trained to produce the outstanding quality of work and meet client requirements. Since 2001, DDD has pioneered the ‘Impact Sourcing model’, which works with young people in countries with untapped talent and ambition. They are given employment opportunities that would otherwise be out of reach, creating better and more secure futures. Through this Impact Sourcing model, clients are provided with quality services, while lives are changed.

The world is taking notice of the work DDD is doing and the organization was ranked at #25 in The Global Journal’s Top 100 NGOs for 2013. 450 organizations were evaluated on three criteria: impact, innovation and sustainability. DDD was recognized as an “Incubator of Human Capital” which combines the mission of an NGO and the profitability and sustainability of a business enterprise. The Global Journal ranking falls alongside additional recognition by international media and opinion-makers.

The mission of DDD has made them a more responsive partner to clients such as Stanford University, Ancestry.com, and Benetech. Their Impact Sourcing model has been recognized by Boeing, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, and the United Nations Development Programs, among others. Donor support from individuals and institutions makes it possible for DDD to provide training and educational scholarships to their staff. To donate to the cause of DDD, visit: https://npo1.networkforgood.org/Donate/Donate.aspx?npoSubscriptionId=1199.

– Ali Warlich

Sources: DDD, The Global Journal
Photo: Flickr

Global Cycle Solutions

Global Cycle SolutionsGlobal Cycle Solutions is a social enterprise that aims to improve the lives of rural and poor Tanzanians with quality technology. By working with rural villagers, the organization is able to understand the needs of its customers and provide the appropriate technology.

It first opened in Tanzania in 2009 as a technology company. At the time, it was selling bicycle parts to smallholder farmers. Soon enough, the company realized that it could have an even bigger impact on communities by focusing on villages. Tanzanian villages often lacked basic amenities such as electricity and light. Understanding this, Global Cycle Solutions shifted gears to improving village life. From then on, Global Cycle Solutions became more than just a company selling technology, it became a collaborative and innovative organization designed to uplift the poor.

The enterprise works primarily in two ways. If a need can be fulfilled with existing technology than Global Cycle Solutions will build and develop a network of entrepreneurs through what they call their Rafiki Network. One product that is currently being distributed through the network is the SunKing Pro Solar Light and Phone Charger. Both the light and charger provide incredibly efficient and long-lasting power and light sources.

If a need cannot be fulfilled with pre-existing products than Global Cycle Solutions develops technology by partnering with universities, villages and other innovators. Currently, a bike-powered maize sheller, bicycle phone charge, and a multi-crop thresher are being developed by the organization for distribution.

How can you get involved with Global Cycle Solutions? One way is by contributing a micro-loan. A micro-loan of just $100 is enough to jumpstart one individual’s entrepreneurial career as well as help them begin the climb out of poverty. For a more hands-on approach, the enterprise also offers various positions on its project teams. Student opportunities to get involved can come in the form of collaboration with universities. For intern April Zhu, her involvement with Global Cycle Solutions began in the spring of 2012 with her work with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s D-lab. Now as a member of the product development team, April works on testing prototypes of the multi-crop thresher before the harvest season is over.

Through this highly innovative and collaborative work, Global Cycle Solutions has impacted over 3,000 families over the last two years. Now the organization aims to create a sustainable network within villages to increase the availability of technology for all. By improving the standard of living for local Tanzanian villagers, Global Cycle Solutions is bringing empowerment to all within its network.

– Grace Zhao

Sources: Global Cycle Solutions
Photo: Flickr

Planet Aid: Saving the World One Shirt at a Time

Planet Aid: Saving the World One Shirt at a TimePlanet Aid refuses to accept having a single, ambitious goal as its limit. Rather, this organization takes a dual-pronged approach to save the world by addressing environmental issues and global poverty under one mission statement.

The nonprofit organization collects and recycles used clothing and shoes in the U.S. as a way to reduce environmental impact while supporting sustainable development in impoverished communities worldwide.

