The organizations listed within this category are working in other worthy areas of third-world development and humanitarian services other than microcredit including education, literacy, health care, short-term relief, and more. These organizations tend to have a BYU connection through my past courses and student internships.
President Jimmy Carter, Warner and friends: I feel that Jimmy Carter is without a doubt one of the greatest humanitarians in our country’s history.
The Alliance was begun in 1985 to develop a long-term relationship with a group of villages in Mali, a West African country. The Alliance undertakes projects requested by the villagers, who define their own needs, contribute labor to projects, and provide their own leadership. Projects include constructing wells, planting and fencing gardens, providing basic health care training, teaching literacy, and establishing a village bank, microenterprises and producer cooperatives.
I provided leadership on OUA’s board throughout the 1990s, going at least once a year to Mali to work on projects, lead expeditions of doctors, educators, health experts, and so forth. Some 50 BYU students and alumni have gone on those trips, served as interns, or otherwise helped us build OUA with a long-term set of impacts.
“Alliance Aimed at Connecting Utah and Africa.” The Daily Universe. September 9, 1999.
“Utahns Team Up to Help Villagers.” The Daily Universe. February 16, 1998.
“BYU Professor to Spend Christmas on African Aid Mission.” The Salt Lake Tribune. December, 1996.
“Village Development and Microcredit in Africa”. Case Study, 1997.
Sustain Haiti grew out of my MBA 632 Social Entrepreneurship course when, on January 12, 2010 the island nation of Haiti was struck by a devastating earthquake that killed over 280,000 people, injured a million more, and left additional millions homeless. Already, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, the disaster made everything worse. So we began to design and then launch a project which we promised to not only provide initial assistance for the short term, but we committed to the Haitian people we would work there for at least the next decade providing rescue, relief, and rebuilding. We now have teams from the U.S. doing major work every summer with partners, and a small staff of Haitians in country continuing our efforts year round.
“BYU Students Help Haiti.” Salt Lake City, Utah. TV Channel 2 http://connect2utah.com/search-fulltext?&nxd_id=84795, April 22, 2010.
“Sustain Haiti Helps Relieve Earthquake Victims.” BYU Daily Universe. April 29, 2010.
“Student to Spend Summer in Haiti.” Ogden Standard-Examiner. May 9 2010.
“BYU Volunteers Trying to Sow Hope in Haiti.” Deseret News. May 24, 2010.
“Thousands of Utah Students Working to Decrease World Poverty.” Carole Mikita on KSL-TV plus radio. Deseret News June 8, 2010.
“Haiti Six Months Later: Long road to recovery.” Provo Daily Herald. July 11, 2010.
“5K run Saturday to Raise Money for Haiti Relief Project.” Deseret News. November 2, 2010.
“Relief Organization Still Working Hard to Sustain Haiti After Earthquake.” Deseret News. July 5, 2011.
“‘1,000 Miles for Haiti:’ Cyclist Brings Attention to Plight of Victims of 2010 Earthquake.” Henderson Daily Dispatch. September 13, 2011.
“Sustain Haiti Campaign Returns After Second Year of Aid.” Daily Universe. September 16, 2011.
“Empowering the Haitian People.” UVU Review. February 6, 2012.
“Laboring in the Trenches with the Poor of Haiti: Practicing the Church’s New Fourth-Fold Mission.” Meridian Magazine. pp. 1-10, December 28, 2010.
Chasqui Humanitarian is a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Working in Peru and Bolivia, the foundation works with local civic and church leaders through projects that will empower them to acquire for themselves what they need, and even want, so that they will raise their own standard of living and have a more fulfilling life. Chasqui grew out of two courses I taught, one to EMBAs and the other to undergraduates in 1998. With a variety of projects, volunteers work in several areas including education, health, hygiene, housing, water, family gardens, agri-industry, small enterprises, micro credit, job & vocational training and English computer classes. Some 30 of my students since then have been Chasqui volunteers.
HELP International programs are designed to commit volunteers to a lifetime of service in the struggle against poverty. Current programs are centered around three core initiatives: Square Food Gardening, Teaching English as a Second Language, and Microenterprise Training. Volunteers also work on house construction, and various projects that meet the needs of the communities in which they work. The long-term goal of HELP International is not to simple eliminate immediate needs, but to train and prepare volunteers to become life-long “social entrepreneurs,” thus perpetuating and exponentially impacting poverty alleviation efforts and building self-reliance. Since 1999, HELP and I have trained and sent out over 300 social entrepreneurs to seven countries in Latin America, mostly from BYU, but we also had volunteers from a dozen other universities.
“Y Student Puts Money Where Heart Is.” The Daily Universe. June 12, 2003.
“30-Dollar Goat Helps Develop Self-Reliance.” The Daily Universe. December 9, 2003.
“Organization Mobilizes Students to Change Lives.” The Daily Universe. September 24, 2002.
“HELP International Comes to the Rescue Again.” The Daily Universe. April 19, 2001.
“BYU Students Return from ‘Service Abroad.'” The Daily Universe. June 14, 2000.
“Kennedy Center Exists to Give Students ‘International Experience.'” The Daily Universe. May 16, 2000.
