Sunday, May 31, 2015
World Population
http://reachingthenationsamongus.org/2015/03/most-populous-countries-least-reached/
India - documentaries
Free Lunch in Primary Schools - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f227UYDJ7EU
Recycling Cooperatives - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li_jUGnaLxE;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_IMpVnRtno
Toilet Innovation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCecQrh8AZo
Poverty and slavery - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnhwAnIXYOg
Aspen Institute Idea Blog - Ending Poverty
By Jacob Lief, Guest Blogger
In April of 2007, I stood on the main stage at the Clinton Global Initiative. The organization I'd co-founded, Ubuntu Education Fund, had spent eight years working in the townships of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. I boasted about our successes, and emphasized one number: that we reached 40,000 children. That number resonated--over the next year, money rolled in. We pulled in over $8 million during our fundraising year, received a $4.5 million five-year PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief)grant, and began feverishly designing programming around specific outputs--providing computers to schools, distributing a million condoms.
We were not alone in our obsession with scale. In order for people to see a nonprofit as successful, it has to reach enormous numbers of people across enormous areas of the world. Yet something felt off. It was true that we reached forty thousand, but we only touched them. Putting computers into schools--a major initiative of Ubuntu's at the time--was a great thing, but it didn't make a child's day-to-day life easier, or significantly alter the course of her life.
And then there's the sheer complexity of poverty in our community. For example, I'd met a young boy named Lwando through a poetry group that one of my friends, a schoolteacher, had organized in the local elementary school. Lwando was a skinny, engaging kid with a killer Mandela impression. One evening he asked if I could give him a ride home. We got in my car and he gave me directions, and we pulled up to a tiny shack made of corrugated zinc. I walked him inside, and realized he was living there alone. The door stood ajar behind us, because it didn't fit properly in the frame. Through the darkness, I could see a thin mattress in one corner. The room was damp and penetratingly cold. Lwando was part of Ubuntu's programming. Should we count him as one of forty thousand because he now knew how to use a word-processing program, even though fundamentally his life remained completely unstable?
So we started to go deeper. We kept our focus tight, despite the temptation to expand--we stayed within a 7-kilometer zone, in a community of about 400,000 people. We began to work within children's homes, helping to bring safety and stability to the environment around them. We provided health services, tutoring, nutritional support, summer camps, counseling, and whatever incidentals a child needed along the way: glasses, a proper desk and lamp for studying, even underwear. We believe that our children in the townships of South Africa deserve what children all around the world deserve--everything. Many of these students needed a parent, and that's how we approached each situation: is this what a parent would do? And we realized that emphasizing scale no longer made sense--parenting isn't scalable. You can't raise a child in a twelve-month grant cycle.
But there are ways to measure impact, and, in 2011, a donor gave us a grant that allowed McKinsey and Company to analyze Ubuntu's practices and look closely at our results. The data showed that a child who graduates from the Ubuntu program adds a $195,000 net lifetime contribution to society, while a child in our community who is not in our program costs society $9,000. McKinsey also found that every $1 invested in an Ubuntu client yields real lifetime earnings of $8.70 for that child. These findings are not just numbers that prove our model works; they represent real, tangible outcomes for the future of children living in Port Elizabeth, and the future of a poverty-ridden community.
Lwando is living proof that our model transforms the trajectory of our children's lives. When I met him in 2002 he was a twelve year old fending for himself. In 2012, after ten years in Ubuntu's programs and having received one of our university scholarships, he graduated from the University of Cape Town. He now works in the communications and marketing department of that university. He's a thriving young professional whose accomplishments would make any parent proud. He just happened to grow up in poverty. We may not have forty-thousand Lwandos, but even one Lwando means success.
Our model works. I've seen plenty of examples of focused interventions producing remarkable results. It's not a new innovation but an old recipe — stay with the children we work with and support them with everything they need. We must remember how much our own parents gave us--that's what we need to provide. But unless the philanthropic community refines its notion of scale we won't see sustainable poverty reduction over the next decade.
We need to create an environment that will allow organizations to stay focused, grow slow and stick with a community long enough to raise a child. The next big idea to end poverty is to stay small.
Jacob Lief is founder and CEO of the Ubuntu Education Fund and an Aspen Global Leadership Network fellow.
http://www.aspeninstitute.org/about/blog/ending-poverty-next-big-idea-stay-smallhttp://www.aspeninstitute.org/about/international-partners
Bastyr University - San Diego California - Herbal Garden Desert
Herbal Garden Desert
July 17, 2014
Student-led project creates oasis for learning botanical medicine.
Bastyr University California's two-year-old campus has passionate students, dedicated faculty, extensive clinical, lab, and culinary space, and miles of sparkling beaches nearby. One thing it does not yet have is a campus garden.
