New report finds little political will to fight child malnutrition

You will often see reports released at the same time that important international meetings take place. With the U.N. General assembly going on now in New York, we can expect to see quite a few of them in the upcoming days. The groups issuing the reports hope to sway some of the discussion at the meeting.

We often link to the reports focusing on development aid, and a very important one was released today. The charities Save the Children and World Vision have issued a report on the rates of child malnutrition across the globe.

According to the report titled "Nutrition Barometer" 36 countries contain 90 percent of the world's malnourished children. The report finds that there is often very little political or legal commitment to improving the health of children in those 36 countries.

The "Nutrition Barometer" can be downloaded from here at the Save The Children website. From Reuters Alert Net, writer Thin Lei Win gives us this summary.

India, despite experiencing strong economic growth in the past few years, shares the bottom rank – countries defined by the study as having low levels of political, legal and financial commitment and little changes to the high rates of malnutrition – with Democratic Republic of Congo and Yemen.

These three countries, together with Afghanistan, Pakistan, Niger, Ethiopia and Madagascar, also have the worst nutrition and child survival outcomes, the report said.

While malnutrition itself may not kill children, it is the underlying cause of the deaths of 2.3 million children under five years in 2011 – more than a third of the total, the report said.

Peru, Guatemala and Malawi were applauded for topping the list, with political will and committed resources to fight child malnutrition achieving results.  

Despite the overall positive trend of child survival, including nearly halving the number of children dying before their fifth birthday between 1990 and 2011, “progress in reducing childhood under nutrition has been slow,” the report said.

“Rates of stunting are falling too slowly, and the proportion of wasted children (suffering acute weight loss) actually rose during the last decade,” it added.

“Malnutrition remains a critical problem and it’s a very complex problem,” Michel Anglade, Save the Children’s director for campaigns and advocacy in Asia, told AlertNet.

"Super" gifts in kind draw criticism to World Vision

Over the last several years, World Vision has been giving away unused hats and t-shirts from the Super Bowl. Each year they particpate in this "gift in kind" type of aid get draw more criticism for it.

World Vision has an agreement with the NFL to receive the shirts and hats that declare the team who ended up losing a winner. Whenever two teams reach the championship game, products are manufactured declaring each team the winner so they can be on the field and on websites as soon as the game is over. So this year, World Vision is giving away stuff saying the Pittsburgh Steelers are Super Bowl champions.

The critics have many reasons for being against the World Vision giveaway. They say that the poor already have t-shirts and hats, so it is a waste of time giving them. Shipping costs are another concern as the money used to bring the materials overseas could be better spent elsewhere. The money could best be used creating manufacturing for the similar products at a local level.

Lets take a look at a couple of the critics. First, in an op-ed piece for the Christian Science Monitor, writer Laura Seay says it is simply "bad aid"

We know this is bad aid. We know that GIK (gifts in kind) items (like clothing) that are readily available in a country undermine local clothing markets, create dependence, and deprive poor people of work and the dignity work provides.

We know this is unnecessary aid. There aren't any places in the world where t-shirts are not available at a market price determined by the local economy and affordable to local consumers.

Both the NFL and World Vision get to claim benefits (the NFL for taxes, World Vision for its bottom line), look good in the public relations arena, and don't owe anyone an explanation of whether the t-shirts actually do anyone any good.

There is an opportunity cost associated with shipping 100,000 t-shirts to communities that don't need them and that have other serious development needs.

What makes this so frustrating, of course, is that World Vision knows all these things. Every one of them. I've heard from friends who work there this week. Some are defensive about the issue, others are pounding their heads against their cubicle/Land Rover walls. World Vision isn't 1 Million Shirts' Jason, who was trying international development work for the first time and showed a willingness to learn from his mistakes.

Saundra Schimmelpfennig says in her blog Good Intentions Are Not Enough that this practice contradicts some agreements World Vision made in the past.

While on the surface this may appear to be a silly debate over t-shirts, in reality this is a debate over the professionalism of the aid industry. World Vision is a major player in the aid world. They work in 96 countries on 5 continents. They have played a major role in the creation of many industry standards and are signatories to many others including:

* Red Cross Code of Conduct and the INGO Accountability Charter.
* the Sphere Project
* Humanitarian Accountability Project (HAP),
* the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Practice (ALNAP),
* People in Aid (PIA)
* the Emergency Capacity Building Project (ECB)
* Association of Evangelical Relief and Development Organizations (AERDO) Standards
* InterAction Private Voluntary Organization (PVO) Standards

This fight is not just about 100,000 shirts. It’s about whether a leader in the aid industry, and the aid industry as a whole, is going to follow the standards they’ve set for themselves. And in following standards, no just meeting the letter of the standard, but the spirit of the standard. In the endless competition for donor dollars and positive PR , a reality of the aid world, is the improved administration ratio and free advertising so important that we ignore our own professional standards?

