10-year-old nets $180K for anti-malaria effort
The United Nation Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign to provide mosquito netting in developing areas to prevent the deadly spread of malaria is inspiring donors and efforts at all levels, including among the young. Volunteer Katherine Commale, a Pennsylvania fourth-grader, has been raising funds for nets since she was 5 and is now a spokesperson for NBN, having raised more the $180,000 for nets herself.
UNF alliance aims to decrease cooking-related deaths
Open-fire cooking and primitive stoves continue to endanger the lives of 3 billion people around the world. The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, a United Nations Foundation initiative, is working to provide clean, cheap and effective stoves to the developing world. An estimated 1.9 million people — mostly women and children — die every year from health conditions caused by prolonged exposure to fumes from cooking appliances.
Music can help displace the darkness in Haiti’s camps
The simple provision of adequate lighting for the camps of displaced Haitians can go a long way toward curbing the gender-based violence that has followed 2010’s devastating earthquake, advise Linkin Park’s Dave “Phoenix” Farrell and the UN Foundation’s Peter Yeo. The foundation’s Music for Relief and other donors have helped install 200 solar lights in the camps so far, and Linkin Park is joining the effort to raise funds for more. Click here to read more from the UN Foundation.
California acts on DR Congo conflict minerals
The California State Senate passed a bill Tuesday that will prevent the U.S. state from working with any company that fails to comply with U.S. federal regulations on minerals sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Supporters see the measure as an integral part of multi-stakeholder efforts to end mineral trade’s contribution to human rights abuses and conflict in DR Congo. California’s full state assembly still needs to endorse the bill.
UN report on Sri Lankan war crimes submitted
Experts appointed by the United Nations to investigate alleged war crimes during the end game of the Sri Lankan army’s victory over separatist Tamil Tigers have delivered their findings to the world body. Rights groups say the report — opposed by the Sri Lankan government, which says it is unwarranted — must be made public.
UAE backs Pakistan, Afghanistan polio fight
Authorities from the UAE have partnered with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help provide polio vaccinations and battle the disease in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The two neighboring countries are among the last in the world where polio remains endemic.
Teens are inspired by philanthropy
A new breed of global activist is emerging from the Facebook generation, writes Tamsin Smith, president of SlipStreamStrategy. The “Philanthro-Teens” of today are motivated by the examples set by Ted Turner and Bill Gates, but they use social media and a powerful sense of authenticity to generate action. Smith writes, “A young imagination — twinned with leadership and organizational skills, amplified by media and social networks, and boosted by private sector and community support — can be an unparalleled engine of change.”
