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WE CARE Solar promotes safe motherhood and reduces maternal mortality in developing regions by providing health workers with reliable lighting, mobile communication, and blood bank refrigeration using solar electricity. The Problem Maternal mortality worldwide accounts for more than half a million deaths a year; 99 percent of these occur in underdeveloped countries. For every maternal death, at least 20 women suffer severe complications from childbirth. Major causes of maternal death include obstetric hemorrhage, obstructive labor, eclampsia, and sepsis. These emergencies cannot always be predicted, nor are they always preventable. However, with prompt, appropriate and reliable medical care, they are unlikely to result in loss of life. Sporadic electricity impairs the operation of surgical wards, delivery wards, essential hospital equipment, and hospital communication devices. This compromises the ability of health workers to provide safe, appropriate and timely medical care. Labor and delivery nurses cannot quickly notify on-call physicians of emergencies. Midwives and physicians are forced to make treatment decisions without the benefit of necessary diagnostic tests. Obstetric procedures and emergency surgeries are conducted under grossly suboptimal conditions, and can have tragic consequences. Our Background Co-founder Dr. Laura Stachel went to Northern Nigeria in 2008 to study ways to lower maternal mortality in state hospitals. She witnessed deplorable conditions in state facilities including sporadic electricity that impaired maternity and surgical care. Without a reliable source of electricity, nighttime deliveries were attended in near darkness, cesarean sections were cancelled or conducted by flashlight, and critically ill patients waited hours or days for life-saving procedures. The outcomes were often tragic. Laura wrote to her husband, Hal Aronson, a solar energy educator back in Berkeley, California. Together, Laura and Hal co-founded WE CARE Solar to improve maternal health outcomes in regions without reliable electricity. Hal designed an off-grid solar electric system for the hospital Laura was studying, targeting the maternity ward, labor room, laboratory and operating theatre. A Portable Solution Hal created a suitcase-sized prototype of the hospital solar electric system so Laura could show Nigerian hospital workers the LED lights, headlamps and walkie-talkies planned for deployment. When Laura returned to Nigeria toting the "solar suitcase," her Nigerian colleagues immediately grasped its significance and began using this kit to charge headlamps and walkie-talkies while they awaited the larger solar installation. In addition, hospital employees introduced Laura to clinicians in outlying health facilities who begged her to bring solar lighting to their own clinics, too. Our five-year goal is to serve 5 million mothers in remote areas by deploying 10,000 Solar Suitcases to health care facilities around the globe.

Who We Are: The need for a grassroots organization that would galvanize communities across Africa to positively contribute towards sustainable management of natural resources was an idea born out of a discussion by a group of environment and natural resource management practitioners gathered in Arusha Tanzania in 2010. The idea was subsequently shared with other like-minded individuals and culminated in the formation and subsequent registration of Africa Nature Organization as Non-Governmental Organization on the World Wetlands Day 2nd February 2012 in Kenya. Our focus has been to promote sustainable environmental and natural resource management best practices among grassroots communities working closely with civil society organizations, private sector actors and Government. Our Vision: A well-managed environment and natural resource base benefiting People and Wildlife. Our Mission: To enhance sustainable management of environment and natural resources by empowering grassroots communities, supporting development of effective natural resource management instruments, promotion of green innovations and the advancement of wise-use practices. Programmes: Our work is organized around three themes. These are conservation, people's organizations and livelihoods. 1. Environmental Education and Awareness Sustained environmental education and awareness campaigns have been known to change the behavior and attitudes of stakeholders towards environment and natural resources. Africa Nature Organization environmental education and awareness campaigns target both the young and the old through targeted campaigns such as the Young People4Nature Initiative, environmental demonstrations, environmental days, cross-site visits, workshops and seminars are some of the activities in this category. 2. Conservation of Species and Habitats With the threat of species extinction and habitat loss aggravated by climate change, Africa Nature Organization has taken a special interest in the conservation of species and habitats through rehabilitation, restoration and protection. Afforestation on terrestrial areas, coral transplant in marine ecosystems, dyke construction, development of management plans, support for community guards to protect and monitor species and habitats are some of the activities undertaken to reduce species and habitat loss. 3. Enterprise-led Conservation (ECO) Communities for ages have depended on natural resources for their livelihoods. However, with dwindling natural resource base due to extraction of natural resources for commercial purposes, population increase and climate changes, communities have trapped in a vicious cycle of destroying environment and natural resources for survival. To stem this downward spiral, Africa Nature Organization works with grassroots communities to empower them with business skills and knowledge to initiate nature-friendly enterprises and link them with markets. 4. Research and Innovation for Conservation (RI-Conserve): Relevant information to undertake important decisions regarding natural resources has been an impediment to sustainable management of environment and natural resources. This has been more profound with grassroots communities and organizations, including government, working to empower them to sustainably manage environment and natural resources. To bridge the information gap, Africa Nature Organization undertakes research and develops innovative ways of overcoming environmental challenges facing communities, civil society organizations, private organizations and governments. Baseline surveys, environmental impact assessments, documentation of indigenous knowledge on biological resources, and innovative mobile technology for conservation are some of the activities undertaken in this category. 5. Conservation Communication (COCO): Communicating conservation information to relevant stakeholders is key in to their engagement and involvement in our conservation effort. Conservation Communication maintains stakeholder interest through: Newsletter, Development and distribution of environmental documentaries, Production of other education, information and communication materials.