The debate on if the world will meet the MDGs

With five years left to go, there is a lot of debate on if the Millennium Development Goals will be met.

Some economists say that most areas of the world will at least be able to meet the Goal of halving poverty. While some who work for NGOs and the United Nations say that most of the world is falling short. There is some agreement that doubling access to sanitation will not be met.

From this APP article that we found at the Sydney Morning Herald, writer Danny Rose recieves the view of Tom Costello, leader of World Vision in Australia.

"The global financial crisis meant we took our eyes off the MDGs and off the ball," Mr Costello told reporters in Melbourne on Tuesday.

"We retreated, looked inwards, and we're stuck in our bubbles saying `we're only worried about our selves' ... there was certainly a drying up of funds and momentum."

The disadvantage in developing nations was also exacerbated as rising unemployment in the first world resulted in less "remittance" money flowing into the third world, as migrant workers had less extra cash to send home to their families.

Mr Costello spoke at the 63rd annual United Nations' DPI/NGO (Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organisation) conference, the world's largest gathering of aid and charity workers and the biggest UN summit yet held in Australia.

The event is focused on assessing global progress towards the MDGs, and Mr Costello said the world could yet meet the MDG defined targets for improved childhood education.

Clear progress was also evident in the now "flattened" rate of new HIV infections globally, he said.

"The MDGs, because they exist, we've seen some three million children's lives saved since the year 2000," Mr Costello said.

Documents show a lack of transparency from USAid

A simple Freedom of Information request has turned into a stunning revelation of a lack of transparency from US Aid as several well known charities.

Till Bruckner of the Transparency International asked for information on US Aid expenditures in the Republic of Georgia. Instead of a transparent documents showing how money is spent, Till instead received documents with many blacked out pages. Some of what was blacked out detailed money granted to well known NGOs like World Vision, CARE and CNFA.

From his Aid Watch blog post, Till Buckner gives this run down on who had nothing to hide and who did not.

Perhaps surprisingly, the United Nations showed the highest consistent commitment to transparency. The budgets of the two UN agencies funded by USAID are both reproduced in full.

UMCOR, Mercy Corps, and AIHA emerge as the most transparent NGOs. These charities apparently felt that they had nothing to hide, and did not request USAID to black out any of the information contained in their budgets.

In contrast, Save the Children apparently asked USAID to withhold all information related to salaries. As even the aggregate subtotals for international and national staff have been blacked out, concerns about the privacy of individual staff members cannot have been the sole concern driving the organization’s response. Still, the fact that all non-salary related budget lines remain visible put Save the Children in the middle ground in terms of NGO transparency.

CARE’s response is harder to interpret as USAID inexplicably sent only an aggregated “summary budget” that leaves little to conceal. What information exists shows that CARE did not object to the release of unit prices for supplementary food items, or of aggregated staff and operational support costs. In contrast, CARE appears to regard its “indirect cost rate” and “cost share” as confidential. To hide this information, USAID also had to black out the budget’s bottom line, thus leaving unclear how many taxpayer dollars were handed over in total.

The least transparent NGOs in this test are CNFA, World Vision, and Counterpart International. They apparently requested that USAID black out all information in their budgets except for the grand total. Apparently, these NGOs consider budget items such as “office furniture” (CNFA), “visibility items (t-shirts, caps, publications)” (World Vision) and “forklift expenses” (Counterpart) as confidential information whose release could cause them substantial competitive harm.

World Vision reaction to UN maternal health plan

From this World Vision press release, the humanitarian organization gives its reaction to a new United Nations plan on maternal and child health. World Vision fights poverty worldwide by focusing on improving the lives of children and the communities around them, you can learn more about sponsoring a child by going to their website.

The new United Nations initiative for global maternal, newborn and child health is a promising step toward reinvigorating progress, but neglects to adequately address some important action points, according to World Vision, the world's largest international humanitarian organisation focusing on the well-being of children.

Stopping parent-to-child transmission of HIV, providing universal access to treatment for all children and mothers who need it, and ensuring safe pregnancy and childbirth are all essential to improve overall health and survival, UN leaders and health experts emphasized this week at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna. World Vision also underscores the importance of strengthening family and community care, a cornerstone of successful public health interventions.

"This UN-led plan will help build on the progress made in reducing needless deaths of children and mothers so far, and we commend the leadership that has made this health catastrophe a priority," Stefan Germann, director of global HIV and health partnerships for World Vision International, said today at a panel discussion in Vienna with officials from UNAIDS, UNICEF and other groups.

"However, some critical gaps remain - particularly when it comes to ensuring that life-saving interventions make it the last mile to the people who most need them," said Germann.

The Joint Action Plan, first introduced in June, calls for all countries to revitalize efforts to meet Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 by further reducing preventable deaths of mothers and children worldwide. Millennium Development Goal 6, which includes reducing HIV and AIDS, calls for universal treatment access and a stop to new infections of children.

