Some reading on Water and Sanitation-its role in poverty

Posted August 19th, 2010 by Kim Morrison

I have attached an article that explains the link between water and sanitation and poverty
http://www.wateraid.org/documents/water_san_and_poverty_reduction.pdf
It is worth the read…

Water and Sanitation- what is it?

Posted August 2nd, 2010 by Kim Morrison

As listed in the Millennium Development Goal “Ensuring Environmental Sustainability’,Target 7.C states: “Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
as measured by the following indicators:
7.8 Proportion of population using an improved drinking water source
7.9 Proportion of population using an improved sanitation facility
The why’s can’t be better stated than in this article from Our Planet. An excerpt of whish is as follows:
“We do well to recognize the lessons of history. In Victorian times cities in the United Kingdom were associated with squalor and poverty, child labour and disease. Disease frequently confounded the attempts of poor people to lift themselves out of poverty, with the ill health of a child or breadwinner reducing them to poverty once again. Safe water and sanitation helped transform their lives.

This situation continues to blight the lives of large numbers of people today. One sixth of the world’s population (1.1 billion people) remain without access to improved sources of water, and two fifths (2.4 billion people) lack hygienic sanitation. The exposure to disease this causes contributes to 2.2 million children dying every year. But improved sanitation, safe hygiene practices and clean water can make the world a safer and healthier place for all its children. ”

Read the balance of the article for an eloquent and well stated case for water and sanitation and its role on poverty reduction.

Text Giving as an easy way to help end poverty

Posted July 26th, 2010 by Kim Morrison

You may or may not realize that we are capable of receiving text donations here at UEnd.

It is really very simply, text UPOW to 45678 to send a monthly $5.00 donation to UEnd for operations or text 45678 to UEND to send a single donation of $5.00 to a project.

This is made possible through a partnership with Zipgive and mobilegiving.ca.

So next time you buy a coffee, but one for us and help to end poverty.

OneYoga in the Park

Posted July 19th, 2010 by Kim Morrison

Can you believe it… it is just three weeks away!

OneYoga is joining forces with the Yoga in the Park event this year moving to a summer and outdoor location.

Event details this year:
August 8, 2010
Stanley Park, Calgary, AB
9:30 registration, 10:08 practice start, 108 minutes of yoga
fee: by donation
proceeds to go to the project called Cleaner Hands Healthier Children by Cause Canada.

So tell all your friends. Join the tribe of people helping to end poverty by giving your time and attention to this great karma yoga event.

Please not that parking is somewhat limited so we encourage you to either bicycle, walk, take transit or walk from the 4th St Lululemon store as part of the Peace Walk. Go to our OneYoga in the Park page for more information.

UEnd Community Development Project Focus

Posted July 14th, 2010 by Kim Morrison

This will be the final post for the Community Development Series. As is the norm, this post will look more closely at one of the projects on our site from the CD perspective.

This project is the Dheri Development Education and Empowerment Project. Please go to the link for more information knowing this is a great example of the principles that we support in all of our projects. The following excerpt explains the community development approach exceedingly well.

“The Base Module Program is the key development component for bringing the village of Dheri out of extreme poverty in a sustainable way. It guides and trains the villagers to develop their own solutions to build a future where they can live in relative prosperity, peace and harmony with nature.

Care is taken to ensure that a maximum number of people own the vision and are engaged in its implementation. Through this process, the entire community is equipped with the motivation, skills, knowledge, and resources to create change which is real, equitable and lasting.”

The skills are developed in a local context, with local leadership, ownership and development. The solution is the peoples’ and will always be theirs allowing the skills to stay in the community. What makes the CD approach so effective is the confidence to use the same process to handle future community challenges that results from having experienced it once before. From UEnd’s perspective this is the only way to responsibly spend your gifts.

Community Development and the Community

Posted July 5th, 2010 by Kim Morrison

In this post we will examine the Community Development approach to build a map of a community. To do any of this you will need to build the relationship with the community members and groups so that you have a respectful working relationship where one is not afraid to share their perspective.

The General mapping process follows the following steps:
First, you determine what the issue is. Document this in the communities words. You will find a wide view here that can guide the community for some time to come.
Second, determine who is effected by the problem.
Third, invite these people to come together to talk about the problem. Document the group’s thoughts, in their words and ask what they want to do about the problem. Determine the priority for the group.
Fourth, invite other community members to the group that may be able to contribute to a solution.
Bring everyone together to see if they can brainstorm a solution. Again, document the group’s thoughts, in their words and solutions. Ask how they might to contribute to the solution.
Fifth, ask who wants to take the lead on the project. Determine what support they might need to help them achieve their goal. Ask others how they can help with the project.
Sixth, help them to achieve their goals by assisting but never doing the work, that way they have experienced the process first hand.
Seventh, celebrate the successful outcome and make sure the community members know who did it.
Finally, debrief and review the stages the group went through to achieve their outcomes. Ensure they realize that the same process can be used in 99% of all cases that come up.

Phase 2 comes in when the momentum continues and another issue often identified in the initial brainstorming session is addressed.

It is a dynamic process and never really sleeps.