Italian official condemns Haiti earthquake relief as 'vanity parade'

The Bucharest Herald ran this story illustrating that many question the primary motives of many organizations and governments who have rushed (with great flourish) in to help Haiti in the aftermath of its most recent horrific disaster.

The picture posted from the Bucharest Herald story shows what appear to be combat ready soldiers in front of an American flag and poses the question: :"Why do these American soldiers need to be combat as they try to assist Haiti?"

Guido Bertolaso, the head of Italy's civil protection service, who is quoted in this story stated that the large US military mission in the country was not entirely helpful.

The story can be found at the link below.

Italian official condemns Haiti earthquake relief as 'vanity parade'

FUGEES FAMILY'S COACH MUFLEH WINS COMMON GROUND AWARD

Photo from Fugees Family website

Fugees Family came to my attention because it's founder, Luma Mufleh is receiving an award from Search For Common Ground, another non-profit engaged in making the world a better place. Coach Mufleh and her story - and the story of the Fugees Family can be found on the websites listed below. But here briefly is a short statement from the Fugees Family website that explains what it is doing.

FUGEES FAMILY, INC. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization devoted to working with child survivors of war. We build upon the power of soccer to galvanize these kids by giving them the support and structure they need to realize their vast potential. Five years ago, Coach Luma Mufleh started a Fugees team to provide refugee boys with free access to organized soccer. Since then, our programming has grown to include year-round soccer for 86 boys aged 10-18, after-school tutoring, a private academy, and an academic enrichment camp.

The Fugees Family provides a space for the kids to heal and meet others like them, from different countries, who have been through similar experiences. The players might begin by regarding one another with distrust or even hostility. By conducting drills with various players grouped together and enforcing an English-only policy at all times, the kids learn to cooperate. Africans and Asians, Northern and Southern Sudanese, Muslims and Christians, Sunni and Shia Muslims - they all play on the same team, finding their commonalities instead of focusing on their differences. Their bonds make them more secure in their own identity and more capable of acclimating to the mainstream.

The Fugees Family works to afford our kids equal access to the educational opportunities others in their age group have, helping them to acquire the social and academic skills necessary to succeed. Our goal is for the players to work hard and graduate from high school with a plan for college, technical school, or job training. We are committed to an approach that takes the whole individual into account: we are consistently involved in all areas of the kids' lives, we set high expectations on and off the field, we foster a familial atmosphere, and we have fun.

FUGEES FAMILY


SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND'S STORY ABOUT COACH MUFLEH


SEARCH FOR COMMON GROUND

PLAY SOCCER

Image from Play Soccer web site

The PLAY SOCCER grassroots community says that its program aims to make the world a better place for children and youth who master and enjoy playing soccer/football while learning health, physical and social development life skills.

Read More about it here.

PLAY SOCCER

BID NETWORK: LOOKING FOR DEALS

Photo from BiD Network web site

BiD Network has proudly announced that the Access to Clean Energy Challenge was launched on October 1st of 2009. The Access to Clean Energy Challenge is a business plan competition for entrepreneurs that deliver access to clean energy in developing countries, and is being organized by BiD Network with the support of E&Co, GVEP , Barclays, Jump up and FMO.

On its web site Bid Network gives ground rules for the competition:

“Clean energy comprises: wind, solar, biogas, hydro, liquefied petroleum gas, biomass and energy efficiency. Non-renewable energies are not excluded but the approaches to energy production, usage or financing should focus on established, affordable, reliable technologies that move communities up the energy ladder towards cleaner, more modern forms of energy.

“As with all the Challenges, participants submitting plans will receive feedback and support in the writing of their business plans. Winners will receive an actual investment and their business plans will be presented to more than 100 potential investors.”

In addition to the main competition, there is a “sub” competition which is only open for East African countries called: Access to Clean Energy Challenge East Africa. This Challenge is focused on the following countries: Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania & Uganda.


The BiD Network states that it is an “online marketplace for business in developing countries. It is an online community of thousands of entrepreneurs, experts and investors from all over the world with a common aim: to stimulate business opportunities in developing countries.”