"To succeed in achieving these goals, health care options must be brought closer to households, and barriers to using these services must be reduced," said Germann. "Even the poorest countries can deliver on their pledges if supported with the right kind of technical expertise and appropriate levels of funding, as we've seen in several examples."

Wealthy countries must be held accountable to deliver on aid pledges they have already made and urged to ensure an additional US $42.5 billion in health investment by 2015. G8 and G20 leaders at last month's summits in Canada fell far short of this. Any global plan should also press mid- to low-income country governments to move toward dedicating 15 percent of their national budgets to health, as African countries pledged in the Abuja declaration, and include maternal and child health in their national poverty reduction strategies.

World Vision's own Child Health Now campaign, launched in November 2009, has recommitted the organisation to aligning its health work to prioritise maternal and child health, with US $1.5 billion over the next 5 years to help priority countries improve their health systems reaching the community and household level. World Vision responds to HIV and AIDS-related needs in nearly 60 countries.

"Children still lag far behind adults in access to HIV prevention and treatment, while many mothers face pregnancy and childbearing without access to ways to protect their babies from HIV, and we must close those gaps," said Germann.

"We have good technologies, good treatments," said Germann. "Getting those within a mile of people is easy, but to cover the 'last mile' is the hardest part. That is why we need to focus on strengthening community systems-local faith groups, churches and community health groups-anyone who is able to make sure that health care options reach those in need."

World Vision: Georgian youth project must continue

From this World Vision press release, a project is profiled that helps the street children from the country of Georgia. World Vision fears that the project may be coming to an end and urges for it to continue. World Vision fights poverty worldwide by focusing on improving the lives of children and the communities around them, you can learn more about sponsoring a child by going to their website.

By Ana Chkhaidze

GEORGIA - For three years World Vision LIFE project staff worked alongside the Georgian government, Orthodox Church, schools, police, and various NGOs, aiming to change the fate of children and youth living and working on the streets of Batumi and Kutaisi, two of Georgia’s largest cities. Now, after three years of long and difficult work, the LIFE Project is reaching its end.

It leaves behind a legacy of lives transformed, like that of 12-year-old Achiko who lived and worked on the streets of Batumi, a Black Sea resort town in Georgia, to escape his family poverty. When he left, his family would go weeks without hearing from him. Achiko, meanwhile, would mostly spend the little money he made at Internet cafes playing computer games, spending many of his nights in those same cafes.

“Everybody thought that Achiko’s case was hopeless – he lived on the street, didn’t go to school, and fought with other children,” said Shorena Dolaberidze, World Vision Georgia LIFE project field officer.

“Our social worker had a difficult time working with him, but over time she managed to help him and he has since returned to his family and re-enrolled in school.”

In the beginning, project staff worked on the family’s economic situation; they provided Achiko’s mother with vocational training in cooking to then seek employment, and helped his father secure a loan to start a small business. Now, Achiko’s mother works in a bakery and his father runs a small fruit stand in the local market.

While the project staff helped the family earn an income, they also worked with Achiko with the help of a social worker and psychologist to help him transition back into his family and into school. All the while, Achiko also became heavily involved in the LIFE centre’s life skills training and recreational activities.

“I like being here, I study lots of things. I will not stay in the streets anymore,” Achiko told the audience at a recent LIFE project presentation in Batumi.

Children like Achiko made a swift about-face in many cases. According to project staff many of these children and youth in the beginning months hid from them and did not want to leave the streets.

“Simply reaching out to these children was one of the most challenging tasks our staff faced. And it was especially difficult for the Roma children,” Irine Javakhadze, LIFE Project Manager, said.

“However, after our committed and personable staff worked long hours on the streets reaching out to children, and created and trained mobile group workers to interact daily with these children, they were able to not only register many of the children, but they were also able to get them enrolled in our project activities and services to help them off the streets.”

Most of the children reached by project staff and mobile groups have been assisted, first through outreach to the children and their families, then by informing them of the project and its services, and finally by enrolling them in the various activities available, including hygiene classes, HIV and AIDS awareness, English classes, arts and crafts sessions, field trips to historical sites, and many others.

These results and the stories that came from finding and helping these children and youth, and their families, were exhibited in public presentations held in Kutaisi and Batumi this summer. Children were the major participants in the presentations and an arts and crafts exhibition was also on display, showing off the new skills the children learned from spending time at the project centres.

And in Batumi, the presentation kicked off with a pantomime. The theme of the pantomime was children living and working on the streets and the assistance they received from World Vision. But the pantomime also had a sobering ending and showed the reality of this problem – when one child leaves the street another replaces them.

“The work done by this project must be the example for other NGOs. Thanks to this project many children reunited with their families and returned to school to continue their education,” Mate Takidze, Minister of Education, Culture and Sports for the Achara region, said.

“Unfortunately, there are many families who continue to need this type of assistance and our Ministry is going to collaborate with World Vision on these issues.”

