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Fundacion Nativo is a non-profit organization, located in Caracas (Venezuela), which is dedicated to the socioeconomic and sustainable development of indigenous communities, without having to damage their environment or abandon their cultural or religious beliefs. Always favoring gender equality and integration of different sexual options. Vision: A world in which there is no inequality between the indigenous population and the rest of society. Where the native population is not considered as animals, pets or the disposable object of the fashion of the moment. Mission: Empower indigenous communities by promoting the conservation of their culture, defending the right to land and the preservation of their natural resources, promoting sustainable economic development in gender equality and sexual orientation, favoring access to communication channels to leave the information isolation and giving them a voice before the institutions to demand their rights and denounce the abuses to which they are subjects of. Our history: In 2014, investigating for a documentary, we made a stop in the mining area of Las Claritas. There we went to a brothel where a bingo was being held. The place was full of miners attentive to the draw, something that surprised us because bingo always seemed an activity for older people ... Until we saw the prize ... depending on the sexual orientation of the miner, the prize was a child or Indigenous girl no older than 10 years old, who waited to meet the owner of their destination inside a hole dug in the floor of the premises. When you see something like this with your own eyes, it is impossible to remain indifferent to the problem. We realized that, in this market of basic instincts, we could do little to diminish the demand (the illegal miners come from many countries and for them the Indians are less than animals), but we could have some possibility of diminishing the offer if we helped the development of indigenous communities. And that's how the Fundacion Nativa was born.

The China California Heart Watch brings together experts from the United States, China, and around the world. Together, we use innovative and sustainable methods to combat the growing epidemic of heart disease in Yunnan Province, China. Our overarching mission is to serve the people of Yunnan through: (1) Training local healthcare professionals in the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of heart disease; (2) Improving access to high-quality healthcare and life-saving treatments; (3) Researching the epidemiology of heart disease, the effectiveness of our interventions, and other topics of critical value to rural Chinese populations. The activities of the China California Heart Watch generate no profits. We operate solely through the generosity and vision of our donors, foundations, and granting agencies. To learn more about our organization, we invite you to review our website and to get in touch with us directly.

Our mission is to educate and improve access to knowledge and know-how of producers that are part of eligible local organizations, while applying innovative methodologies for value-chain optimization. Our end-goal is 3-fold: (1) To reduce poverty and income inequality through sustainable, wealth-generating programs; (2) To enhance human capital to meet the needs of a competitive global market; (3) To increase private and non-for-profit sectors co-investments for shared-value creation. Our team has a strong experience in various sectors, such as the handicraft and coffee sectors; we also prioritize critical areas such as technology; brand, marketing & communications; and, leadership development & entreprenuerialship; to deliver long-lasting results within the area of influence, operating in Chiapas, with scaling opportunities in vulnerable regions with indigenous populations in Mexico and in Latin America.

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.

Shirzanan works to expand access to sport for Muslim women and girls worldwide. We use sports and media to catalyze discussion and advancements in women's rights and gender equality. We produce and disseminate stories - particularly to populations whose governments limit free information and women's rights. Shirzanan is the Persian word for "female heroes" and an apt description of the Muslim female athletes who triumph over cultural, social and religious barriers to excel at sport. We promote them as role models who speak out and stand up against discrimination. To shape a positive narrative around Muslim females and counter stereotypes exacerbated by mainstream media, we train female journalists to cover female athletes and train female athletes as role models and advocates. We uphold the Olympic Charter's statement that "The practice of sport is a human right." Everyone deserves access to sport and its consequent health, academic, economic, social and gender equality.

Our mission is to promote dignity, community, and self-sufficiency by working with marginalized populations in rural Honduras on a long-term basis, facilitating access to health care, education, and livable wages. Our comprehensive approach to grassroots community development promotes local traditions, encourages community leadership, and emphasizes collective ownership. Un Mundo seeks to improve the present and future socio-economic conditions and the quality of life of the families in rural Honduras who are living in extreme poverty by providing them with tools and resources to be self-sufficient and unified. Our work began from spontaneous relief actions after Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras in 1998, and we grew to gain 501(c)(3) nonprofit status in 2001. Initially, the organization was sustained by the generosity of international volunteers, but we have gradually evolved such that more and more of our project work is managed by local Honduran leaders. Within a few years, we expect that we will be able to realize our vision of seeing equitable, fruitful, life-giving projects in the Cangrejal River Valley being 100% run by the local communities.

