Catapult.org Launches First Crowdfunding Site Focused on Equality for Girls and Women

Catapult.org Launches First Crowdfunding Site Focused on Equality for Girls and Women

New York, NY, October 11, 2012 – Today, on International Day of the Girl Child, global advocacy organization Women Deliver launched Catapult, the first online funding platform dedicated to advancing the lives of girls and women worldwide. By partnering with trusted organizations and connecting them with a new online audience, Catapult provides a call to action to help bring an end to gender inequality.

Girls’ and women’s organizations are chronically underfunded, despite their key role in addressing inequality. One-fifth of all women’s organizations report the threat of closure, and only two cents of every development dollar goes toward adolescent girls. Investing in girls and women strengthens families, communities and nations.

Harnessing the power of social networks, Catapult is a digital hub driving donations to organizations working to improve the lives of girls and women.

“Catapult is a connector,” said Founder, Maz Kessler. “It’s a tool for people to take direct, effective action to create change. Catapult unites online supporters with trusted organizations to help fuel the movement to end inequality for girls and women.” 

Organizations can upload their projects to Catapult, and donors can fund the issues that speak to them most, such as agriculture, ending child brides, education, family planning and gender-based violence. 

Donors can also learn about projects by following Catapult Curators - thought-leaders championing specific projects in their areas of focus and passion. Curators include actress and advocate Maria Bello; Man Up Campaign Founder Jimmie Briggs; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Director of Family Health Gary Darmstadt; GirlUp Teen Advisor Co-Chair Annie Gersh; and Women Deliver President Jill Sheffield. 

To ensure transparency, each Catapult project includes a breakdown of how donations will be applied. Project budgets, including administrative costs, GPS coordinates, and video and are all standard features of the platform. Catapult is free for all parties.

Catapult is launching with projects in more than 30 countries around the world, including: a Mobile Literacy Class, using mobile phones and texting to accelerate literacy for Afghan girls and women; Birth Waiting Homes for Women in Sierra Leone, housing pregnant women in homes close to hospitals to avoid long, dangerous journeys while in labor; and Empowering Youth to Challenge Early Marriage, helping young people, particularly boys and men, to challenge the underlying attitudes of child marriage.

“I am always inspired by the commitment of women I meet in the developing world to create a better future for their families. Investing in women can be transformational for entire societies. Today reminds us that we all have a role to play in unlocking the potential of women and girls,” said Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Catapult was a featured commitment at the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative meeting and has been endorsed by the World Bank and UN Women.

“UN Women is proud to support Catapult,” said Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women. “When more people contribute, change comes faster for girls and women.”

Crowdfunding is rapidly transforming the funding landscape and democratizing philanthropy. As of 2011, in the United States alone, charitable giving through crowdfunding exceeded US$636 million and grew at a rate of 43 percent. Over the next three years, Catapult has committed to raise US$45 million.

Developed at Women Deliver, and funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Catapult is working with a variety of partners both large and small, including the Global Fund for Women, the United Nations Population Fund, IPPF, the Akilah Institute for Women and One-Heart World-Wide.

Learn more about how to launch your change for girls and women at www.catapult.org, and join us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/catapult.org
and Twitter: @wecatapult.

*********
 This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

AmeriCares Rushes Aid for Syrian Refugees

Stamford, Conn. –Sept. 5, 2012 – An AmeriCares emergency aid shipment from its Stamford, Conn., headquarters arrived in Jordan this week to assist Syrian refugees as they continue to stream into the country. Medicines and medical supplies donated by AmeriCares will help meet the health care needs of refugees at the newly established Za’atri camp, where 24,000 people languish in dismal conditions. The AmeriCares shipment includes enough emergency equipment, chronic disease medicines and wound care supplies to help up to 20,000 people.

Aid organizations are struggling to meet the health needs of people fleeing the civil war in Syria, and more than 214,000 people have now sought refuge in neighboring Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Iraq. The population includes vulnerable groups such as children and infants, pregnant women, chronic disease patients and those hurt in the conflict.

“There is a desperate need for medicines and supplies at the refugee camps along the Syrian border. Health care providers are reporting an increased number of war-related injuries among the refugee population,” said Garrett Ingoglia, AmeriCares director of emergency response. “Our medicines and supplies will help vulnerable Syrian refugees fleeing from airstrikes and shelling by government forces.”

A previous shipment including emergency assistance and chronic disease medications arrived in Jordan on August 23. AmeriCares is also supplying medical aid to volunteer doctors providing emergency medical care to refugees throughout the region, including many patients with gunshot wounds and other war injuries.

AmeriCares has been delivering critically needed medicines and relief supplies to the Middle East for more than 25 years in response to civil conflict as well as humanitarian crises.

About AmeriCares

AmeriCares is a nonprofit global health and disaster relief organization that delivers medicines, medical supplies and aid to people in need around the world and across the United States. Since it was established in 1982, AmeriCares has distributed more than $10 billion in humanitarian aid to 164 countries. For more information, visit americares.org

*********
This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.

UNICEF launches Innovate for Children website to accelerate progress

COPENHAGEN, 23 August 2012 – With a view to merging inspiration with technical expertise, UNICEF announced today the launch of its Innovate for Children website.
The site draws attention to health and education challenges faced by children in developing countries – and the potential for innovative product design and inventive use of technology to find solutions.
“Innovation and the partnerships around innovation have always been part of UNICEF’s DNA,” said Shanelle Hall, Director of UNICEF’s Supply Division in Copenhagen. “The Innovate for Children website is premised on the idea that we can and must do more. It is one way UNICEF is reaching out to expert individuals, industry, and design and research institutions to get involved.”
“For child survival and development, innovation is critical. Children's lives are being saved thanks to new vaccines, better formulations in paediatric medicines, and more effective health technology, such as longer lasting bed nets,” said Paul Molinaro, who heads UNICEF’s innovation team.
“Newly developed, open-source mobile phone technology is allowing health workers to shorten critical waiting times for patients’ test results and reduce the risk of stock-outs of essential supplies in remote clinics.” said Paul Molinaro, who heads UNICEF’s innovation team.
  
UNICEF collaborations around innovation featured on the website include:

• A new design for water containers, now being field tested in Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Haiti and Sudan.  
• Bundling together dosages of oralrehydration salts sachets and zinc tablets so that front-line health workers and caregivers at home can easily combine these to treat diarrhoea – one of the leading killers of young children.
• Development of a respiratory timer that will work well in low-technology settings and better diagnose pneumonia in young children. Pneumonia is the leading cause of preventable deaths among children.
• In Zambia and Malawi, Project Mwana is saving lives of newborns by using mobile phones to communicate HIV test results more quickly to health workers. This means treatment can start much sooner.

The website welcomes comments and ideas, and invites online submissions on projects designed to accelerate reduction of child mortality. UNICEF’s methodology in innovation work emphasises the importance of understanding the needs of users and the geographic, social and economic barriers that limit access to life-saving supplies and services.Innovate for Children also strongly focuses on research and development that maximises opportunities for good ideas to be generated, shared and acted upon. It features UNICEFstories that highlight the work of UNICEF staff in a number of initiatives in technological and product innovation.
###
About UNICEF
UNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. For more information aboutUNICEF and its work visit: www.unicef.org
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook



*********
This press release is reprinted by Alanna Shaikh out of an obscure sense of guilt. It does not represent the opinions of Alanna Shaikh or any of her employers.