During the three-year project staff registered 212 children and youth, 192 of which were assisted. In total, 15 children returned to school, 24 children improved their attendance at school, 36 beneficiaries found employment, 41 received vocational trainings, 10 were placed in Small Group Homes, 83 children received life skills trainings, and 48 beneficiaries were enrolled in economic improvement activities.

“This project was more service oriented and at this stage it is difficult to make it sustainable; the Georgian government is not yet ready to receive this type of project. For this reason, our priority now is to advocate on the issue of juvenile justice and convincing the government to recognise this group as a vulnerable group,” said Tamuna Barkalaya, World Vision Georgia Development Director.

World Vision statement on Haiti, six months after the earthquake

In this press release from World Vision, the aid group talks about the six months that have passed since the Haiti earthquake and a reminder that it will take years to rebuild the country. World Vision fights poverty worldwide by focusing on improving the lives of children and the communities around them, you can learn more about sponsoring a child by going to their website.

Port-au-Prince, July 12, 2010—Six months after Haiti’s devastating earthquake, World Vision says much has been done to help the people of Haiti, but the road to lasting recovery will take many years. As aid groups transition from relief to recovery efforts, providing sturdy, safe shelter to survivors is one of the most pressing and complex challenges now facing aid workers. With hurricane season already underway, better shelter is also one of the most urgent needs for families.

“Our relief efforts continue at full pace, providing clean water, education for children, temporary shelter, job training and more. However, the long-term needs of Haiti remain daunting. Our priority now is getting transitional shelters up and doing all we can prepare for hurricane season,” said Ton van Zutphen, the agency’s response director.

With 30 years of experience in Haiti and hundreds of staff already living and working in the country, World Vision launched a large-scale relief program immediately after the January 12 quake. The Christian humanitarian organization continues to assist thousands still living under tarps in camps, including providing 2 million liters of clean water to 23 camps each week, cash-for-work opportunities for more than 10,000 people across 29 camps, 10 health clinics serving more than 11,000 people, and 22 Child-Friendly Spaces welcoming 7,700 children per week.

After distributing more than 82,000 tarps and tents in the early months of the response, World Vision is currently working to jumpstart transitional shelter projects while continuing to explore new sites, suggest options to repair houses, and mediate in camps to prevent evictions. Multiple challenges have slowed the process of moving displaced people from emergency shelters to sturdier transitional shelters, including issues around land rights, rubble removal, and determining the most appropriate, durable transitional shelter design for families in Haiti.

“Aid groups have never had to build so many transitional shelters of this durability so quickly,” explained van Zutphen. “And while we're grateful for the generous donations that are making our life-saving work possible, the reality is it will take more than money to move Haiti to the next stage. Strong coordination and clear direction from the national government are paramount to accomplish the many tasks at hand here in Haiti."

Given Haiti’s high rate of poverty and the massive loss of infrastructure and human capital, this earthquake has proven to be one of the most difficult disaster responses in recent memory. While working to scale up construction of transitional shelters, World Vision is also beginning to implement more sustainable large-scale programs in the areas of livelihoods, water and sanitation, health and education. To learn more about World Vision’s work in Haiti over the past six months, please read our 6-month report here; http://www.worldvision.org/resources.nsf/main/press-haiti/$file/Haitisix.pdf or call 1-888-56-CHILD (1-888-562-4453).

Some spins from the G-8 development meetings

The development ministers of the G-8 are done with their meetings to set up the agenda for their bosses later this year. The meetings didn't make any firm commitments, and had a "we'll have our people look into it and get back to you" sort of approach.

From The Toronto Sun, writer Laura Payton recieved a couple of spins on the meetings and critique from World Vision.

“We have agreed on a set of principles that will guide our work and a scope of actions that leave the needed flexibility for each country so that our delegates here can advise their leaders on how to build their basket of initiatives to support Canada's focus on mothers and children,” said Bev Oda, Canada's international cooperation minister.

The delegations agreed their efforts must include nutrition and disease prevention, Oda said. They've also agreed to be more accountable in reporting donor funding and finding more benchmarks to measure effectiveness.
...

Glen Pearson, the Liberal party's international cooperation critic who was at most of the meetings, said a lot of points were sent to experts to report back, but he still thought they made progress.

“Because we're so close to (the June leaders' summit in Huntsville, Ont.) I'm just hoping we can come up with a plan of action,” he said.

“The issue for me on this thing was not to come out with false promises; it was to set up a framework by which they could achieve these goals.”

Caroline Riseboro, spokeswoman for World Vision Canada, says the agreement to focus on maternal and child health and the emphasis on nutrition are good signs.

“We have been pushing for consensus around the child and maternal health initiative, and details and new money behind it. It looks like that will come, but just the fact that consensus has been reached and this initiative will continue to push forward is critical in saving the lives of 8.8 million children dying every year,” she said.

Video: What would you do with six dollars?

From World Vision Acts, a group a students put together this video that illustrates how easy it is to stop a malaria infection.