The BiD Network:

1. Makes SME business plans visible

2. Links entrepreneurs to finance and expertise


Ambitions of the BiD Network Foundation:

Establish several decentralised national BiD Challenges in developing countries

Bring more entrepreneurs into the BiD Network (start-up and established businesses)

Engage hundreds of professionals from companies and NGOs as business coaches

Move from a ‘prizes-only format’ to one providing loans and investments

Develop an online investor-to-entrepreneur lending facility


What moves us

The Private sector is the backbone of any economy. It is of key importance for economic development and poverty reduction in developing countries. But two significant problems arise in this context:

The ‘deal- flow’ problem: over large geographical distances it is hard to find, identify and verify good business propositions in developing countries. Quality business plans are ‘hidden’ and so are entrepreneurs to implement them.

The ‘missing middle’ problem. There is a financing gap between $5.000 and $500.000 (where microfinance stops and commercial finance starts) for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries.

Our mission is to tackle these two problems. We have created the BiD Network and the BiD Challenge to support SMEs in developing countries.


Our objective

To contribute to sustainable economic development by stimulating entrepreneurship in developing countries


We try to achieve this by

Stimulating small and medium sized entrepreneurship to create jobs and raise income in developing countries.

Engaging professionals, investors and organisations offering them the opportunity to directly contribute to poverty reduction through SME development in developing countries.

Inspiring people that business and poverty reduction can go hand-in hand.


What is the BiD Challenge?

The Business in Development (BiD) Challenge is the first international business plan competition for entrepreneurship and development. The BiD Challenge offers entrepreneurs worldwide the opportunity to develop and execute business plans that improve living standards in developing countries at a profit.


What can the BiD Challenge offer you?

Entrepreneurs: access to a worldwide platform to make your business plan visible; receive professional feedback and assistance from business coaches; get exposure to a network of investors, experts and business partners and a chance to win prize money.

Companies & NGOs: the opportunity to share the competence and expertise network of your organisation with thousands of entrepreneurs in developing countries. Engage your employees, invest in SMEs and get a network, market insight and possible return on investment.

Professionals: the opportunity to make a difference by sharing your business expertise with entrepreneurs as a coach, screener or jury member. Enjoy a wonderful experience, broaden your market insights and possibly get a stake in a change-making business.

Clean Energy Challenge East Africa

THE BID NETWORK

William Kamkwamba: 14 year-old Energy Innovator

William Kamkwamba, a 14 year-old Malawian secondary student won international fame and admiration for having self-built a windmill in Masitala, a small hamlet where he lived with his family. Building the windmill with materials obtained from a local junkyard, bicycle parts and blue gum trees, he was able to power the electrical appliances in his family's house.

William had to drop out of school because his family could not afford the tuition that amounted to about $80.00 U.S. After leaving school, he decided to build the windmill for his family. He taught himself how to

construct the energy device by looking at photographs and reading a book from the nearby library.

Picture frm librarything.com

There are plenty of stories about William Kamkwamba on line and in the media but this video below from the TED Foundation is a good place to hear him tell his own story.




TED

THE CIVIL SOCIETY DECLARATION AS AN OUTCOME OF THE CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM

From November 25 - 27 there was a CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM held in DOHA, QATAR. The Doha NGO Group on Financing for Development (DNG) issued a "Civil Society Declaration" in response to that forum and concluded:

"In the face of the multiple crises, we urge governments to take the side of women and men workers, farmers, youth and children to promote environmental sustainability by taking an alternative economic path. We, 250 national and international civil society networks, representing millions of people from around the world, therefore call for change in Doha that puts effective development, poverty eradication, human rights, gender equality, decent work, and environmental sustainability at the fore."

