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World Neighbors

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About Me

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Our Mission: World Neighbors inspires people and strengthens communities to find lasting solutions to hunger, poverty and disease and to promote a healthy environment.
World Neighbors is an international development organization that creates long-term, transformative change in remote communities in Asia, Africa and Latin America—places where people live in absolute poverty.
World Neighbors is headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Our programs are operating in more than 16 countries around the globe, helping people build their communities and strenghten their lives.
We are passionate about our work, and bring energy, determination, urgency and leadership to our field by pioneering and ..ing innovative tools and strategies. Our approach is collaborative, equitable, inclusive and respectful. People are proud to work with us, but they ultimately create and own the leadership and results that come from our collaboration.
We place high value on education and on respectfully sharing our expertise in both our global communities and with U.S. audiences. We empower communities to create and sustain their own change, empower donors and partners to see their role in global transformation, and empower the international development community to build on our more than 50 years of experience in the field.
Visit our Web site at www.wn.org

My Interests

Centennial Stories: World Neighbors

• We work with local residents to find innovative, low-cost and practical solutions to pressing needs, and build on those solutions to create healthy, strong and self-sufficient communities.
• We listen to how local people define their needs. We build trust and enthusiasm by working together to solve priority problems. We help the community realize its potential to multiply early victories into long-term social, political and economic change. We share results with larger-scale organizations to influence broader policies and practices.
• We take a big-picture, integrated approach to our work, focusing on the entire community rather than on one issue. We understand that issues are often interrelated, and that by removing one obstacle, we can open many avenues of opportunity.
• Most of our experienced International Program staff and volunteers are local people from the countries where they work.
• We invest in people, not things. We provide knowledge and momentum rather than merely handing out technology or money. This makes our program very efficient and creates lasting change rather than a short- term fix.
• We enter a community with an open mind to the right approach rather than a predetermined idea of what should be done. We work with local residents to identify and address needs from within, resulting in greater community involvement and longer-term impact.
• World Neighbors builds local leaders and local organizations, resulting in more sustainable impact. We work with local communities to identify leaders from within. This unleashes individual and collective potential.
• We facilitate partnerships with local community and governmental organizations. World Neighbors strengthen the organizational capacity of grassroots partners.
• We take a long-term approach, often staying in communities for five to 10 years. Our work permanently improves the social, economic and physical resources available to and controlled by a community.

Television:

Watch more videos like this at www.quantumshift.tv

Books:

Some great development books:

• The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time by Jeffrey Sachs
• Loving God isn't Enough, John Peters
• The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good
• Plan B 2.0: Rescuing a Planet Under Stress and a Civilization in Trouble by Lester R. Brown
• Fair Trade for All: How Trade Can Promote Development (Initiative for Policy Dialogue Series) by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Andrew Charlton
• Global Economic Prospects 2007: Managing the Next Wave of Globalization by World Bank

Heroes:

The people in the world who give of themselves to help their neighbors around the globe.

My Blog

Breaking Bad Habits: Reforming US Food Aid

Breaking Bad Habits: Reforming US Food AidWorld Neighbors applauds the recent decision of CARE International to phase out of the practice of selling subsidized US food in developing countries. Many la...
Posted by World Neighbors on Thu, 27 Sep 2007 03:14:00 PST

Flooding in Southeast Asia

Recent torrential rains in South Asia have resulted in massive flooding and significant devastation in World Neighbors programs in Bihar, India and Terai, Nepal. With more than 35,000 people displaced...
Posted by World Neighbors on Mon, 13 Aug 2007 03:08:00 PST

World Neighbors President and CEO featured on Womens Radio

Melanie Macdonald, World Neighbors President and CEO, was recently interviewed by Pat Lynch, Women's Radio Editor-in-Chief about the issues women face in extremely remot...
Posted by World Neighbors on Mon, 06 Aug 2007 08:33:00 PST

Kingsolver Cites World Neighbors in New Book

World Neighbors' successful work is referenced in bestselling author Barbara Kingsolver's book, "Animal, Vegetable Miracle." In an inset essay by Kingsolver's husband Steven Hopp on page 19, he said, ...
Posted by World Neighbors on Mon, 06 Aug 2007 08:31:00 PST

Volunteer Opportunity - OKC Hunger Banquet

Hello! I am happy to share with each of you our group volunteer project for the summer  the World Neighbors Oklahoma City-Wide Hunger Banquet in celebration of the 100th birthday of our late founder ...
Posted by World Neighbors on Wed, 18 Jul 2007 01:34:00 PST

Check out this event: Oklahoma City Regional Hunger Banquet

Hosted By: World NeighborsWhen: Friday Jul 27, 2007 at 6:00 PMWhere: St. Lukes United Methodist222 Northwest 15th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73101United StatesDescription:World Neighbors Click Here To V...
Posted by World Neighbors on Mon, 16 Jul 2007 01:09:00 PST

Pesticides, what you don't know

Imagine. Just for a minute, imagine your hands in the rich, dark dirt high in the Andes Mountains, your fingers squeezing seeds into the earth that will one day grow into a crop that will feed your fa...
Posted by World Neighbors on Fri, 06 Apr 2007 09:18:00 PST

Work of Women Program Volunteer Opportunity - February 15, 16, 19, 20 and 21

Our next volunteer opportunity will be on Thursday, February 15 from 1:30  4:00. We will start working on assembling the Work of Women (WOW) program party host kits for our International Women's Day ...
Posted by World Neighbors on Mon, 12 Feb 2007 01:42:00 PST

Citizens for a Better Environment

Ecoshopping: Use your consumer vote Every day, U.S. citizens make a host of purchasing decisions. What we buy - and do not buy - can have far reaching environmental consequences. Ecoshopping is a way...
Posted by World Neighbors on Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:06:00 PST

Ways to Create a Socially Conscious Wardrobe

Ways to Create a Socially Conscious Wardrobe by Brandi Brown   Living a socially conscious life does not have to mean living without any sense of fashion.   The first step is to keep an ...
Posted by World Neighbors on Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:02:00 PST