Four naturopathic medicine students set out to fix that by building a garden on a student's property in the nearby Santa Rosa Mountains. Their Peace Garden lets students practice their newfound skills in botanical medicine and nutrition. It lets them work with their hands to balance the work of their minds in the classroom. And it offers a community space for gathering around a shared passion: the healing power of living things.
"This is exactly what we've been needing," says student Christina Reinhart, who offered her property north of the San Diego campus for the garden. "It's another place to be together. And it's a place to escape from the busyness of the world, to fill ourselves with the quietness of nature."
Reinhart and four classmates broke ground in early spring 2014, developing plots for medicinal plants like chamomile, calendula and marshmallow and heat-tolerant vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, chard and cucumber. They planted melons suitable to the dry climate. In the center, they planted a heart-shaped garden with flowering cosmos bipinnatus and starflower. They planted a mimosa tree, the tree of happiness in traditional Chinese medicine. They planted holy basil, a plant used in ayurvedic medicine to balance the body.
At a work party in June, classmates and faculty from the Doctor of Naturopathic Medicineprogram came out to join them in planting and celebrating. They have more work planned going forward.
"It's been a great way to build community," says Jonci Jensen, ND, an assistant professor in the School of Naturopathic Medicine. "It's in this amazingly beautiful and fantastically energetic location."
Reinhart grew up gardening with her mother and grandmother on a farm in North Dakota.
"Gardening is something I've done ever since I can remember," she says. "It's part of who I am."
She earned a Bachelor of Science in Herbal Sciences from Bastyr University's Kenmore, Washington, campus in 2008, working in the extensive culinary and medicinal herb gardens. After graduation, she studied ayurvedic medicine in India and then worked at herbal medicine farms and companies in Oregon.
Moving to San Diego meant learning to garden in yet another climate. She draws inspiration from her three-year-old son, wanting to provide a magical space for him and other children to explore. She plans tunnels of jasmine and other "structures made of plants that evoke a sense of magic." She is collaborating with a neighbor who designs topiaries for Disneyland, exploring the possibility of similar creations on her two acres.
A group of first-year classmates — Namuun Bat, Christina Struble, Laura Hammil, Ruth Dana — joined her through their Naturopathic Theory and Practice class, which explores the philosophy and spirit of natural medicine. In the spring quarter, students choose group projects that enrich their community in some way. Another group prepared a lactation room for mothers on campus, and groups in Kenmore offered babysitting for classmates or lived in tents to raise money for homeless medical care.
"As students and doctors, we all have this desire to do something to make things better," says Dr. Jensen, who teaches the theory and practice course in San Diego. "For Christina, this was a really lovely way to give back to her community. And fitting, because she is an herbalist at heart."
http://www.bastyr.edu/news/general-news-home-page/2014/07/california-students-build-herbal-garden-desert
Choice Humanitarian
CHOICE was founded in 1982 by Dr. Tim Evans and Dr. James Mayfield and is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
CHOICE Humanitarian expeditions work two ways. You connect with villagers. Villagers connect with you. In the process a dynamic emerges that helps push poverty out of our lives.
Expedition volunteers help villagers implement planned improvements. Each village plans specific projects according to their unique needs and priorities. Depending on the needs at the time of the expedition, volunteers could be working on any of a wide range of projects such as classroom construction, community water systems, bio-gas digesters, health clinics, personal hygiene workshops, pit latrines, micro-enterprise training, and other fundamental village needs. Medical and dental services can be added as components to expeditions on request.
CHOICE expedition fees range from $1995 to $2195 per person (family discounts available).
Airfare is not included in CHOICE expedition fees.
Fees include two nights’ hotel accommodations, land transportation, village lodging, village meals, certified leaders, project costs and materials.
CHOICE expeditions are open to the general public. Participants from all backgrounds and ages are welcome. Children as young as 10 and even seniors in their 70’s have participated in CHOICE expeditions. There is no expectation for volunteers to push beyond the limits of their physical capability while helping with projects that require manual labor. Participants will face unique circumstances that will challenge, educate, and enlighten. You will venture along rugged dirt roads – or endure scenic hikes - before arriving at each village. While working and living among these developing communities, you are treated as a welcomed guest, participating in various activities and chores that often reflect the simple things of village life. For your health and safety, seniors over 60 are required to submit a recent EKG. Parents are encouraged to evaluate the maturity level of their children in dealing with new surroundings and a rigorous schedule in the village. Participants should expect the unexpected, maintain a sense of humor, and be prepared to make friends and memories that will last a lifetime.
All CHOICE Humanitarian In-Country Directors are natives of their respective countries. They have deep-seated roots in their communities. In some cases, CHOICE In-Country Directors have experienced extreme poverty in their own lives. Their love of the people they serve gives them the commitment to make the CHOICE Humanitarian model work.