Planet Aid started out as a small idea in 1997 near Boston, Massachusetts. The original setup included a mere few drop-off boxes alongside a small, rented storage unit where community members could donate clothing and shoes. Soon, however, the group’s scope began to outgrow the tiny rented space, and the organization’s creators set their sights on bigger, global aspirations.

Though its influence expanded quickly, its clear-cut aim to expand global environmental sustainability and mobilize resources to alleviate poverty remained the same. Planet Aid now owns over 18,000 clothes collection boxes throughout the United States, all featuring the same signature yellow exterior.

How does Planet Aid accomplish these goals? Firstly, by collecting and recycling used goods, Planet Aid saves valuable resources that help reduce CO2 emissions and thus alleviate global warming. Recycling clothing also saves precious landfill space.

Furthermore, Planet Aid supports development projects that help to strengthen and organize communities by promoting small enterprise development and increasing access to quality training and education. In addition, Planet Aid’s support programs meet health and nutrition needs as well, extending from HIV/AIDS care and prevention to Farmers’ Clubs to teach sustainable agriculture and work towards a more stable food source.

Today, Planet Aid recycles millions of pounds of used clothing nationwide each year. Since 1997, the group has given more than $90 million in support of more than 60 projects in 15 projects throughout the developing world.

In its “afterlife”, recycled clothing can be and important tool for solving global poverty and meeting environmental needs. If there was ever a need for proof that fashion could save the world, Planet Aid provides the evidence.

– Alexandra Bruschi

Sources: Planet Aid, Aid For Africa
Photo: Flickr

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5 TED Talks in 5 Minutes

5 TED Talks in 5 MinutesTED Talks have become a breeding ground for ingenuity, passion, ideas and intelligence. A meeting place of the world’s best, bravest and most forward-thinking minds, TED talks offer the entire world the ability to listen and participate in the global conversation on how we better the world. Here, for those who have little time, are 5 Ted talks that offer a powerful punch of inspiration in less than 5 minutes.

 

Asher Hassan’s Message of Peace from Afghanistan – Asher Hassan

In this short but potent TED talk, Asher Hassan manages to obliterate our image of the now ravaged Pakistan as a place of poverty, misery and Islamic fundamentalism to show a hopeful, resilient and entirely human face to the country. Through a series of striking photographs, showing vendors selling bags, a displaced internal refugee child, spools of brightly colored rainbow spools of thread. Hassan’s subjects are the individuals who get lost in Pakistan sold to us by the media, and the ones who are most affected by our action or inaction in their country.

 

Selling Condoms in the Congo – Amy Lockwood

Amy Lockwood needs four minutes and seventeen seconds to illustrate an all-too-important phenomenon that causes aid programs to fail: not targeting efforts towards the group, but focusing on the feelings on the donor. In the Congo, sex workers use very few of the free condoms that aid agencies provide but would use the generic, priced ones sold. Lockwood, as a marketing professional, asked herself why. Her talk offers a simple but powerful tweak in the way we approach aid that could make a world of difference.

 

Photos That Changed the World – Jonathan Klein

The man at the head of Getty Images, the industry’s largest and most quality bank of photography and imagery, gives a short talk on the power of photographs in provoking action. Using iconic images from history like the Hindenburg explosion, ‘Kissing the War Goodbye’ and mass graves of the Holocaust to today’s most controversial photographs, such as torture in Abu Ghraib, military war injuries and slaughtered gorillas lying crucified on bamboo poles, Klein illustrated how a picture can be worth more than a thousand words in an age full of discourse and short on action.

 

Escaping the Khmer Rouge – Sophal Ear

Not a big ideas talk, but a heartfelt personal story, Sophal Ear speaks of his escape from Cambodia during the country’s horrific political turmoil. Today, Ear leads research on post-conflict countries and assists in the development, reinforcing the fact that refugees are more than statistics, but brave, resilient lives worth saving.

 

How I Built a Windmill – William Kamkwamba

One of the most inspiring talks on TED, this talk is a Q&A session with William Kamkwamba, from a small village in Malawi. At 14, he saw how to build a windmill in a library book. In his words, “I tried it, and I made it.” Prompted along by TED speaker, William’s unassuming ingenuity in attempting to improve his village’s access to electricity and water is heartwarming and incredible.

