Other organisations

Sarvodaya

Founded 59 years ago in Sri Lanka, Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement is a social development organisation. Coined by Mahatma Ghandi, Sarvodaya means the awakening of all and the Movement.

Faith Affiliation: inspired by Buddhist principles

Mission: “the fulfillment of the basic needs of people in a holistic way bringing spiritual, moral and cultural dimensions integrated with social, economic and political development in community.”

Key facts: The main organisation has over 400 staff, but as a whole it accomplishes its work with the help of over 1200 staff and 100,000 volunteers across five countries: Netherlands, Germany, Japan and Nepal. The organization helps over 2 million beneficiaries a year.

For example in Nepal, the program became an effective independent organisation called Teach for Nepal. It has its own life now and might become a separate legal entity. For the past five years, they have been reaching a large number of remote schools and were attaching fellows from Kathmandu, who go to villages stay and teach the children. It 15,000 of 38,000 villages in Sri Lanka.

Key SDGs addressed: 10 of the 17 SDGs are addressed by the organisation including environmental, water, energy, food, cloth, health, housing, holistic education, transport and communication and cultural and spiritual needs. In all humanitarian relief work, we adhere to the SPHERE standards in terms of all the services including calculating the quantities.

Annual Budget: $2 million

Sarvodaya relief items distribution Batticaloa on Thursday the 13th January, 2011.

4 large-scale drinking and agricultural water wells in Moneragala district inaugurated in the Uva province of Sri Lanka.

SIL International

SIL serves language communities worldwide, building their capacity for sustainable language development, by means of research, translation, training and materials development.

Soka Gakkai International (SGI)

Faith Affiliation: Buddhist

The Soka Gakkai International (SGI) is a community-based Buddhist organization that promotes peace, culture and education centered on respect for the dignity of life. SGI members uphold the humanistic philosophy of Nichiren Buddhism in 192 countries and territories around the world.

Individual SGI members strive to actualize their inherent potential while contributing as empowered global citizens to their local communities and responding to the shared issues facing humankind. The SGI’s efforts to help build a lasting culture of peace are based on a commitment to dialogue and nonviolence, and the understanding that individual happiness and the realization of a peaceful world are inextricably linked.

As a non-governmental organization with formal ties to the United Nations, the SGI also collaborates with other civil society organizations, intergovernmental agencies and faith groups in the fields of nuclear disarmament, human rights education, sustainable development and humanitarian relief.

What inspires SGI to do their work?

SGI’s work is inspired by Buddhist philosophy whose key elements include:

• Belief in the dignity of life
• The interconnectedness of all life
• Reflection, dialogue and nonviolence

Key Facts

The SGI was registered as a non-governmental organization (NGO) associated with the UN Department of Public Information in 1981 and was granted consultative status with the Economic and Social Council in 1983. SGI maintains offices in New York and Geneva.

• The SGI was an early proponent of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-14) and played an active role in the UN process for the realization of the World Programme for Human Rights Education which was launched in 2005 as a follow-up to the UN Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004).
• It launched the People’s Decade for Nuclear Abolition initiative in 2007 to rouse public opinion and help create a global grassroots network of people on the issue.
• The SGI has been engaged in humanitarian relief activities over the years, including the continued relief efforts following the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, taking advantage of its unique strengths and capabilities as a faith-based organization (FBO).
• The SGI works to promote the SDGs and raise awareness among the people around the world. One such effort is the development of a mobile app called “Mapting”, co-produced with Earth Charter International.The app serves as an educational tool to engage users, particularly young people, in promoting sustainable actions and projects through sharing pictures and videos. It is designed to help understand what is needed to lead the transition toward more just, sustainable and peaceful societies in the face of global challenges such as environmental devastation, the massive extinction of species, injustice, poverty and violent conflicts.

Key SDGs addressed: Goal 4, 5, 11, and 16 and Key Programs

Goal 4 – Quality Education- 

The SGI has developed non-formal education tools with the aim to encourage learning, reflection, empowerment and leadership at the grassroots level. The SGI is also conducting a project to evaluate the effectiveness of non-formal education tools in cooperation with Centre for Environment Education (CEE).

Goal 5 – Gender Equality

Together with other like-minded groups, the SGI organizes various events to support efforts to promote gender equality by supporting the activities of UN Women and the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), with a particular focus on women’s leadership.

Goal 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities

The SGI’s local organizations have conducted relief activities in response to large-scale natural disasters. Some of the local organizations engage in dialogue with local authorities for joint disaster preparedness in line with the Sendai Framework.

Goal 16 – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

The SGI has promoted peace and justice through a wide range of activities. The SGI’s nuclear abolition efforts trace their roots back to 1957 when second Soka Gakkai president Josei Toda made a public declaration calling for the elimination and prohibition of nuclear weapons. Since then, the SGI has been working toward realizing a world free of nuclear weapons and the creation of a culture of peace through a number of initiatives and events, including the exhibition “Everything You Treasure—For a World Free From Nuclear Weapons”. The SGI has also supported the UN efforts to promote Security Council Resolution 1325 (women, peace and security) and 2250 (youth, peace and security).

Tearfund

Tearfund is a Christian aid and development organization. When a community lifts itself out of poverty, everything changes. Poverty does more than exhaust, starve, trap and kill people. It destroys their sense of worth, limits their horizons, robs people of the chance to reach their full potential. Tearfund’s call is to follow Jesus where the need is greatest. They long for new life and a new sense of worth for people. They do whatever it takes to end poverty and rebuild poor communities. They work through local churches, because they’re Jesus’ body on earth, ready to care for the whole person – and the whole community – inside and out. Originally founded in 1968.

Faith Affiliation: Christian

Key Facts: Tearfund works in over 50 countries focusing on various issues from child health, HIV, and creating local changes through faith networks. Tearfund works through 154,000 churches. With the help of  volunteers and employees, Tearfund reaches 45 million people.

The Asian Muslim Action Network (AMAN)

Asian Muslim Action Network is an interfaith organization that works for humanitarian aid in several country such as Indonesia, Philippine, Myanmar, Bangladesh and India. Since 2017, The program agenda of AMAN switch to Islamic Education Reform.

The Christian Journal for Global Health (CJGH)

The Christian Journal for Global Health (CJGH) is a  peer-reviewed, scholarly and multidisciplinary journal on global health policy and practice, promoting evidence-based and thoughtful discussion on effective and innovative approaches to global health from an integrated Christian perspective.

The  journal allows input on various aspects of Global Health and facilitates broad based learning and sharing within a scholarly framework.

Trócaire

Trócaire was established in 1973. Our dual mandate is to support the most vulnerable people in the developing world, while also raising awareness of injustice and global poverty in Ireland.

Trócaire works with local partners to support communities in over 20 developing countries with a focus on food and resource rights, women’s empowerment and humanitarian response.

Ummah Child Foundation

United Methodist Committee on Relief

VISION
As the humanitarian relief and development arm of The United Methodist Church, UMCOR transforms and strengthens people and communities.

MISSION
Compelled by Christ to be a voice of conscience on behalf of the people called Methodist, UMCOR works globally to alleviate human suffering and advance hope and healing.