Six World Vision workers killed in Pakistan

Militants attacked World Vision offices in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday. The attack killed six Pakistanis who work for the international aid organization.

The Taliban, Al-Qaida and other extremest groups have strongholds in northwest Pakistan. Continued attacks on humanitarians working there have made it hard to accomplish any work to improve Pakistanis lives.

From The Seattle Times, we find this summary of the attack.

The attack targeted World Vision, a large Christian humanitarian group helping survivors of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake in Mansehra district, which killed about 80,000 people.

The dead in Wednesday's attack, all Pakistanis, included two women, said police official Mohammad Sabir.

Seven World Vision employees were hospitalized and one was missing, according to information provided Tuesday night by spokeswoman Rachel Wolff.

"World Vision today is mourning the brutal and senseless deaths of five members of our staff in the Mansehra District of Pakistan after an unprovoked attack by gunmen," the group's news release said.

The organization was trying to confirm that gunmen had set off bombs and grenades before opening fire on the World Vision office, the release said.

The group said it received no threatening letters before the attack. The organization has suspended its operations in Pakistan indefinitely, the news release said.

"Those who kill humanitarian workers must be reminded that they are not only killing their own country's residents, but also people seeking to improve the lives of victims of poverty and injustice," the release said.

Childhood in Sierra Leone; peaceful, yet difficult

UK newspaper The Telegraph has a continuing series that profiles children that are sponsored through World Vision. For the latest installment, writer Chris Harvey traveled to Sierra Leone to profile Hannah Brewah and her friend Musu Mbaimba.

World Vision is the only NGO that operates in the section of Sierra Leone where Hannah and Musu live. Both of the girls were born a year before the country's civil war ended. Although they have experienced peace through most of their lives, they are also living in a country that is still trying to restore normalcy.

It’s another beautifully sunny day in Kanga village, Sierra Leone. January is the middle of the dry season in tropical west Africa, and everywhere the fruit is ripe.

The children of the local school, in two lines of striking blue uniforms, are singing, ‘We’re marching for our school, hooray.’ Afterwards, they carry out their benches and place them under the shade of a mango tree for the afternoon’s lessons.

Eight-year-olds Hannah Brewah and her friend Musu Mbaimba are sitting close to the blackboard, which rests against the trunk. Musu says she wants to be a nurse when she grows up; Hannah thinks she would like to be a teacher.

Hannah is already something of an evangelist for the joys of school. Every weekday, in her home village of Gola, she gets up at 5.30 to sweep and, if there’s food, to help prepare the morning meal before setting off on the walk to Kanga.

This morning she brought a six-year-old boy from Gola to school for the first time. She talked to his parents, asked their permission and walked with him along the three miles of dusty road that links the two villages.

Hannah’s dream of being a teacher, though, is a long way off. As few as nine per cent of girls in rural areas of Sierra Leone go on to secondary school. Primary education is free, but tuition fees are charged for secondary school pupils, who must also have passed the national examination. School fees of up to £12.50 a term are not affordable for most families. More than half the population in Sierra Leone live on less than £1 a day.

Education is often interrupted by lack of money, pressure to contribute to family income, pregnancy or child marriage, which generally involves a ‘bride price’ paid by the groom.
...

Musu was seriously ill with malaria last year, but recovered. Another of her school friends wasn’t so lucky. ‘About 40 per cent of those who get malaria die,’ Gertrude Satta Coker, the nurse who runs the health clinic, says.

The clinic offers free mosquito nets, supplied by World Vision, for pregnant women and children under five, but still has a way to go to convince the locals to use its services. Most treatments are not free, and people are used to getting medicines from drug pedlars, who sell cheap, often fake, pills.
...

At 2.1 per cent, Sierra Leone has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world. Musu lost her mother four years ago, when she died during labour, and is now looked after by her father, his new wife, Ami Nalloh, 50, and Ami’s mother Hannah, 67. Musu says she misses the way her mother used to plait her hair.

World Vision on the differences between the last two earthquakes

Aid group World Vision has weighed in on the differences between the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. A representative of World Vision's rapid response team says that while Haiti's quake was concentrated in one spot, Chile's was more widespread and reached remote areas.

From The Christian Post, reporter Ethan Cole asked World Vision's Steve Matthews about the differences.

“Haiti was concentrated and that led to the challenge of tons of aid and hundreds of aid workers being sent into a small zone,” he said. “This quake off the Chilean coast has potential to reach remote areas and thus it will be extremely difficult to assess the number of deaths and amount of damage, but we can expect that children and families will have taken the brunt of it.”

The Chile quake is responsible for at least 708 deaths. It has also triggered tsunamis but the Pacific-wide alert for a tsunami has been lifted.

World Vision staff in Chile said the disaster happened during the early morning when everyone was sleeping, so there was no time to escape.

It struck at 3:34 a.m. local time 200 miles southwest of the capital, Santiago.

