Archive for category: Activism

Information and stories on social activism.

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Coldplay Stands Up for Girls Living in Poverty

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Today, 62 million adolescent girls around the world are not receiving an education.

Together, Global Poverty Project and the band Coldplay would like to change this. As partners, the dynamic duo will encourage countries to vote in favor of global education, ideally announcing their support at the Global Citizen Festival in September, where Coldplay will perform.

If countries fund continued education, extreme poverty can be alleviated. An annual $39 billion will provide these girls with 12 years of free, sustainable education – the same amount it costs to fund eight days of global military spending. Continued education has the power to provide the impoverished with sustainable livings, better health and overall independence.

In the past several years, Coldplay has positively used their fame to shed light on the issue of global poverty. As a headliner at the 2015 Global Citizen Festival this September, the English band will bring attention to the Global Goals, a set of 17 initiatives that seek to end extreme poverty, inequality and climate change. The first goal is to end poverty, but the fourth goal is to ensure unbiased, quality education for all humans.

Due to gender inequality, girls are often refused an education. Not only is providing girls with an education a basic human right, but it will also help to break the cycle of extreme global poverty. Girls that go to school are more likely to postpone unwanted marriages and pregnancies, are less susceptible to HIV and AIDS and gain knowledge and skills that lead to a sustainable life with increased earning.

Coldplay is calling on world leaders to support global education to ensure that all humans are granted access to quality education, especially girls that are held back by outdated gender inequalities. Through social media, partnerships with honorable nonprofits and their earned fame, Coldplay chooses to stand up for the girls, understanding that education has the power to end global poverty.

– Sarah Sheppard

Sources: Global Citizen, Global Goals, UNICEF
Photo: Under the Gun Review

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Fashion Project: Supports Good Causes

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Raising money for charity is a mission that many organizations and movements have, but it is their techniques what makes them different.

Fashion Project has the mission to raise as much money as possible in order to donate it to charity and humanitarian causes. They achieve this through the creation of a community that donates and shops for clothing pieces to support causes these donors and buyers care about.

According to Fashion Project’s official website, this technique has placed them as the industry leader in online clothing donation.

The designer brands that the Fashion Project sells and accepts for donation are Fendi, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Alexander Wang, Bottega Veneta, Burberry, Chanel, Dolce Vita, Elie Saab, Free People, Gucci, Hermes, Lanvin, Prada, Michael Kors and Valentino, among others.

Once donors select the cause they want to support, they can donate their gently used or new designer clothes, shoes and accessories. Fashion Project covers shipping and they also photograph the donated clothing pieces in order to sell them in their online boutique for buyers. In addition, clothing and accessories donors will get a tax receipt.

While their online shop offers sale prices in designer brand items, buyers can take advantage of the savings these items offer and, at the same time, their purchase provides a donation to charity.

Up to 55 percent of the sells of Fashion Project’s online shop are directed to support different charity programs.

As of today, Fashion Project has raised around $700,000 for charity, and is supporting 2,016 charities and organizations.

Some of the charity partners that Fashion Project supports are She’s The First (sponsors girl’s education in developing countries), Neads (dogs to help the deaf and disabled people), Apne Aap Women Worldwide (empowers women to gain independence) and Women’s Global Empowerment Fund (produces programs that reduce poverty and the marginalization of women and their families), among others.

On the other hand, people can also create their own “Fashion Project” as a fundraising campaign.
Fashion Project gives fundraisers the necessary tools to create their fundraising personalized site so they can invite people to donate or shop fashion items for a good cause. Once the fundraiser reaches his goal, Fashion Project will direct their raise to its destination.

This project has been growing with the years to a point in where Fashion Project has partnered with Neiman Marcus, and the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. The project has also launched donation programs with Nordstrom, Joie and Elie Tahari, among others.

According to an article published by Forbes, partnerships with retailers have been an important aspect to spread Fashion Project’s mission.

The most popular designer brands on the online shop are Coach, Theory, Kate Spade, Michael Kors and Tory Burch. Most of the donors and buyers are from the United States but they have had donations from Europe countries interested in donating to the cause and supporting the mission of Fashion Project.

