“The advantage of being busy is that you don’t have time to think about yourself.”
“A woman cannot meet adequately the needs of those who are nearest to her if she has no interests, no friends, no occupations of her own.”
“We create vacuums for ourselves by sheer apathy.”
“Nobody really does anything alone…it...
The reality is bleak. An entirely preventable disease, malaria kills 1 million people a year, mostly children and pregnant women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Figures show that a child dies from malaria every 30 seconds, yet all of these children could be protected by sleeping under a bed net treated with insecticide, which...
In November 2006 at the UN Nairobi Climate Change Conference, Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and founder of the Green Belt movement in Africa, announced a United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) campaign - Plant for the Planet - Billion Tree Campaign. We would like to challenge FAWCO members to commit to this campaign by...
I have always loved trees. I was a champion tree climber in my youth and can still instantly spot ones that are "good climbers." Towering pines surround my family's vacation cabin in northern Minnesota and if I shut my eyes in a pine forest anywhere in the world, the...
Our support of BioVision's malaria projects with their integrated approach to malaria prevention has saved many thousand lives in Kenya, where malaria prevalence reduction in Nyabondo now stands at 66% and in the newer Malindi project at over 50% and rising. Thousands of children will now live to see their 5th birthday - who only 3 years ago at...
The Eleanor Roosevelt Girls’ Leadership Workshop (ERGLW)
Eleanor Roosevelt was a strong supporter of human rights and the role of women as change agents. She was always interested in encouraging young people, particularly girls, to get involved in matters of social justice. She knew young girls often need role models as well as an extra helping hand to enhance their...
As a United Nations accredited non-governmental organization with consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, FAWCO has an obligation to work for a better world and to help achieve the 8 Millennium Development Goals. We have long realized that to be effective and make a significant impact on the MDGs, it would be best to focus mainly on one MDG. Malaria seemed to be the logical choice, since it is an attainable goal and one that FAWCO could easily influence. Malaria is a preventable tragedy that impacts so many other problems – health, child mortality, poverty and hunger, primary school education, maternal health, the environment - probably 7 of the 8 MDGs.
On March 18, 2005 the delegates to the FAWCO conference in Birmingham, England were asked if they would like to pull together on one MDG project – so that together we could try to make - not a small difference - but a big impact. They responded with an enthusiastic yes to tackling malaria prevention together! Since its founding in 1931, FAWCO has worked for the well being of children - so it is appropriate that for our first joint global effort we focus on malaria – the single largest killer of children in the world.
At the 2005 FAWCO Conference in Birmingham , the delegates committed to take on one of the world’s great problems and unanimously agreed to: “take up the global challenge for reducing poverty and improving lives by promoting and supporting the Millennium Development Goals. More specifically, they resolved to address the tragedy of malaria by encouraging FAWCO's members to make a significant commitment to worldwide malaria prevention." Over $100,000 was raised the first year for the purchase of insecticide treated bed nets.
From May 2006 to May 2007, FAWCO's Global Concerns Fund continued this focus on malaria eradication raising over $40,000 for integrated malaria prevention.
At the FAWCO biennial Conference in Lyon in 2007 , the delegates once again re-affirmed this commitment to malaria eradication by unanimous vote of FAWCO’s Resolutions and Recommendations with a continued commitment; "encouraging our members to focus on malaria, the single largest killer of children". With this resolution, fund raising and awareness raising will continue at least up until the 2009 FAWCO Conference.
Beginning in 2005, FAWCO partnered with the Swiss Foundation BioVision in support of their integrated approach to malaria prevention in pilot projects in Africa. FAWCO’s partnership with BioVision was enthusiastically supported by member organizations and individuals and as a result, thousands of children have lived to see their 5th birthday and beyond.
In total, FAWCO distributed $165,885 for the purchase of insecticide treated bed nets and integrated malaria prevention. Additionally, FAWCO applied for and received a $100,000 grant from the Hilton Foundation that was paid directly to our partner Biovision in 2008, for a grand total of $265,885.