“Many houses are destroyed; even large buildings have collapsed,” said Mariela Chavarriga, emergency advisor for World Vision in Chile. “Main roads have been destroyed and communication is very difficult. We are trying to connect with our regional offices but all the phone lines are down.”

World Vision seeks donations for India

World Vision is calling for donations to help with the new drought in India. Drought is affecting North and Central India, while floods are washing away crops in Southern India. Food prices have already sharply increased due to the weather.

From this World Vision press release, we read more about the food insecurity in India.

Massive food shortages are now impacting hundreds of millions of Indians with floods and droughts setting back efforts to combat poverty by years, warns World Vision.

The failure of the monsoon in the north, northeast and some parts of western India, has resulted in 22% below normal rains for the country. Millions of farmers are now suffering from failed harvests or crops destroyed by flood waters. Any rains would now come to late to help farmers.

"India is now entering a period of severe food vulnerability," said Dr Jayakumar Christian, National Director for World Vision India. "We are seeing our development work set back by years." He said 350 million Indians were drought affected - including in 52 of World Vision's 135 project areas a.

Dr Christian said the floods in Southern India had caught people and the government by surprise, leaving 1.5 million homeless and over 200 dead. Over 200,000 homes had been destroyed.

"The sudden floods came as a real shock to people living in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra because the region has not experienced anything like this in more than 100 years. These are not disaster prone areas," he said.

World Vision is now appealing for USD$2 million to meet the immediate needs of flood survivors who have been driven from their homes into relief camps. Those floods have destroyed crops and impacted some 20 million people, with scores of villages cut off.

The agency's relief workers have been providing cooked food, family packs of household items, mosquito nets, cooking utensils and clothing to thousands of survivors in relief camps in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka as part of an initial USD$200,000 response. Aid support would extend to thousands more people over the coming days.

World Vision hopes to raise USD$2million to ramp up its response to meet the needs of 100,000 people.

Dr Christian said: "Rates of malnourishment are already extremely high in India. Almost half of all under-fives are malnourished and these droughts and floods are pushing families to the very edge. What is needed is a massive coordinated response involving the federal and central governments, and local and international NGOs to make sure food aid gets through."

Without assistance he warned that crop failures and losses would lead to:

Mass migration from rural areas to the cities Increased indebtedness among farmers Parents pulling children out of school to work instead Increased vulnerabilities for children, including the risk of children being trafficked into labour or sexual exploitation

Child puts on garage sale to benefit World Vision

We love these stories about children getting involved, we wish we were just as smart when we were young! Erin Gowin already spent her summer collecting food for the local pantry. Now, the fourth grader will have a garage sale to benefit World Vision. If you are in the Lincoln, Illinois area tomorrow stop by.

From this article in the Lincoln Daily News, reporter Candra Landers tells us about Erin.

Erin's efforts to save the world don't stop there. This weekend she's planned a special sale to benefit World Vision, a Christian organization that fights poverty and injustice in underdeveloped nations. "She's been asking to do it all summer, so I thought this would be the best time," said her mother, Suzanne Gowin. Erin's sale is scheduled to coincide with a garage sale her parents are having this weekend, Friday and Saturday.

The money raised by the family's garage sale will help fund their international adoption process, but Erin's funds are earmarked for World Vision. Erin's sale will feature handmade necklaces and children's books she wrote with stories and activities. She'll also offer homemade chocolate chip cookies and lemonade. As an added incentive, Erin's parents have promised to match whatever Erin raises to go to World Vision.

Erin first became interested in World Vision at Christmas. Michael and Suzanne Gowin, Erin's parents, both sponsored children through organizations before they met, and they made regular giving a priority in their marriage as well. This year they brought their three children in on the action by helping them use some of their Christmas money to buy gifts from the World Vision gift catalog.

"I bought seeds and Maura bought two chicks, but Liam had pneumonia then so he bought medicine," Erin said. All the Gowin kids' gifts were delivered to needy families by World Vision.
...

Erin's sale will take place at 220 Delavan in Lincoln on Friday afternoon from 3:30 to 7 and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m

World Vision receives an US grant for Mozambique work

The U.S. government has awarded 49 million dollars to World Vision for an aid project in Mozambique. The grant money will be used to improve health access, water and sanitation in Mozambique's Zambézia Province. World Vision is also using 12 million dollars of their own money for the project's budget.

From this World Vision press release, we read more about the details of the wide ranging project that will even include cell phones and bicycles.

Named “Ogumaniha,” which means “united for a common purpose” in the local Chuabo language, the program will be funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to address the health, water, sanitation and agricultural needs of the province’s children, women, and families in an integrated way. Training, technology, mobile phones and even bicycles will be part of the program.

“This is an exciting opportunity to substantially improve the lives of children, women and families in Zambézia province,” said Francois Batalingaya, MPH, the World Vision humanitarian affairs specialist who led the program’s design. “Health, including responding to the growing HIV and AIDS problem, will be the main focus while all the interventions are aimed to work together to strengthen the communities we reach.”

