NGO Partner

When you have a minute, check out this great slide show courtesy of the International Rescue Committee who’s on the ground in Haiti doing great work, and helping the region rebuild.

Check it out here.

Calling all photographers! Our partners at InterAction just launched their 8th annual photo contest—and they want you to apply. They’re asking that folks submit “provocative photos that illustrate innovative, effective and inspiring efforts in international relief and development” that take place in the field outside of the US. Deadline for entry is March 30th—and six winners get a prize!

For full details on the competition, click here.

Check out this great opportunity from our friends at Global Health Corps:

We are excited to announce that applications are now open for Global Health Corps (GHC) fellowships in Rwanda, Malawi, Burundi, and the United States.

GHC is a fellowship program that pairs young professionals from the United States with young professionals from our partner countries. This pair then works in year-long placements with leading non-profits in global health. You can watch a short video on our work here.

Our work is driven by a belief that a new generation of global health leaders with diverse skill-sets must be fostered and empowered in order to bring about innovative solutions to the extreme inequity in health outcomes around the world. GHC works to build this movement by recruiting, training, connecting, and supporting future leaders in global health. In addition to placing fellows with inspiring and effective organizations, we provide mentorship, training, and a community of alumni to help fellows build careers in global health.

Our first class of 22 fellows launched in August 2009, and they’re already making a significant impact in the field. Andrew Peterson left his job as a product manager at Google to take a GHC fellowship. He’s working with Goodluck Minja, a graduate in Computer Science from the ICS Institute in Dar es Salaam, to enhance the supply chain system for essential medicines in rural Tanzania. Emily Bearse finished her Masters in Public Health at Boston University. She accepted a fellowship working with Jeffrey Misomali, a graduate of the University of Malawi in Environmental Science and Technology, to help implement a new expert client program to support the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS in rural Malawi.

All of our fellows are writing and posting videos from their sites at fellows.ghcorps.org. If you’re interested in helping to build this movement, please check out this year’s positions at apply.ghcorps.org. Friday, March 5th is the deadline for American applicants, and for international applicants it’s April 1st.

-Dave Ryan, Founding Director, Global Health Corps

Here’s a partner post about an International Women’s Day event from our friends at Women for Women International.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo—the site of over 5 million deaths and hundreds of thousands of rapes in a conflict spanning more than a decade—women are imagining peace. They say peace means being able to live and work freely. Peace means walking to the fields without fear of rape. Peace means a more prosperous future, harvesting from the fields the fruits of their own labor. Yet war wages on.

To honor the resilience of these and the millions of other women survivors of war around the world, we at Women for Women International are hosting a global campaign called Join me on the Bridge. On International Women’s Day (Monday, March 8), we’ll unite women and men on bridges all over the world—from San Francisco to Congo—calling for peace and development in an unprecedented show of global solidarity.

We want YOU to join us! Here’s how:

1. Attend an event. We’re hosting special festivities on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City and on the Millennium Bridge in London. But make sure to check out our full list of bridge events being organized around the world by partner organizations and supporters like you.
2. Don’t see a bridge event near you? Bring the campaign to your community by organizing your own event.
3. Sign our supporter pledge to demonstrate your commitment to an investment in women and your desire for peace and development worldwide.
4. Share this blog post with your friends on Facebook and Twitter!

We truly hope that you’ll join us as we stand alongside the women in Congo and make a collective call for peace.

-Jennifer Morabito, Women for Women International

On Thursday, March 4 join Marisa Tomei, Maria Bello, India.Arie, Nicholas Kristof, Sheryl WuDunn and others in the largest International Women’s Day celebration on the planet.

Inspired by stories from the critically-acclaimed book “Half the Sky” by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, CARE’s Half the Sky event – in nearly 500 movie theatres for just one night – will feature an uplifting night of music, celebrity discussion and film. With performances and appearances by India.Arie, Maria Bello, Michael Franti, Dr. Helene Gayle of CARE, Angelique Kidjo, Nicholas Kristof, Marisa Tomei, Sarah, Duchess of York, Sheryl WuDunn and other notables, as well as the world premiere of “Woinshet,” a powerful short film directed by Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei and Lisa Leone, this night will move you to empower women and girls in the fight against poverty and oppression.

Check out a short video about the Half the Sky event:

CARE’s Half the Sky event will take place at 7:30 pm in all time zones in nearly 500 movie theatres in the U.S. and Canada. Tickets are approximately $10-$12.50 depending on the theatre and a portion of ticket sales goes to support CARE. To find a theatre near you and purchase tickets today visit www.halftheskylive.com.

-Stephanie Libby, CARE

Women Thrive Worldwide picked up a great op-ed from Senator Ben Cardin (MD) discuss his support of the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA). Below is an excerpt– you can get more background on the IVAWA here.

Senator Cardin:

Violence against women ranges from gang rape to domestic violence and from acid burnings to so-called honor killings. It also includes sexual violence as a tool of war, such as what is now occurring on a vast scale in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has become a serious public health epidemic and a barrier to solving global problems such as poverty and HIV/AIDS. It devastates the lives of millions of women and girls, and it knows no national or cultural barriers.

Women who are abused frequently die or face serious injury and are at much greater risk of dying in pregnancy, having children who die in childhood, and of contracting HIV/AIDS.

