Mercy Corps is a charitable organization that empowers communities to make positive change. They provide aid and independence by helping establish fields for crops and irrigation systems. They offer basic support, small business and education loans, and participate in construction and revitalization projects. They believe in being financially responsible and empowering people to have a voice. They work in countries in transition and areas that have experienced natural disasters. They have active programs in many countries and offer assistance to North Americans.
Mercy Corps is a charitable organization that works in countries in transition and also in areas that have experienced recent natural disasters. The organization’s goal is to empower people to make positive change in their communities, using a strongly community-based and driven approach to making change from scratch. Instead of simply offering food to a starving village, for example, Mercy Corps will help the village establish fields for crops and irrigation systems to supply them, thus bringing both aid and independence.
This organization was founded in 1979 as the Save the Refugees Fund. In 1982, the scope of the organization expanded dramatically, addressing a variety of topics in addition to refugee issues, and the organization’s name was changed to Mercy Corps International to reflect this. Organizations that rate charities consistently mark Mercy Corps highly, because the organization demonstrates extreme efficiency; approximately 90% of Mercy Corps resources go directly to charitable programs.
Mercy Corps works with communities in need in a variety of ways. In addition to providing basic support such as food, shelter and medical care, Mercy Corps also provides small business and education loans and participates in construction and revitalization projects. Nearly 15 million people are assisted by Mercy Corps each year, in small to large ways, and the organization’s market-driven approach to fighting poverty and injustice is lauded by some activists on the ground.
The organization embeds a belief in being financially responsible right into their value statement, along with ideas such as “human imagination and energy can inspire innovative solutions”. Mercy Corps is very focused on empowering the people they work with and giving everyone a voice. The organization also believes that people have the right to live in peaceful and safe environments, sending workers to regions of the world that are struggling after civil wars and chronic social problems to help communities get back on their feet.
Mercy Corps’ motto is “be the change”, a reference to a quote from Mahatma Gandhi. Mercy Corps workers come from a variety of extremely diverse backgrounds, ranging from economists to farmers, and turn out in every corner of the world with active programs in places such as India, Uganda, East Timor, Kosovo, Liberia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Honduras, Jordan, Colombia, Tajikistan and Peru. Mercy Corps also has several programs that offer assistance to North Americans, including MicroMentor and Gulf Coast Response.
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