The people of Zambézia now have very limited access to healthcare, with only 179 health centers and fewer than 40 trained Mozambican doctors available for the nearly 3.8 million residents of the province, roughly the size of Washington state. A lack of infrastructure means many must walk more than 20 kilometers (12 miles) to obtain care at health posts that aren’t always equipped for maternity or emergency needs. The lack of health services and sanitation, along with food insecurity, contribute to the spread of diseases throughout the region. The HIV rate among adults jumped to 19 percent, from 13 percent, between 2000 and 2007.

World Vision and partners will train community health workers and equip them with mobile phones and bicycles to make rounds in remote areas so women with high-risk pregnancies, new mothers and newborns can have access to care and consultation. Insecticide-treated bed nets will be distributed to households to guard against malaria. Bicycle ambulances, mobile outreach teams and waiting huts for pregnant women will also be provided.

The program will improve sanitation through “Tippy-Taps” for handwashing in schools and building latrines, and boost agricultural development by creating “Junior Farmer” irrigation groups for orphans and vulnerable children. It will also promote and finance demand-driven investments for agricultural production and livelihoods, and build the capacity of community groups and government departments at provincial and district levels for decisions that impact living conditions for the rural population.

Youths starve to fight hunger

Youth from throughout Baldwin County, Alabama participated in a 30 hour fast over this past weekend. The event raised money for World Vision, and the youths also helped out at the county soup kitchen.

From the Press Register, reporter Andrew Dunning tells us what moved the youth to starve.

"This is the first time youths from St. Andrew by the Sea Community Church in Gulf Shores, Providence United Methodist Church in Spanish Fort and Christ Presbyterian Church in Daphne have teamed up to participate in the 30-hour Famine," said Sharla Berry, director of Youth Ministries at Christ Presbyterian Church.

Berry said that the kids started the 30-hour fast at 6 p.m. Friday when youths gathered to hold a candlelight service. The participants lit 600 candles — one for each child who died from hunger in that hour.

The participants got only water or other liquids for hydration during the 30 hours.

"I'm participating in the 30-hour Famine to help raise awareness about world hunger, especially in Third World countries," said Jim Hollis, 16, of St. Andrew by the Sea Community Church.

"We try and raise money by asking people for donations," Hollis said. "We tell them that $360 allows World Vision the opportunity to feed a child for one year."

Most of the youths are taking part in the famine to raise awareness of world hunger, but some participants, like 14-year-old Harrison York of Christ Presbyterian Church, have gone above and beyond to make a difference in a child's life.

York said this was his second time to participate in the 30-hour Famine event and he also sponsors a child through World Vision for $32 a month, which makes sure a child gets the food and nutrition he or she needs to survive.

A hockey player heads to El Salvador with World Vision

One of our favorite non-Red Wings hockey players was sent by World Vision to the mountains of El Salvador. Mike Fisher of the Ottawa Senators had already sponsored a few children through World Vision. The charity asked him to participate in a trip to film a TV commercial that will be shown in the Ottawa area to gain more child sponsorships.

As well as working with the poor for a few days, Fisher was also able to see some success stories from sponsored children. Including a young woman who was able to sell eggs at a market with the help of some World Vision provided chickens. From this story that we found at Canada.com, writer Wayne Scanlan details the trip.

In South America, Fisher was more or less anonymous, causing a stir just as an outsider visiting some of the poorest villages, barely beyond the bustling capital city of San Salvador.

``Just five minutes outside the city, there is a major, drastic change,'' Fisher says. ``Extreme poverty.''

Fisher has sponsored children through World Vision in the past, helping to pay for basic needs and education, so, when the organization invited him to see El Salvador in the flesh, he was all over it.

``I've always wanted to go somewhere where the conditions are poor, a place like Africa,'' Fisher says. ``Maybe I'll go there next time.''

The rugged Christian from Peterborough, Ont., comes by this missionary zeal naturally. Fisher's uncle, David Fisher, was the chapel leader of the Toronto Blue Jays for 29 years. Mike's sister and father have done missionary work together in Ecuador.

n El Salvador, Fisher spent the first working day visiting villages of squalor, seeing first hand the living conditions of the poor. The conditions of the land alone was a challenge.

``We went up in trucks into the mountains,'' Fisher says. ``It was quite the ride even by truck, and the local people walk in. It takes four hours for this one family just to get into town.''

He won't forget visiting the tiny shack of one family, no food on the premises and eight children living in the one room, about 10 feet by 10 feet.

Comment: World Vision's wishes for next weeks G-8

With the G-8 meeting in Italy next week, aid organizations around the world are making their voices heard on what they would like to see done. Advocacy campaigns director for World Vision Patrick Watt, has written an opinion that the G-8 needs to firm up their commitments to aid that they made back in 2005.