– Diana Fernanda Leon

Sources: Forbes, Fashion Project 1, Fashion Project 2, Fashion Project 3
Photo: Boston.com

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Musicians Raise Awareness Through Global Citizen Festival

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The 2015 Global Citizen Festival seeks to spread awareness of world poverty through music. The concert takes place on September 26 on the Great Lawn in Central Park, New York City.

In 2000, countries around the world joined together to create the Millennium Development Goals, a kind of 15-year checklist for tackling world issues such as hunger, disease, lack of shelter, education and gender equality. For four years, the Global Citizen Festival has sought to engage citizens and world leaders with pressing world issues. This year, the concert aims to bring attention to the United Nations’ Global Goals, which are 17 new objectives for ending extreme poverty by 2030. World leaders from 193 countries will solidify these objectives in September.

Performers at the concert include Beyoncé, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and Pearl Jam.

Beyoncé’s organization, Chime for Change, partners with the event. The group strives to empower, educate and protect women and girls around the world. Beyoncé hopes the concert will bring hundreds of initiatives that are dedicated to changing lives.

Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, agreed be the creative curator of the festival for the next 15 years, the same amount of time that the United Nations hopes to completely eradicate poverty.

English singer-songwriter, Ed Sheeran says, “I look forward to sharing the stage with such an amazing lineup of artists in an effort to raise awareness, educate others and work toward the goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030. I truly believe it’s possible if we all work together.”

“People living on less than $1.50 a day deserve the opportunity to lift themselves up out of extreme poverty,” added Pearl Jam guitarist, Stone Gossard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rLHBQ282xE

Tickets to the concert are free. All that is required is a promise to take action against injustices around the world. Some of these actions could include sending emails to political leaders, signing petitions or making phone calls or sending tweets to senators.

The steps to earn tickets are called Action Journeys. By completing each action, participants are entered into a drawing to receive two tickets. After each drawing, new Action Journeys are opened. Not only will participants increase their chances of winning tickets by completing more Action Journeys, but they will also be increasing awareness of world issues.

The Global Citizen Festival will be targeting six essential world problems: girls and women, food and hunger, education, global health, water, sanitation and hygiene, and financing.

Chief executive of the Global Poverty Project, Hugh Evans, says, “The world has halved extreme poverty in the last 15 years, but to end it in the next 15, there’s a whole lot of things we need to make that a reality.”

To participate in the Action Journeys or to see more information, visit globalcitizen.org.

– Kelsey Parrotte

Sources: ArtsBeat, BBC, Cosmopolitan, Global Citizen, Rappler, Rolling Stone
Photo: Digital Trends

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Man Runs Across the Country to Fight Global Poverty

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Remember in “Forrest Gump” when Tom Hanks’ title character ran across the country? Everyone asked him why he did it and he said he just felt like running. So he ran.

Inspired by his favorite film, Barclay Oudersluys is currently on a run across the United States in an event he titled Project Gump. The 23-year-old began his trip in California and plans to end in Maine in less than 100 days, for a total of 3,200 miles.

But Oudersluys isn’t running simply for the sake of a good run; he is on a cross-country run to raise awareness and funds for the Hall Step Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to ending global poverty. Founded in 2009 by professional runners Ryan and Sara Hall, the organization fights extreme poverty by improving health. During his 100-day run, Oudersluys would like to raise $10,000 for the organization.

The journey quite accurately follows that of Forrest Gump’s. It began at Santa Monica Pier and will end at the famous Marshall Point Lighthouse, just like in the movie. Running about 32 miles everyday in five to seven hours, Oudersluys has covered over 2,000 miles in 68 days.

Fortunately, Oudersluys has some seriously awesome friends that are driving cross-country in a van full of food, water and clothes as he runs. He typically rests in the back of the van or drives to a hotel each night.

Running across the country surely means seeing historical landmarks and meeting interesting people and Oudersluys has definitely seen some cool things, including another runner journeying across the country in the opposite direction.

Documenting his journey on Twitter and Instagram, Oudersluys hasn’t forgotten what his run is all about–lending his voice (or legs) to the fight against global poverty. Check out Project Gump’s mission and fundraising progress at their website, or follow Oudersluys on social media.