About Us: Our Bridgeport club was founded in 1992, and is part of Soroptimist International of the Americas which was founded in 1921. Soroptimist is an international volunteer organization for business and professional women who work to improve the lives of women and girls, in local communities and throughout the world. A 501(c)(3) organization, Soroptimist relies on charitable contributions to fund its programs. Local members join with almost 100,000 Soroptimists in more than120 countries and territories to contribute time and financial support to community-based projects benefiting women. Soroptimist International has consultative status with the United Nations’ Economic and Social Council, which oversees U.N. activities promoting human rights. In addition to sponsoring the awards programs, our club has participated in community programs focused on various health and human service issues for women and girls, such as the Center for Women and Families, Mi Casa/My Home, Women and Men’s Health Project, Project Courage, and Local Soup Kitchens. For more information about our mission and programs, please visit our website www.soroptimist.org

Founded in 1902, the mission of the SPCA of Tompkins County is to protect companion animals. We are the first open-admission, no-kill shelter in the country dedicated to preventing animal cruelty and overpopulation. not only do we steward animals, but the environment as well. our “green” shelter, known as the Dorothy and Roy Park Pet Adoption Center, was LEED- Certified Silver in 2004—the first shelter to achieve this status in the united States. our best practices in shelter operations and programs serve as effective examples for other shelters across the country striving to achieve no-kill status. We strive to foster a community in which the need for sheltering abandoned, neglected and homeless and abused animals is diminished; and we work ceaselessly to place medically and behaviorally healthy, treatable or manageable animals in loving homes. We provide leadership in cruelty investigation initiatives, educational outreach, and pet population control. We promote responsible pet stewardship by providing behavioral issues-counseling as needed for adopted animals and their owners, as well as behavior training for shelter dogs to increase adoption rates and ultimately nurture and enhance the human-animal bond.

Libraries Without Borders is an international nonprofit that expands access to information, education and cultural resources to vulnerable populations around the world. Our interventions address the structural causes of economic and human underdevelopment, reduce the digital divide, and promote cultural resilience. By focusing on the curation and customization of educational materials, along with the logistics and security involved with delivery, storage and construction of learning spaces, we have been able to develop innovative programs, create and re-envision library spaces and support librarians in over 25 countries. Most recently, we received the Library of Congress' International Literacy Award (2016) and won the Google Impact Challenge (2015). We advocate the idea of the library as a toolbox for communities to disseminate knowledge, promote social harmony, accompany the least fortunate, and ultimately, pursue human and economic development. We work in five areas of intervention: 1. EDUCATION LWB establishes libraries and information resource centers in universities and schools. This support manifests itself in the donation of materials, technical equipment, texts, and multimedia and electronic resources. LWB also provides support to teachers in their education responsibilities by putting in place educational resource centers as well as creating educational digital content. 2. INFORMATION AND CULTURE LWB supports the development of structures providing access to books, information and culture in developing countries. LWB enters into partnerships with libraries to help them develop their textual and digital resources and set up quality cultural programs. LWB also accompanies the creation of cultural projects for specific and disadvantaged groups such as visually impaired persons, prisoners and refugee populations. 3. CAPACITY BUILDING LWB initiates innovative specialized resource projects to reinforce the capacities of specific groups such as professionals from the medical or justice sectors. In facilitating access to verified and quality-controlled information, LWB accompanies their daily work in servicing their communities as well as their scientific research. 4. CONSERVATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE LWB assists in the conservation and promotion of local written or oral heritage through the creation of specialized structures (libraries, cultural centers) and the training of personnel in these professions. Within the framework of promoting local knowledge and supporting publishers in developing countries, LWB also promotes the diffusion of local literature. 5. CULTURAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP LWB works alongside cultural entrepreneurs to design innovative and sustainable economic models. By setting up income-generating activities and training in management strategies, libraries are re-invented as social and cultural entrepreneurs with major economic benefits for their communities.