From The Huffington Post, we find this snippet of Watt's commentary

Four years on, what was dubbed a 'Marshall Plan' for Africa in 2005 risks disintegrating into a partial plan:

* While non-G8 donors, responsible for a quarter of the total aid increase, are delivering on their side of the deal, aid from the G8 countries has actually fallen. So far, G8 countries have raised aid by just one third of the total they pledged in 2005.
* Italy, the host nation, continues to slash its aid spending, and now gives less than a fifth of one per cent of its national income to poverty reduction.


Failure to deliver on recent promises will cost the G8 heavily in terms of credibility. But more importantly, it threatens a huge social cost at a time when the global recession is hitting low-income countries hardest.

The World Bank estimates that as many as 2.8 million additional child deaths could result between now and 2015 unless urgent action is taken to mitigate the impact of the economic slowdown on household income and public spending.

Some G8 countries -- most notably Italy -- have suggested that the fiscal squeeze in Europe and North America makes delivery of current pledges unaffordable. But on closer scrutiny this is a flimsy alibi: the global aid increase promised by 2010 is equivalent to just 2% of the total stimulus package announced for G8 countries at the London G20, and would be equivalent to about 1% of public spending in most EU member states.

Inaction by the G8 is the real unaffordable luxury, not least from the perspective of the 9.2 million children who continue to die each year from easily preventable disease. Where the G8 has delivered additional aid for areas such as health, it has made a lasting and positive impact.

A 90% reduction in deaths from measles in Africa since 2001, and provision of life-saving antiretroviral drugs for 4 million people with HIV and AIDS would not have been possible without the support of G8 countries. This is a platform that needs to be built on when the G8 meet in L'Aquila, not squandered.

Two Green Bay Packers visit Kenya

Two American Football players, Aaron Kampman and Donald Driver visited Kenya this summer. The mission trip to Kenya was arraigned by World Vision. The two athletes visited children and brought gifts to them.

From the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune, writer Mike Vandermause talks to Donald Driver about the trip.

The 10-day excursion included two nights in a dorm-like hotel in Mutomo, Kenya, with no air conditioning or ceiling fans. At least the players were provided with mosquito nets so they could sleep.

"There's no way you would be able to sleep without mosquitoes tearing you up," said Driver. "You have bugs in your room that you've never seen in your life."

Driver spent part of his teen years in Houston living out of a U-Haul truck, but some of the conditions in Africa astounded even him.

"It touched me, because I've lived homeless before, but to that extent, no. I've never lived like that," he said. "I think that makes you appreciate the way you live. I didn't have any problems compared to what they have over there."

Why would two highly paid professional athletes, joined by their wives, spend their offseason free time walking through the slums of Nairobi, standing amid squalid conditions, witnessing the heartbreaking reality of a country stricken by hunger, an AIDS epidemic and an unsanitary water supply?

For Driver, who was reluctant when his wife, Betina, first suggested the trip, it was an eye-opening experience.

"It changes your perspective on life," he said. "It makes you appreciate what you have. You can't complain about the little things we complain about."

A profile of a pregnant woman with malaria

World Vision gives us this profile of a pregnant mother struggling with malaria. The disease is preventable, yet 10,000 pregnant women die of malaria every year in sub-Saharan Africa. Insecticide treated mosquito nets can keep people safe, but it is a struggle for aid groups to distribute the nets and make sure they are being used.

From World Vision, writers Andrea Peer and Jessie Lester introduce us to Esperance.

At 18 years old, Esperance contracted malaria for the first time. “It started on Tuesday,” she explains. “I had no appetite and a terrible headache. I was also coughing and felt nauseous, like I wanted to vomit. I couldn’t eat,” she says.

Esperance grew up in the mountains of Rwanda, where temperatures were not warm enough to host the anopheles mosquito that carries the malaria parasite. When she married and moved to a warmer region, Esperance was exposed to the disease for the first time. “Near my new home there is a river and bushes. A lot of mosquitoes come and bite us. That’s why I believe I am suffering from malaria,” she says.

Four days after her fever began, Esperance slipped into a coma, and her husband of seven months carried her on foot to Rwanda’s Kigeme Hospital, one hour away.

Because she had never contracted malaria, Esperance’s body had no immunity to the disease, making her risk extremely high. And if that wasn’t frightening enough, this young woman’s bout with the illness came at the worst possible time — four months into her first pregnancy.

Hyacinth Umhoza, a nurse at Kigeme Hospital, acknowledges that the risk of malaria is much greater for women who are pregnant. “Their immune system[s] [are] weakened because they are feeding two bodies, so vitamins and minerals go to two people. Any disease can attack both of them,” she explains.

At the hospital, Esperance received three rounds of intravenous therapy, which finally brought her out of the coma. “When you get someone who is unconscious and you bring them back, it is a miracle,” says Hyacinth. “Esperance has recovered. It seems that God is behind this,” she adds.