– Sarah Sheppard

Sources: Telegraph, 6abc, The Steps Foundation
Photo: Flickr

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UNICEF’s Celebrity Goodwill Ambassadors

Goodwill_Ambassadors
What do Selena Gomez, Sarah Jessica Parker and David Beckham have in common? They are all Celebrity Goodwill Ambassadors for UNICEF.

Founded in 1946 by the United Nations and made a permanent organization of the United Nations in 1953, the United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, works to ensure the rights of children. According to the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, children have rights to education, protection, health care, shelter and good nutrition. In the poorest regions of the world, children may be denied these rights because of a lack of access to resources, goods and services.

UNICEF has celebrity ambassadors and supporters in countries around the globe. The ambassadors help to raise awareness of global children’s needs, advocate to world leaders for children’s rights and set an example as globally aware citizens. There are three types of Goodwill Ambassadors and Advocates: international, regional and national. These advocates raise awareness internationally, regionally or nationally, with respect to their position.

The Celebrity Goodwill Ambassador program began in 1954 with its first ambassador, the famous entertainer on the screen and on Broadway, Danny Kaye. Following Kaye were other notable performers, actors, singers, athletes and celebrities. One such actor was Audrey Hepburn, who became a Goodwill Ambassador in 1989. In her time as an ambassador, Hepburn traveled to Turkey, Venezuela, Sudan and many other places, advocating for the rights of children.

Currently, there are over 20 international ambassadors, some of which include:

-Katy Perry: She was appointed to Goodwill Ambassador in 2013. Prior to this appointment, Perry had already visited Madagascar with UNICEF, and UNICEF used her song “Roar” in a public service announcement to help inspire girls.

-Liam Neeson: He became a Goodwilll Ambassador in 2011. Famous for his acting on Broadway and in feature films, such as Taken, which discusses trafficking in children and sexual exploitation, Neeson uses his fame to raise awareness of UNICEF’s causes, such as HIV and AIDS programs in Africa.

-David Beckham: Famous for his soccer skills on Manchester United, he used his interest in sports when he became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2005, focusing on UNICEF’s Sports Development program. Since then, he traveled with UNICEF to places including Sierra Leone and the Philippines. In 2015, he started 7:The David Beckham UNICEF Fund, which furthers UNICEF’s mission to protect children’s rights.

These celebrities are making a lasting change in the fight for children’s rights and programs dealing with the results of poverty. With new advocates and ambassadors every year, it seems UNICEF will be able to positively change the lives of children for another 62 years and counting.

– Rachelle Kredentser

Sources: UNICEF 1, UNICEF 2, Look to the Stars 1, Look to the Stars 2, UNICEF 3, UNICEF 4, UNICEF 5, UNICEF 6, IMBD
Photo: Daily News

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Empact Northwest: Rapid Ready Response When Disaster Strikes

Empact Northwest: Rapid Ready Response to Disaster - TBP
On April 25, a massive earthquake of magnitude 7.8 rocked the tiny country of Nepal. Widespread devastation resulted and the aftermath left hundreds of people entombed in concrete graves. As the international relief effort mobilized, smaller teams of volunteers responded from all over the world using money from their own pockets. One of these teams was Empact Northwest.

Empact Northwest, a nonprofit volunteer organization, hails from Kitsap County, Washington. They specialize in dispatching technical rescue operations locally, regionally, nationally and internationally to communities in need. The group’s motto is “Empathy in action” and on April 27, empathy turned into action when they deployed as Disaster Team 1 to Nepal.

The epicenter of the earthquake that struck Nepal was located in the Lamjung District northwest of Katmandu, a part of Gandaki Zone and one of the seventy-five districts of Nepal, a landlocked country in South Asia. The district, with Besisahar as its headquarters, covers an area of 1,692 squared kilometeres and has a population of 167,724, as of 2011. Lamjung mainly consists of agricultural villages.

After establishing an operation base in Katmandu, Disaster Team 1 became USA-11 by the United Nations Disaster Assistance Center (UNDAC) and were then assigned to the village of Lanmang. The team drove and hiked over rough terrain and demolished roads before they reached the village, where they provided rescue operations and conveyed vital assessment information to the UNDAC. Later, USA-11 partnered with a rescue group from Burnaby, British Columbia in the town of Barabise, conducting K-9 search and rescue tactics.