With the goal of helping under-served communities in India, Nepal, and Tibet receive the vital services they need, Karuna-Shechen was founded in 2000 by Matthieu Ricard (www.matthieuricard.org), renown TED speaker, author, and humanitarian. We strive to reduce inequalities and work toward a fairer and more compassionate world. We trust that communities can be lifted out of poverty, that change is possible, and that the well-being of every individual, regardless of race, gender, class, or caste, is essential. We believe that building on local strengths and knowledge is the most efficient way to respond to the specific needs and aspirations of our beneficiaries. Rooted in the ideal of "compassion in action", we serve others with joy and determination by cultivating altruism in our hearts and actions. We provide vulnerable and disadvantaged populations access to health care, education and vocational training, clean water, solar electricity, and other sustainable solutions that offer options to find a livelihood and a better life. We work with a grassroots network of local partners, and give special attention to the education and empowerment of girls and women. Karuna-Shechen's name expresses its mission while paying homage to its roots: Karuna means "compassion" in Sanskrit, and Shechen is the name of a major monastery in Tibet.

To establish model medical facilities in order to alleviate the sufferings of poor and resource less patients and provide them quality medical care. To help the humanity in distress at times of natural calamities like Earth Quakes, Accidents, IDPs crisis and so forth. To conduct training programmes for Community Health Workers in collaboration with other community based organizations and donor agencies. To create awareness among the general public for improvement of their health through health education. To help deserving and talented students and provide financial support to widows and poor families who cannot afford treatment on their own. To achieve simple treatment goals through cost effective local medicines including Herbs and Folk Home Remedies designed to cure as many patients as possible with few side effects. To provide best possible treatment to the poor and needy patients through qualified and specialist doctors. To develop a Health Education Programme designed to improve the quality of life through preventative measures. To conduct training programmes for Community Health Workers in collaboration with other community based organizations and donor agencies. To establish a Centre of Excellence for the treatment of Tuberculosis (in line with WHOs, DOT programme), Hepatitis-C and other Infectious Diseases. To provide immediate relief in case of natural disasters and calamities and also to take active part in rehabilitation of the affected population.

OBAT Helpers works for the welfare, support, and rehabilitation of displaced and stateless people by providing programs to alleviate the daily suffering and burdens of thousands of Urdu speaking people (known as "Biharis") who are stranded in makeshift camps in Bangladesh. OBAT Helpers implements projects in education and vocational training, self- empowerment through micro-financing, health care with clinics, drinking water, proper sewerage, and emergency relief projects. The Biharis have been stranded in Bangladesh since it achieved independence from Pakistan in 1971. Referred to as, astranded Pakistanis,a this community was supposed to be repatriated to Pakistan after the two countries separated but most of them could not due to political complications. They are presently citizens of nowhere, unclaimed by either country and marked by the UNHCR as refugees, yet deprived of the rights of refugees. They still live in the camps/slums that were supposed to serve as their temporary shelter forty years ago. This population is scattered across sixty-six camps which house around 300,000 people. Anyone visiting these camps would see a family of 7-10 people sharing a living space of 8x10 ft.; open sewers and overflowing drains; a single toilet or two for one hundred or so people; innocent six or seven year olds who should be in schools, working for a living; high-infant mortality rates due to absence of medical facilities; lack of clean drinking water; terrible or no sanitation facilities and nothing but abject poverty. OBAT Helpers is the only organization in North America which is committed to helping the Biharis to become self-reliant and empowered through proper education, health care and micro financing projects. OBAT started with providing help to one camp in 2004, and now, it is improving the lives of people in more than 30 out of the total 66 camps, after just six years. This is almost half of the total number of camps in Bangladesh.