The Center for Renewable Energy and Appropriate Technology for the Environment (CREATE!) was established in 2008 to help rural populations in the developing world prepare for water, food, and fuel shortages resulting from the impact of climate change on their communities. CREATE! operates on the principle that all people have a right to water, food, shelter, energy, and the means to earn a living. We work with village populations to meet these needs through a culturally respectful, participatory process grounded in our belief that people must have a stake in their development and contribute towards solving their own problems. The cooperative groups in our beneficiary villages have already demonstrated the validity of this approach. CREATE! currently operates in Senegal. Senegal is representative of many Sub-Saharan African countries that are hardest hit by the increasingly disastrous effects of global climate change. CREATE! responds to the inter-connected crises generated by climate change with strategies that decrease dependence on fossil fuels, conserve natural resources, and increase the use of appropriate technologies. Our programs produce sustainable, human needs-based development at the village level while forging resilient and vibrant communities across rural Senegal. CREATE! seeks to face these challenges and assist rural Senegalese residents with small-scale, accessible, and "appropriate" technologies - technologies that are adapted to, and fit, their local conditions - and with human needs-based strategies that can both better their lives and build their capacity to meet these inter-connected challenges. CREATE! works in six villages in two regions of Senegal. One region is in the rural north of Senegal, centered around Linguere in the Louga Region, where CREATE! implements programs in the village of Ouarkhokh. The other region is in the central-west of Senegal, centered around Gossas in the Fatick Region. CREATE! implements program activities in five villages in this region. The total beneficiary population of the six villages is approximately 12,000 people, comprised of both agricultural and pastoral peoples. The average per capita annual income of the population in these villages is approximately $350 a year. In each of these villages, CREATE! staff work closely with local and traditional authorities, including village chiefs and imams, in addition to other community leaders, families, and public schools. CREATE! values the expertise and input of community members and strives to incorporate their knowledge and participation into each stage of our programs. As a registered NGO in Senegal, CREATE! works with government officials from the regional office of the Department of Water and Forestry. CREATE! also respects the Senegalese government's strategic development goals for rural communities. Although CREATE!'s administrative office is located in the United States, CREATE! relies on local Senegalese staff and volunteers to plan and implement successful development interventions. Barry Wheeler, CREATE! Founder and Executive Director, has spent the past 27 years working to alleviate suffering and to provide basic human needs for rural villagers, displaced persons, and refugees in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. After serving in the Peace Corps for six years as an Improved Cook Stove and Appropriate Technology volunteer, trainer, and technical advisor in Togo, Barry earned a Master's degree in International Agriculture and Rural Development from Cornell University. Barry has served as Country Director for the American Refugee Committee's programs in Uganda, Sudan, and Rwanda; as a consultant for UNICEF and UNHCR; and as a team leader and training coordinator in local capacity building, renewable and appropriate technology, and sustainable rural development. CREATE! Chief Operations Officer Louise Ruhr has more than 30 years of private sector and nonprofit management experience and has spent the past eight years working with international NGOs, including the American Refugee Committee, to support women's cooperative groups in Rwanda and Senegal. CREATE! Country Director Omar Ndiaye Seck oversees program activities and conducts site visits in CREATE! communities. He also manages CREATE!'s finances and staff in Senegal. Omar closely collaborates with local and traditional authorities, community volunteers, and CREATE! staff to achieve both organizational and village goals.

A group of citizens came together in the summer of 2008, bound by a shared commitment to the restoration of one of the largest impacted estuaries in New England: the Herring River Salt Marsh. Friends of Herring River was launched formally at the State of the Wellfleet Harbor Conference on November 15, 2008 and is a tax exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code. All contributions are deductible to the extent allowed by law. The purpose of the Friends of Herring River is to promote education, research and public awareness of the Herring River estuary as one of critical environmental concern, to preserve the native environmental integrity of the river and estuary, to ensure habitat protection and retention of the native biological diversity and productivity of the river and estuary, to retain and enhance public access to the river and estuary, to preserve natural and historic sites, and to promote public awareness. Friends of Herring River is pursuing this mission by undertaking the following activities: Informing and educating the public on the progress and key issues in order to build community-wide support for the project. Implementing outreach activities to ensure timely and effective public involvement in the restoration project. Supporting restoration objectives and worthy scientific, environmental, historical, educational, and recreational programs by fundraising, volunteering, and other useful activities. Friends of Herring River are actively engaged in the planning for the implementation of the project, fundraising, public outreach, and education as well as conducting the herring run count each spring.