Empact Northwest is certainly not a newcomer to the international aid scene. The organization is only about five years old, but since its formation, inspired by work done after an earthquake in Haiti, it has been involved in numerous life-saving missions around the world. Empact Northwest offers technical rope and urban search and rescue as well as emergency medical services to disaster-stricken communities. Not only providing rescue, they also offer preventative education to at-risk populations.

In addition to the recent Nepal disaster, since 2010 Empact Northwest has responded to situations in Haiti, Pakistan, Japan, Sierra Leone and the Philippines, providing relief and rescue in catastrophes ranging from earthquakes to tsunamis. It also provides medical relief, logistics and educational mission projects.

Between catastrophes, Empact Northwest is not sitting around idly. The organization is working to provide emergency medical technician training to hundreds of people in Haiti in an attempt to help Haitians sustain a skilled medical work force.

There seems to be no shortage of tragedies in the world, but it is thanks to organizations like Empact Northwest that people are able to cope with these hardships as best they can. In just five short years, Empact Northwest has made an incredible contribution to the globe’s developing countries by saving lives in communities where poverty and hardship are made painfully worse by natural disasters.

– Jason Zimmerman

Sources: Empact Northwest, UNOCHA, CBS
Photo: Empact Northwest

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Videre est Credere: London’s (Secret) Eye on Human Rights

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Videre est Credere equips local activists with small, hidden video-capable technologies. The tools give oppressed communities the power to capture and distribute recorded evidence of human rights violations surrounding them.

The name literally means “to see is to believe” in Latin. CEO Oren Yakobovich and Board Chairman Uri Fruchtmann founded the project in 2008. The international charitable organization is based in London, and since its launch, it has trained more than 500 activists in how to effectively plan, create and deliver useful footage.

The methodology is simple. First, local activists receive training on how to safely document effective and convincing footage. Then, Videre collects, verifies, re-verifies and distributes the evidence free-of-charge to those who can turn it into actual change on the ground.

The video cameras and distribution equipment are provided through personal training in security, filming and verification. Videre’s security process is of the utmost importance as it is responsible for data storage, communication encryption, counter-surveillance and authenticity.

Videre works with numerous influential allies including international decision-makers, courts, lawyers, civil society, local communities and a global media network of over 100 media outlets, according to the Videre site. Prior, these distribution clients are agreed upon by Videre, its partner organizations and trusted advisers.

Videre then gathers and processes the footage itself. The organization’s local networks label points of interest so that the undercover recorders have an idea of what to capture. These plans consider what images Videre needs, where they will have the most impact, and what risks are involved, according to the Videre site. Further, the evidence is analyzed by a series of tests from forensic testing to special verification teams in the field. Videre archives all materials in the case of future court cases, briefings or the like.

Constant feedback is also available throughout Videre’s work.

Videre’s six central goals are to strengthen freedom of speech, enhance accountability and justice, protect human rights defenders, expose human rights violations, deter violence and political intimidation, and empower oppressed communities.

So far, the Videre team has enlisted hundreds of human rights activists in several countries around the world. Videre evidence has been used in court, decision-making, NGO advocacy and the media, surrounding issues like political intimidation, corruption, political manipulation of aid and female genital mutilation.

– Lin Sabones

Sources: Videre Est Credere, TED
Photo: Wired

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Baseball Road Trip Raises Awareness for Global Poverty

Baseball Road Trip Raises Awareness for Global Poverty -TBP
Baseball is America’s favorite pastime, and paying a visit to all 30 Major League Baseball parks in the country is surely on the bucket list of any fan of the game. Jodi and Jack Petrinovich of Washington state began their baseball road trip in April and plan to return home at the end of July, after visiting every park in the country.

What appears to be an all-American road trip at first glance, is actually much more. The Petrinovichs set out on their journey with an honorable mission: to raise awareness and spread the word about Unbound, a nonprofit organization that provides aid to people around the world living in poverty.

In 20 countries, Unbound provides the opportunity for people to become sponsors for children, young adults or elders. That sponsorship supplies families with the tools they need to become self-sufficient. By empowering others to succeed, Unbound lifts people out of poverty.

Ideally, the Petrinovichs would like to find a person at each baseball park who will sponsor a child. They themselves began sponsoring a young girl from Mexico several years ago, providing her with donations and two pen pals.