CHOICE helps a village create a community operational platform that clearly defines roles and responsibilities within the community in a way that resources coming into their vision can be properly transformed into sustainable chance. The key is that the community itself is directly responsible for the social, financial and environmental sustainability of the initiative, not the outside partner.
At the ‘District’ Level, CHOICE focuses on ‘clusters’ of self-developing villages. This approach allows us to lever opportunities for many villages at a time rather than one at a time. It organizes an entire district around a unified vision for the area and can literally impact populations of hundreds of thousands. Acting with a single voice, these unified villages can strongly encourage local government to respond to their needs with support to the major infrastructure shortfalls such as roadways, electricity, advanced education and hospitals.
Scaled-up ‘District’ program has many advantages:
- It demonstrates to funding partners, governments, policy makers, and other NGOs, an approach and methodology that provides significant and sustainable results.
- It enables CHOICE to provide a platform for shared best practices leveraging single focused programming into a holistic solution set for the area.
- It is a model for the industry of how collaboration amplifies impact.
Long-Term Sustainable Solutions
Rather than participating in short-term service delivery, we focus on building long-term, sustainable solutions to issues related to extreme poverty.
Whom do we serve? CHOICE promotes personal, community, and district level opportunities for living meaningful and productive lives:
Whom do we serve? CHOICE promotes personal, community, and district level opportunities for living meaningful and productive lives:
- The Poor (rural villagers living in developing countries on approximately $1 - $2 per day). CHOICE assists the poor in moving from lives of perpetual struggle, isolation, and dependency to becoming fully capable of making choices that will improve their quality of life and of taking responsibility for their own development. The village is transformed from dependency to “self-developing.”
- Strategic Partners: Individuals, corporations, NGOs and governments. CHOICE assists individuals, corporations, and governments in bringing about the end of poverty through mutually beneficial programs and an educational curriculum that provides “Inter-Cultural Exchange”. We connect investors* and villagers in meaningful ways, impacting lives on both sides of the equation.
Bishnu Adhikari
http://choicehumanitarian.org/expeditions.php
http://choicehumanitarian.org/about_choice-country_directors.php
http://choicehumanitarian.org/what_we_do-continued.php
http://choicehumanitarian.org/partners.php
http://choicehumanitarian.org/about_choice-board_bios.php
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865627383/Mormon-humanitarian-Bishnu-Adhikari-family-safe-after-Nepal-earthquake.html?pg=all
Community Neighbor Efforts
Serve a Village
11732 Thomas Ave., Great Falls, VA 22066
The mission of Serve a Village is to support sustainable projects that help to improve the health, education, welfare and environment of needy communities throughout the world.
This is accomplished by:
- educating and empowering citizens of needy communities with the knowledge and skills they need to become successful supporters of these projects.
- facilitating a greater understanding of the unique values of the developing communities and of the interconnection between all communities worldwide, through volunteer humanitarian service expeditions that promote cross-cultural exchange.
- working with federal, state and local government entities, with charitable, non-profit and for-profit organizations and corporations, with educational institutions, and with private citizens to further our mission.
Serve a Village is currently working on four projects; we have one domestic project and three international projects. Where possible, we associate the international projects with our humanitarian service expeditions.
Serve a Village is a 100% Volunteer Organization with current 501(c)(3) status.
http://www.serveavillage.org/abouthttp://mormonchurch.org/777/mormon-family-runs-non-profit-charity-in-africa
Story:
Serve a Village was founded in 2006 in memory of Kathryn Hunt. Kathryn lived in South Africa for over 30 years, where her husband ran a stud cattle ranch. Kathryn's heart went out to the local impoverished villagers and she dedicated much of her time to improving their quality of life.
The poor people in this village lived in little more than tin shacks and the condition of these homes deeply bothered Kathryn. Her compassion led her to address this problem by creating and managing a home building project. Because of her efforts all of the villagers now have modern homes complete with electricity and running water.
Kathryn continued to serve her community. She built and supported two schools for the local children and ensured that proper medical care was available to all of the villagers.
As a mother, Kathryn encouraged all of her children to travel and serve others, both throughout the world and in their own local communities. Although not officially organized under the Serve a Village title, the founders of Serve a Village have implemented humanitarian projects continually over the last 20 years. We obtained 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in 2010.
Today, Serve a Village continues to work in South Africa, but we have also expanded our activities extensively. We seek to both help both the poor and needy in our own community, as well as in communities around the world. We invite you to participate in our projects and join our service expeditions!
UCF - Non-profit Management, Events, Foundation
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nonprofit-Management-Student-Association-at-
UCF/160564343979052
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