– Farahnaz Mohammed

Sources: TED

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HelpAge USA Fights for Elderly Rights

HelpAge USA Fights for Elderly RightsThough the eldest members of society are believed to be the wisest, they have also been revealed as the poorest and most neglected age group in the world. HelpAge USA formed in response to this travesty as a way to help the elderly claim their rights, challenge discrimination and overcome poverty.

Though many aid organizations set their sights on helping young, vulnerable children, HelpAge USA recognizes that the elderly are often just as vulnerable as the youngest members of society. HelpAge USA, therefore, works with partnering organizations to spread awareness about elderly people’s roles and value in communities.

HelpAge USA is an affiliate of the broader HelpAge international movement that builds awareness of global aging issues around the world. As a branch of this successful parent group, HelpAge USA spreads awareness of elderly rights among U.S. audiences while simultaneously urging them to advocate for the empowerment of the elderly in the developing world.

At the infrastructural level, HelpAge USA has outlined specific goals for improving communities’’ ability to help its older members, such as enabling older men and women to have secure incomes, quality health care, and support in emergency situations.

In addition to building up infrastructure, HelpAge USA works directly with the elderly to build a global and local movements that teach older men and women how to stand up for themselves in the face of discrimination. This is an important tool for the young and old alike, especially in impoverished regions with lower access to widespread employment, resources, and education.

The most innovative part of HelpAge USA is that it involves older men and women in “program design, implementation, and review.” That is, HelpAge USA relies on the input of the elderly themselves to drive the movement’s goals and ambitions. What better way to empower and properly gauge the needs of a deprived group of citizens than to place them at the heart of the movement itself?

For all they have done for their neighbors and communities, HelpAge USA believes that society owes the elderly their share of healthcare, social services, and economic and physical security in return.

In the fight against global poverty and affronts to human rights standards, one cannot forget to fight for the rights of the older men and women that have contributed so much to their communities’ social, economic and cultural development during their lives.

– Alexandra Bruschi

Sources: HelpAge USA, Idealist
Photo: Flickr

What Does USCAN Stand For?

What Does USCAN Stand For?

Created in 1989, The U.S. Climate Action Network (abbreviated USCAN) is a network of organizations dedicated to fighting climate change. An affiliate of the global Climate Action Network (CAN), USCAN works to connect the multiple organizations working to spread awareness and tackle an issue that has reached critical levels of urgency.

USCAN has been present at all major environmental summits. It aided in developing the policy at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and again for the Kyoto protocol in 1997. Since 2007, it has worked to lobby support for environmentally friendly policies against a notoriously resistant government, both at home and internationally.

Currently, USCAN is focusing on supporting five key areas. The first is the Clean Air Act, which regulates emissions and controls the quality of air and the impact of industrial activity on the ozone layer. The second is monitoring the international agreements the United States makes in order to cooperate with international efforts in conservation. The third is raising awareness regarding tar sands, where the U.S. extracts oil through a process that causes huge trauma to the environment, with the destruction of habitat, water wastage and the release of toxins that lead to cancer and respiratory infections. They conduct continuous climate polls to keep a finger on the pulse of the nation’s interest in climate change and environmental issues.

Recently, they have also been involved in garnering support and spreading awareness of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, an extensive proposal outlining the steps the nation should take in order to balance economic progress with vital environmental conservation.

USCAN is part of a large group of organizations – 700 worldwide – working together to fight the rapid destruction of our environment. As an organization themselves, they have little sway but have collaborated to harness the power of several individuals and institutions to rally the support necessary to influence policymakers. As stated in their description, “Only by working together to build effective pressure on the policymakers at all levels of government will we win the strong actions required to confront the climate crisis.”

– Farahnaz Mohammed

Sources: USCAN, CAN, Climate Action Plan
Photo: Flickr

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What Does BRAC USA Do?