What most people don’t realize is that violence against women is also a major cause of poverty. Typically, women are much more likely to be among the world’s poorest, living on a dollar a day or less. Violence reduces their standard of living by preventing them from accessing education or earning the income they need to lift their families out of poverty. In turn, poverty often prevents them from fleeing, perpetuating a vicious cycle that keeps millions of women from making better lives for themselves and their families.

In Nicaragua, for example, a study found that children of female victims of violence left school an average of four years earlier than other children. In India, it has been found that women who experienced even a single incident of violence lost an average of seven working days.

Compassion International has a new post detailing their plans to transition their relief efforts in Haiti to longer-term solutions.

Here’s an example of their plans to put children back in the classroom:

Getting the children back into school is also a key step in returning normalcy to their lives. The Haitian government has set March 1 as a possible day for schools to resume, and we are helping our church partners work toward that goal for as many of the sponsored children as possible.

We are working with Engineering Ministries International (EMI) to assess the buildings of church partners that were damaged by the earthquake. We are committed to their repair, and EMI will help us design new buildings and facilities that are earthquake safe.

Until the buildings can be repaired or built, children may meet in tents. Many of them are still afraid to go into buildings, and our priority is to give them some sense of routine and normalcy.

You can read more about Compassion International’s work in Haiti here.

The International Rescue Committee’s “Voices from the Field” blog (which is fantastic, by the way) recently posted 2 videos from the ground in Haiti. I think they’re worth sharing.

The first is an interview with IRC’s Aisha Bain conducted by CNN, with an assessment of aid distribution 1 month after the devastating earthquake:

The second features Gillian Dunn with some further perspective:

Looking for the perfect Valentine’s Day gift? Then don’t miss the post below from our friends at TransFair USA.

Gorgeous bouquets of roses, mouth-watering candy hearts, romantic dinner reservations—and Fair Trade. There are so many ways that you can make Fair Trade a part of this Valentine’s Day, which is why February 14th holds a special place in our hearts at TransFair USA.

TransFair USA is a nonprofit, third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States. We enable sustainable development and community empowerment by cultivating a more equitable global trade model that benefits farmers, workers, consumers, industry and the earth. We achieve our mission by certifying and promoting Fair Trade products in over 60 countries around the world.

So how can you help? The Gifts of Fairness giving program allows you to give a gift that changes the world.

What’s Valentine’s Day without chocolate hearts? Now you can make them Fair Trade Certified chocolate hearts with heart-shaped bonbons from Divine Chocolate. Looking for a more seductive gift for your sweetheart? Check out Theo Chocolate’s Aphrodisiac Confection Collection.

Do you have a date to impress? Then pick up Theo’s Chocolate and Wine Pairing Kit. The kit comes with several varieties of Fair Trade Certified Theo chocolate and offers suggestions of great wine to pair it with. Buy a bottle of Fairhills Bus Stop Red and enjoy some great vino AND help build a school bus system for the children of over 800 farm employees in Mendoza, Argentina. Or pick up some Solombra Merlot and help buy bricks for the community hospital that is being built in the Famatina Valley of Argentina. Watch this video to learn more.

As it turns out, many Fair Trade Certified products are also common cupcake ingredients (sugar, coffee, chocolate). Look for sugar from Wholesome Sweeteners or Alter Eco at your local store or order online. And those that aren’t so common (roses, tea, bananas and honey) are potential components in exquisite recipes. Carefully selecting ingredients that are responsibly grown and traded ensures that each cupcake is Made with Love.

And last, but not least, flowers! Show that special someone in your life how much you care by giving her/him Fair Trade Certified flowers. The Fair Trade Certified label on your bouquet means that flower workers—most of whom are women—can put food on their tables, send their children to school, invest in community development, and use sustainable farming methods. Watch this video to learn more.

Here’s a guest post from our partners at World Vision, with a personal look at long-term development issues in Haiti.

Gilbert Bailly is my favorite person in Haiti. His three Muncheez pizza restaurants miraculously remained intact during the quake. But he realized he had not a chance of running a business in the current chaos. Did he retire to a corner and sulk? Actually, no. He calmly reopened one of his restaurants and uses it as a base to provide cooked meals for free to people who desperately need it and can’t afford to pay.

Right now food is coming from the organization I work for, World Vision. Other donors are providing the fuel he needs. His formerly paid staff have become volunteers. They know there is no money in this. I’m sure their satisfaction comes from seeing the hundreds of hungry come through the door to get, not only a free meal, but also take away 5-pound bags of lentils, beans, and flour so they can feed family members who may be too badly injured to come to the restaurant.

I’m picking many years from now, when Gilbert reflects on his life and what he has accomplished, he will probably remember this as one of the toughest times and a commercial failure. I think he will also remember it as his finest hour.

The Muncheez story contains valuable reminder for all of us involved in working in humanitarian emergencies. It’s this: Never underestimate the capacity of those in the midst of the crisis to come up with practical solutions for resolving it.

The worst thing donors and aid organizations can do in a situation like Haiti is to adopt a “we know best” attitude and become so enamored with their own relief and development plans that they overlook the insight of those within the communities they are attempting to serve.

I think a more satisfactory approach, which World Vision does, is to find out what community efforts are already working, support them, develop them, and see if they can be replicated, and encouraged to expand in the long-term. This way, Haitians are less likely to become passive recipients of aid and much more decisive players in the recovery and rebuilding of their country.

To learn more about World Vision’s long term relief efforts, click here.

-James Addis, senior editor for the donor magazine of World Vision United States