International Causes

Center for International Disaster Information 
This site contains some amazingly frank information about the realities of how disaster relief works, what kind of aid is most useful and appropriate and, what sort of volunteers are needed in emergency situations. In fact, the CIDI seems to have the dual purpose of correcting well intentioned but misguided assumptions about the needs of disaster victims and relief agencies, and providing very specific information and guidelines for all those wishing to help. The cringe-worthy articles about well-meant shipments of expired canned goods and fur coats to the victims of the tsunami are balanced with international situation reports and donation resources for individuals, NGOs and major corporations. The CIDI is all about education, so that the noble impulse to help others is channeled effectively.

Medecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders)
The actions of this group of concerned doctors, volunteering their services to bring emergency care to those in need around the word, has given Medecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) well deserved international recognition. The group’s commitment is to serving those struck by famine war and disease, whoever and wherever they may be. The site’s international updates on humanitarian health crises often cover situations that are not covered by the mainstream media and reflect the MSF’s other mission: to help draw attention to the plight of the people they serve.

Mercy Corps
One of the strong themes of this website is the resiliency of the human spirit. Taking a three-fold approach to international development, Mercy Corps aims to provide emergency relief services, sustain economic development and promote projects that strengthen civil society. The site features stories and photo essays of positive change in the lives of individuals and ongoing work for social change in societies affected by conflict and natural disasters. Search by country to see updated news of international situations or by topic to read about events that rarely reach the news, “silent disasters.”

Oxfam 
Oxfam International has been a longtime hero to communities saddled by poverty and injustice. The organization - which works with over 3,000 partners in more than 100 countries - makes lasting change by empowering people to assert their rights and take back control of their own lives. Oxfam brings irrigation to farmers, helps women who have been victims of violence get justice, helps families fight pollution in their neighborhoods, and fights HIV/AIDS, to name just a few efforts. The site includes descriptions of projects, searchable by region. Oxfam also lobbies to change international policies that are at the heart of social ills. See the site’s News & Publications page for well-researched, easy-to-understand reports about various situations around the world, from the Gulf Coast recovery to the Java earthquake. The Get Involved page offers opportunities to help with current campaigns, either as a volunteer or an online activist.

Relief International
RI’s aim is to address emergency situations with solutions for long-term change. After the emergency aid runs out, how do people feed and house themselves? Relief International designs development programs that are meant to be grassroots and sustainable, responding to the needs of the most disenfranchised. Literacy training and libraries in Afghanistan, medical clinics in Darfur, microfinance in Iraq and emergency relief for those displaced by the San Diego fires, RI does wide ranging work with long-term goals.

ReliefWeb
Run by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), ReliefWeb is an on-line gateway to information (documents and maps) dealing with humanitarian emergencies and disasters. The site is designed specifically to aid and inform the international humanitarian community to effectively deliver emergency assistance in areas of conflict and disaster around the world. Reliefweb assembles news, reports and maps from a wide variety of sources and information can be found the site’s search engine or through the useful tabs. This site is loaded with important resources, unfortunately ReliefWeb’s pages look compressed in many web browsers, and therefore hard to read. Information this vital deserves all the space it can get.

Human Rights Watch 
Often quoted in the media as the source of authoritative information on human rights issues, Human Rights Watch has earned this reputation by investigating and exposing human rights violations around the world and fearlessly holding the abusers accountable. Its Web site lays out the results of its research in unflinching detail. Here, the good news and the sometimes ugly truth share the same space. The site includes images and videos from around the world by respected photojournalists, putting a human face on the suffering. Visitors can listen to podcast summaries of the human rights situation, by country, and sign up for HRW’s e-newsletter (available in several languages). What’s more, bloggers who want to “blog for human rights” can get help from HRW.

International Campaign to Ban Landmines 
The Nobel Peace Prize winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) brings together people in over 70 countries in an initiative that aims to rid the world of antipersonnel landmines and cluster munitions, as well as to address the humanitarian consequences of these weapons. Working with the concept that “civil society has the power to change the world,” the ICBL network works tirelessly to make the ban on landmines and cluster munitions truly international. The site outlines the problem of widespread use of landmines that become a terrible danger to populations in former war zones, as well as how the current anti-landmine treaties are changing things.

The Advocacy Project
Working to restore peace and human rights is difficult and challenging work, and all too often, the groups that are working on these noble goals simply don’t have the resources they need. The Advocacy Project partners with peace and justice organizations, offering them summer interns, networking opportunities, technical assistance, strategies for fundraising and promotional work, and publicity via an e-newsletter, to name just a few services. Visit the Web site’s photo archive to see images of The Advocacy Projects’ partners at work in countries around the world. Those interested in learning more can subscribe to the group’s general e-newsletter or peruse archived issues of topic-specific newsletters, which are informative albeit a bit text-heavy.

UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR)
Founded in 1950 by a mandate of the United Nations, the UNHCR has been tending to the basic needs and rights of the world’s refugees ever since. A tiny staff of under 10,000 coordinates international action in zones where famine and conflict have forced people from their homes. Protecting the lives and the rights of displaced populations is one of the High Commission’s most prominently stated goals. The well–designed site outlines the staggering scale of the worldwide refugee problem, while managing to infuse all these statistics with a message of hope. Among other features, the site offers multi–media files that address the specific problems faced by refugees through personal accounts and investigative reports. Here we can see both the big picture of the international crises and the personal story of the uprooted.

Changemakers
is an initiative of 'Ashoka: Innovators for the Public'. Self termed a "Community of action" Changemakers collaborate to solve the world’s most pressing social problems through mentoring and by sharing experiences advise and encouragement. They pride themselves on trying things never tried before, forming surprising connections and unexpected partnerships across the globe that turn the old ways of problem solving upside down. The mantra is “Everyone a Changemaker” encourages individuals to make massive differences with the support of the collective.

Chipua
Tanzania’s Institute for Social Transformation, known as Chipua, works to counteract shortcomings in the nation’s education system and general social biases that can keep girls from succeeding in school and women from contributing to society. This site does a good job of explaining the complex reasons why Tazanian girls, particularly disadvantaged girls, face obstacles in the school system and face dire prospects without an education. Chipua’s programs are tailored to support the girls who need financial help and mentoring in order for them to become the women who make real social and financial contributions to their communities.

Images of Child Labor
No doubt inspired by Lewis Hine’s revelatory and transformative photographs of child labor in 19th century, this project aims to give faces and stories to some the millions of children who are put to work, often in hazardous and dangerous conditions, while also exploring the complex factors that have created their situations. Child Labor and the Global Village: Photography for Social Change is a project that put a team of 11 photographers in the field to photograph child workers around the world, and to take account of the individual contexts and stories of each. The result is a traveling exhibition that has been shown in venues from the U.S. Congress, and American universities and schools to venues in Bangladesh. Some of these unsentimental and often intense stories are previewed on the site, and should be seen.

In Her Hands
Paola Gianturco and Toby Tuttle were so inspired by the strength and spirit of indigenous craftswomen—many living on less than $1 per day—that they flew around the world to meet some of them, ultimately interviewing 90 women in 12 countries. Their subsequent book, In Her Hands: Craftswomen Changing the World, and this corollary Web site celebrate the exquisite and often colorful work of indigenous craftswomen living in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The money these women raise selling their crafts feeds their families, educates their children, and sometimes has unexpected effects, such as boosting respect for women and decreasing domestic violence. The site features an online gallery of the women and their handiwork, including mirror embroidery from India, beadwork from Africa, and painted pottery from Peru. Visit You Can Help for information on how to get involved or the Events page for a listing of appearances and exhibitions around the country.

International Bridges to Justice (IBJ)
Defenders of human rights and criminal justice around the world can rely on the support of an independent non-governmental organization that provides the tools for better legal education and better communication about basic human rights. Based in Switzerland, International Bridges to Justice has developed a wide range of training manuals, country assessments and scorecard tools, and many other resources that are offered to lawyers everywhere through the organization’s online e-learning program. Other IBJ resources include the Criminal Defense Wiki that assembles case law, codes, treaties, and other resources in an online library available to lawyers in developing countries throughout the world. Individuals can also seek support for their local human rights projects through the online JusticeMakers network, where International Bridges to Justice can provide defender activists with grants and other forms of support. Overall, the IBJ site features excellent background information on the countries where they are engaged, and with lawyerly precision, it defines what constitutes human rights abuse in the absence of due process and fair trials.

Mangrove Action Project
Known as rainforests by the sea, the world’s mangrove forests grow in intertidal areas between land and sea in nations around the world and are home to spectacularly complex ecosystems, most of which are under threat. The Mangrove Action Project makes an impassioned and articulate case for preserving these remaining habitats for the native populations that live in and around them, for the rare species that depend on the mangrove ecosystem, and for the coastal communities that rely on them as buffer against storm surges and erosion. Mangrove Action’s site imparts excellent and thoroughly researched information about the nature of these forests, their ecological benefits and the consequences of mangrove deforestation on the lives of traditional and indigenous coastal peoples. Meanwhile, its projects on the ground focus on restoration and conservation, but also on education for the mangroves’ neighbors, and for the rest of us who may not fully understand what we are losing.