As natives of the Evergreen State, the couple generally represents the Seattle Mariners at each ballpark across the country. When the Mariners are not playing, this tends to spark conversation, providing the perfect gateway for the pair to inform others about Unbound and their admirable mission to get more people involved.

As their baseball journey reaches its final stages, the Petrinovichs have inspired 10 people to become sponsors for a child in need. The couple is lending a voice to the voiceless, hitting a major homerun in the eradication of poverty.

– Sarah Sheppard

Sources: Unbound, The News Tribune
Photo: The News Tribune

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Schools in Kenya to Receive Free Internet

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Wananchi Group, the leading organization in terms of providing connectivity for the middle class in East Africa, is helping to install high-speed Internet at schools in Kenya.

Partnering with the Kenya Education Network, or KENET, and the County Government of Nairobi, the group is helping to give over 2,700 schools in Nairobi County unlimited access to the outside world at no cost.

The 15-month pilot program began in April 2014, with 245 schools receiving access to the network. Wananchi Group used the first three months to install the high-speed Internet at schools in Kenya, with the next 12 months being used to evaluate the progress of the program.

The group invested $2 million to provide Internet to the schools, most of which are private. The expectation is that students will be able to use the network to retrieve information from different parts of the world.

Wananchi Group will also provide a digital set top box to each school, which can be connected to a television that can deliver audio content to students. Pre-primary kindergartens will also be provided with a television to go with the digital set top box.

The initiative came after the Kenyan Government launched the National Broadband Strategy with the hope of making a “digital Kenya.” The strategy is helping to create a knowledge-based economy in the East African nation.

– Matt Wotus

Sources: IT News Africa, Wananchi Group
Photo: OPIC

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The Body Shop Foundation

Body Shop Foundation
Human rights, the environment and animal protection are all causes that The Body Shop Foundation advocates for.

This charitable company works closely with The Body Shop International, a company that sells beauty and makeup products, making many of The Body Shop products an option to donate to charity.

Since 1989, the foundation has been funding and giving money to different projects around the world that focus on working for a social and environmental change.

Besides The Body Shop beauty products, they create various fundraising activities that allow them to manage their three different grant programs: animal protection, environmental protection and human rights.

In the 2011 values report of The Body Shop International, BSI, the foundation’s money, during the years 2009 and 2010, was spent in Asia Pacific, Europe, the Americas and Africa Global.

For this foundation, the natural environment means everything, and fighting to preserve and protect the animals and the environment is an important aspect to conserve the planet. Some of the animal and environment protection organizations that The foundation has supported are PAMS, the World Cetacean Alliance, the Orangutan Foundation and Wateraid, among others.

In the human rights area, The foundation has the belief that all basic rights should be given to everyone. The foundation supports organizations that fight for these means and give a voice to those who do not have one. Some of the human rights organizations that the foundation has supported are Cybersmile, Kaibosh, Changing Faces, Compassionate Hearts and Children on the Edge.

According to the 2014 impact report of the foundation, wildlife conservation, animal welfare, climate change, domestic violence, disability, poverty, child protection, access to water, recycling, forest conservation and water conservation were some of the funded issues by the foundation.

As another option, the foundation also provides volunteer opportunities in the areas of London and Littlehampton as another charitable method to advocate for the humanitarian causes they support.

The Body Shop’s 2015 fundraising product is called “Soft Hands Kind Heart.” The product is a hand cream sold in every The Body Shop store worldwide, and every purchase becomes a donation to the foundation.

For every “Soft Hands Kind Heart” cream sold, The Shop will donate £1.50 (US$2.33) to the foundation, helping it with the creation and success of its charitable programs. This beauty and makeup company is making a difference that contributes with the betterment of the world through charitable activities and fundraising projects.

The BSI, working hand in hand with the foundation, is an example of a company that provides and sells quality products to its customers at the same time as it provides donations to the organization. In tandem, it is also able to support and advocate for their three focuses: human rights, environmental protection and animal protection.

– Diana Fernanda Leon

Sources: The Body Shop Foundation 1, The Body Shop Foundation 2, The Body Shop Foundation 3, The Body Shop Foundation 4, The Body Shop Foundation 5, The Body Shop USA
Photo: The Body Shop Foundation