“Students Helping Others Achieve Their Entrepreneurial Dreams.” The Daily Universe. April 13, 2000.
“Club Omni Latin Dance to Benefit HELP International.” The Daily Universe. April 5, 2000.
“BYU Students Give Aid around the Globe through HELP International.” The Daily Universe. March 12, 2000.
“Chamber Orchestra to Perform Two Shows.” The Daily Universe. July 14, 1999.
“Run Raises Money for Hurricane Victims in Honduras.” The Daily Universe. May 10, 1999.
“Students Raise Funds to Help Struggling Honduras.” The Daily Universe. March 27, 1999.
“BYU Students to Help in Honduras.” The Daily Universe. January 20, 1999.
The Paramita Group attempts to temper the desperation that could give rise to terrorism and amplify the peaceful protests of Tibetan refugees by 1) Assisting the Tibetan Government-in-Exile in assembling and implementing human security and human development strategies relevant to Tibetan socio-economic and spiritual aspirations, 2) training Tibetan monks, nuns and volunteers in microfinance, health, and literacy methodologies that address the “whole person” and 3) providing Tibetan refugees with on-going technical consultation throughout the development process. Paramita was started by two of my OB 551 students who designed and implemented this NGO as a course project.
This NGO was established by BYU student, Todd Manwaring, along with alumni, professors, and local business leaders to enable LDS nonprofit groups to collaborate and share resources and skills that collectively impove life for the world’s poor families. We worked primarily with LDS converts to set up a bakery co-op of worker owners. LDS experts from Utah, Washington, and California all rendered assistance, along with welfare missionary couples.
“Humanitarian Service Helps and Heals.” The Daily Universe. January 19, 1999.
“Humanitarian Link Aids People in Poorer Countries.” The Daily Universe. January 18, 1999.
CHOICE is a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization which sponsors volunteer expeditions in which families, organizations, groups of associates, or singles (trained or previously untrained) work side by side with the rural poor to develop projects which the villagers request and will be able to sustain after the expedition departs. CHOICE volunteers have worked with water supply systems, greenhouses, schools & literacy, and have provided health & medical assistance. Numerous BYU and University of Utah students and alumni have served on CHOICE’s committees, expeditions, as well as done 6-month internships that have overseen and mentored.
As an outreach effort of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Humanitarian Services and LDS Charities are heavily involved in providing aid and technical assistance to both non-LDS and LDS needy, especially internationally. Often working in conjunction with other NGOs, this organization has helped channel relief to crisis areas such as Ethiopia, Somalia, Rwanda, and Kosovo, as well as supporting grassroots development projects in Central America and elsewhere. I’ve enjoyed helping to create, advocate, informally consult with and mentor students to work with these programs, as well as advise LDS Humanitarian couple missionaries either before they go, or while they serve around the world.
Worldwide Organization for Womens mission is to bring all women to the understanding of their divine worth and influence upon society. Furthermore, it seeks to strengthen, support, and unite women and men of faith in order to create a peaceful, moral, and loving environment that values the sanctity of human life, preserves the natural family, and fosters worship of God.
Worldwide Organization for Women believes in the divine worth and attributes of all women and acknowledges and values the innate power women possess as an influence for good in the home, marriage, family, and community. WOW curently works with women’s groups in Nigeria as well as at the United Nations.
Poor LDS returned missionary in Peru who struggles to eke out an existence by producing hand-made high chairs to sell to other impoverished families.
The Eagle Condor Foundation works in Peru with a branch office located in the northern region of Chiclayo. The foundation seeks to enrich lives and empower LDS members and their neighbors while building self-reliance. Eagle Condors primary objectives are to create sustainable hope and dignity among LDS members of lesser developed areas through purposeful and well thought-out humanitarian field programs. It endeavors to provide Peruvians with employment opportunities while teaching principles of solid business practice which will enable them to be self-sustaining and, thus, raise their standard of living. Started in 2004, this new NGO is headed by BYU alumnus Jaime Figueroa and we are collaborating on a joint research project between the Latter-day Saints in Peru and my BYU researchers.
Projects include microentrepreneurship skill training, potable water projects, indoor/outdoor sewage projects, family gardening, libraries, medical/dental services, small business creation, and microcredit.
“Shon Hiatt Returns from Chiclayo and Piura.” Eagle-Condor News. May 21, 2004.
Global Change Agent partner Shon Hiatt conducting microfinance impact analysis with an Eagle-Condor client.
Lifework International Foundation has a clear missionto enable women and families to reduce poverty and despair, and to become more self-reliant by building character, capacity and community. Lifework International (LIF) exists because two-thirds of the worlds population is near or below the poverty line and struggles to meet basic needs. LIF believes that the way to make lasting improvements for families is to integrate principles of self-reliance into projects designed to improve education, health, and economic conditions. This integrative approach is an enabling process in which lives are transformed from dependency, disease and poverty to increased self-sufficiency, healthier living and better economic conditions. LIF is currently has projects in Nicaragua. LIF was launched by a former MOB and development student of mine, Sherie Rogde, who has mounted an innovative project in Nicaragua.