Open Society Institute
Financier–philanthropist George Soros envisions a world where respect rules: respect of the individual and respect of the institutions of democracy. The Open Society Institute is Soros’s contribution towards shaping this world. The Institute is a grant—making foundation that “aims to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform.” It does this through financial support of local and international projects (including photographic projects), but also by implementing a range of initiatives that deal with issues which are truly impressive in scope: freedom and democracy, human rights, education, public health and access to care as well as transparency and access to information. If these goals seem improbably ambitious, check the web site for a list of the accomplishments and works in progress, and be impressed.

Oxfam
Oxfam International has been a longtime hero to communities saddled by poverty and injustice. The organization - which works with over 3,000 partners in more than 100 countries - makes lasting change by empowering people to assert their rights and take back control of their own lives. Oxfam brings irrigation to farmers, helps women who have been victims of violence get justice, helps families fight pollution in their neighborhoods, and fights HIV/AIDS, to name just a few efforts. The site includes descriptions of projects, searchable by region. Oxfam also lobbies to change international policies that are at the heart of social ills. See the site’s News & Publications page for well-researched, easy-to-understand reports about various situations around the world, from the Gulf Coast recovery to the Java earthquake. The Get Involved page offers opportunities to help with current campaigns, either as a volunteer or an online activist.

UNICEF
Founded to address the needs and rights of children all over the world, UNICEF has become an international authority that both influences decision-makers and helps to initiate the sort of local grass-roots projects that create positive change over generations. UNICEF’s stated mission is to take on the obstacles that challenge children all over the world such as poverty, violence, disease and discrimination. The organization’s website offers comprehensive information, including news, statistics and first person reports, about situations around the world – country by country.

Pro Mujer
As their web site makes clear, Pro Mujer has confidence in women and their ability to be not just economic support, but economic drivers in Latin American societies. Pro Mujer uses microfinance, that trendy idea that is yielding tangible results all over the world, to create a women’s development network. Latin America’s poorest women are offered the means to build livelihoods for themselves and futures for their families through microfinance, business training, and healthcare support.

Save the Children
Save the Children has a long history of matchmaking—that is, matching caring donors with children around the world who need their help. The organization protects and fights for the rights of children who face poverty and crisis, from armed conflict to natural disasters to abuse, in more than 100 countries. In all cases, Save the Children works closely with the local community to ensure each child’s health and happiness. The content on this well-organized site is supplemented with slideshows and videos to highlight the group’s work. Visitors to this site can search for a deserving child to sponsor (and see photos) or can simply sponsor a project. Kids can even get involved by ordering a Moneybox for fundraising or entering Save the Children’s Art Contest.

The Advocacy Project
Working to restore peace and human rights is difficult and challenging work, and all too often, the groups that are working on these noble goals simply don’t have the resources they need. The Advocacy Project partners with peace and justice organizations, offering them summer interns, networking opportunities, technical assistance, strategies for fundraising and promotional work, and publicity via an e-newsletter, to name just a few services. Visit the Web site’s photo archive to see images of The Advocacy Projects’ partners at work in countries around the world. Those interested in learning more can subscribe to the group’s general e-newsletter or peruse archived issues of topic-specific newsletters, which are informative albeit a bit text-heavy.

Thompson Reuters Foundation
As the charitable division of the venerable and respected Thomson Reuters news service, the Foundation employs all the expertise that has made Thompson Reuter’s reputation in order to create ways to “increase trust in and access to the rule of law, to save lives through the provision of trusted information and to improve standards of journalism.” These inter-related goals are addressed by three programs: TrustLaw, a proposed global hub for the practice of pro bono legal work; TrustMedia, a program of training courses for journalists around the globe, imparting the skills and values that have made Reuters’ international reputation; and the Emergency Information Service (EIS) a system that uses many means to get emergency survival to people caught up in natural disasters. The Foundation has also joined other media companies in signing up to a multi-media centre in the United Arab Emirates to train, develop and promote Arab talent in journalism, broadcasting, film-making and publishing. Trust.org is packed with information for aspiring journalists all over the world.

Water Aid
Clean water is such a basic necessity and so much of the world suffers from the lack of it that it’s a beginning when at least one international development organization devotes all its attention to the problem. Water Aid initiates clean water and sanitation programs in rural and urban locations all over the world, using sustainable technologies and community support. Their site is also a repository of information on clean water development including government policies, statistics, films, audio clips, games, teaching packs for grade school students and much else.