The DNG expressed why they felt the need to issue its Declaration when they stated:

"Today the world is consumed by an urgent series of crises: energy, food, climate, and finance that not only threaten the realization of the MDGs and the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people, in the North and the South, but also the stability of the world’s economies. The Northern governments and financial system are responsible for the current crises, but the costs and the impacts are paid for by the entire world, and by the poorest countries in particular. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization $30 billion are required every year to eradicate poverty. Trade negotiations have reached a stalemate. Persistent gender inequalities reflect and are related to all these structural imbalances in the global economic system; thus it is urgent to include a gender perspective into all policies, at all levels and sectors, as well most Northern countries are falling far short of meeting their aid commitments. Overcoming these crises requires decisive action and leadership from the global community. To date however, such leadership has been sorely missing."

The entire Declaration can be read online at the CIVIL SOCIETY DECLARATION

WATER.ORG: THEIR HEADS IN THE CLOUDS AND THEIR FEET ON THE GROUND

[This information has been taken directly from the web site of Water.org; and more information may be found at its web site by following the link at the end of this posting.]

Photo from Water.org

About Water.org

Co-founded by Matt Damon and Gary White, Water.org is a nonprofit organization that has transformed hundreds of communities in Africa, South Asia, and Central America by providing access to safe water and sanitation. Water.org traces its roots back to the founding of WaterPartners in 1990. In July 2009, WaterPartners merged with H2O Africa, resulting in the launch of Water.org. Water.org works with local partners to deliver innovative solutions for long-term success. Its microfinance-based WaterCredit Initiative is pioneering sustainable giving in the sector

Projects

Since its inception in1990, Water.org had helped hundreds of communities in Africa, Asia, and Central America gain access to safe water and sanitation. All of the projects we support are self-sustaining, with organizational and financial structures in place to allow communities to independently operate and maintain them. Projects have an active water committee governing the operation of the water system, and users paying a water bill to cover the costs of operating and maintaining the water system.

Below are links to countries where we have active programs. If you have any particular questions about our work, please contact us using the Information Request Form.

Africa

Ethiopia. Our program in Tigray, Ethiopia is serving 32,000 people in 76 communities and six schools. Tigray is a region in northern Ethiopia that borders on Sudan. Tigray is often one of the regions that is hardest hit by drought and crop failure.

Ghana. Program activities in Ghana take place in the Volta and Upper East regions, located in the southeast and northern parts of the country, respectively. Activities include community-based water, sanitation, and hygiene education programs.

Kenya. Water.org is working in the Kisumu region of Kenya. Located on the equator, Kisumu’s climate is hot all year. Much of Nyanza Province, where Water.org is working, is semi-arid and is subject to severe drought. Most people obtain their drinking water from Lake Victoria, seasonal rivers and streams, and hand-dug wells. All of these sources are contaminated. Women and children walk up to six kilometers each day to haul water, a task that can take three hours. Water is not only contaminated at its source but also from the way it is transported and stored.

Asia

Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, Water.org offers both grant and WaterCredit programs, and is addressing safe water needs in both rural and urban areas. Our urban program focuses on the slums of the capital city, Dhaka. Our rural program is located in Rajshahi and Manikganj Districts.

India. Water.org’s program in India provides safe drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities to the families living in five states - Andhrah Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Tamil Nadu. Water.org offers both grant and WaterCredit programs in India.

Philippines. Water.org’s program in the Philippines began in 2003 with a project in Barangay Villahermosa.

Central America

El Salvador. Water.org has completed two rural water and sanitation projects serving over 1,200 people in the communities of Caulote and Las Americas. These communities are located in the department of Cuscatlán, located approximately 20 miles northeast of San Salvador. The new water systems in El Salvador are spring-fed pumped systems.

Guatemala. Our projects in Guatemala are located in the department of Quiché. Quiché is in the Western highlands of the country. Because of the high prevalence of mountain streams in the Guatemalan highlands, all of our water solutions in Guatemala are spring-fed gravity flow systems.

Honduras. Water.org has helped more than 40 Honduran communities build their own safe water systems. Our program in Honduras focuses on the Departments of Lempira and Intibuca, in western Honduras. The once heavily forested Departments now suffer from deforestation. This has led to extreme depletion of the local water tables, forcing women and children to walk long distances to collect water for their families.


WATER.org