What Does BRAC USA Do?
BRAC USA is part of the largest international development program in the world, BRAC, which aids the world’s extreme poor through sustainable solutions to poverty. Though the program focuses on an American audience, its effect is felt globally. By raising awareness in the United States and other developed nations, BRAC USA allows Americans and others to invest in their own future, as well as the futures of those in extreme poverty.

BRAC is an international development organization that focuses on alleviating poverty and issues related to poverty in 11 developing nations across the globe. Their organization model concentrates on empowerment of the poor through local, community-based programs, such as “barefoot lawyers,” a project that increases awareness legal rights and delivers services to the doorsteps of the poor. This program helps impoverished individuals recognize and defend their legal rights, including vital property rights.

Most important to its continued success, the international organization takes an approach mindful of establishing self-sustainable programs to better equip target communities, both women and farmers, to continue to address the causes and symptoms of extreme poverty and take matters into their own hands. The organization’s micro-financing program offers micro-loans to women to promote economic entrepreneurship in local communities and revitalize local economies, while also addressing issues related to gender inequality.

BRAC USA, a sub-group of BRAC, reaches out to Americans to encourage support for the global program in three ways: public education, strategic and program services, and grant-making. In the context of public education, the United States-based BRAC branch employs social and traditional media, as well as speaking engagements and word of mouth initiatives to increase American awareness of global poverty and the organization’s work. Some of the strategic and program services supported by BRAC USA include assistance with design and implementation of international development projects in developing nations, alongside enabling access to financing that makes these projects feasible. This assistance also takes the form of grants, made possible by the American program.

Programs like BRAC USA that encourage sustainable development in developing nations actually give back to developed nations, like the United States. By promoting development abroad, the program increases the likelihood that target nations will foster a market for developed-world goods. That is, by creating sustainable markets, we also create sustainable consumers that are historically proven to direct their newly-acquired purchasing power toward the nation providing initial development aid. To encourage investment in our own economy, we have all the more reason to encourage market development and a sustainable economy in developing nations abroad.

– Herman Watson

Sources: BRAC USA, The Borgen Project

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How a Teenage Soccer Player Provides Clean Water

How a Teenage Soccer Player Provides Clean Water
Over a year ago, Jake Yonally of Santa Barbara joined the youth movement for global water access, Hands4Others (H4O). He and his teammates in the Santa Barbara Soccer Club even went on to create their own chapter, Soccer4Water. Hands4Others is a group of young people who came together to look past their own lives and help those in need. It was started by 3 local teenagers after they witnessed the disparity between those with water and those without. Their goal is to provide sustainable access to clean water all across the world by helping more than two million people in 500 villages by 2015. They have already helped over 100,000 people in 10 countries and are quite capable of executing their goals.

Presidio Sports, Santa Barbara’s sports news site, interviewed Jake when he came back from his most recent trip to Honduras. There he and others from Hands4Others worked for a week to install safe water systems and latrines for the people of various villages across South America. Honduras is among the poorest countries in Latin America, with 60% of its population living below the poverty line. And where there is poverty, there is a lack of clean drinking water.

Jake was not just building while he was in Honduras, though. He and his teammates also spent time playing soccer with children in the village with balls donated by the soccer club. He stated, “I love to connect with people through soccer and help others at the same time.” His coach, family, and the board members of the soccer club all stand behind his dream of helping others.

Jake, his teammates, and other members of their soccer club raised money in support of his goal to get a total of $10,000 to provide an entire clean water system for a village during the Hands4Others Walk4Water last June in Santa Barbara. Jake has also raised money by scoring goals in soccer matches, sending out direct appeal letters, and working in his family’s olive grove in his free time. So far, he has raised 60% of his goal and hopes to reach the full amount by the end of the summer.

Without the assistance of people like Jake and his team, 9 million people will die from a lack of clean water to drink this year alone. But when someone stands up and decides they will no longer accept the idea that so many people live in poverty, we see real sustainable change take place.

– Chelsea Evans

Sources: Presidio Sports, Hands4Others, World Vision