How You Can Help
Advocate
IRD’s mission is to reduce the suffering of the world’s most vulnerable groups and provide tools and resources needed to increase their self-sufficiency; this often means speaking out on behalf of the people we serve. We work to educate both people here in Washington, D.C. and in the countries where we work about the real conditions they are facing on a daily basis.
World Water Day 2010
An estimated 1.1 billion people across the globe use unsafe drinking-water sources. IRD is helping to improve water quality which can decrease disease, broaden agricultural production and improve livelihoods. IRD observes World Water Day by renewing it’s commitment to helping the world’s most needy community’s access clean water.
Please check out our water and sanitation capability statement, and our interactive map showing IRD water and sanitation programs.
Refugee and IDP Policy Briefs
At the end of 2008, there were 16 million refugees in over 60 countries and more than 26 million internally displaced persons worldwide, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). With recent events in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, there are likely now more than 44 million displaced people. These statistics represent a global humanitarian crisis.
Please check out our policy briefs on Refugees and IDPs and Iraqi Refugees specifically. The first step in dealing with a problem is always awareness.
Increase the International Affairs Budget
Washington, DC — Add your voice to the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition sign-on letters to Congress in support of the International Affairs Budget that funds programs critical to keeping America safe and to saving lives around the world. This letter will be sent to President-elect Obama to demonstrate the strong, bipartisan support for his campaign pledge to increase spending for international affairs programs. Please contact your Members of Congress and urge them to sign the letter.
Support the Global Food Security Act
Washington, DC — Recently, Representatives Betty McCollum (D-MN), Donald Payne (D-NJ) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) introduced critical legislation designed to find a long-term solution to the world food crisis. The Global Food Security Act (H.R. 3077) puts forward a comprehensive plan to deal with a situation facing hundreds of millions of poor people, particularly the world’s most vulnerable children, pregnant women, and those living with HIV/AIDS. A companion bill, introduced by Senators Robert Casey (D-PA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) has already been approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Learn more by reading this letter of support from the Alliance for Food Aid to decision makers in Congress.
Promoting Children's Health Worldwide
Washington, DC — Urge your congressional representative or senator to become a co-sponsor of H.R. 1410 - the Newborn, Child and Mother Survival Act of 2009, which was introduced on March 10, 2009 by Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D, MN-4), Congressman Dave Reichert (R, WA-8), and Congresswoman Lois Capps (D, CA-23). The bill, an expanded version of the Global Child Survival Act from the 110th Congress, authorizes a clear, coordinated strategy to save the lives of newborns, children and mothers in developing countries. For more information, contact the US Coalition for Child Survival - www.child-survival.org. You can also check out the Coalition's fact sheet on the legislation - http://www.child-survival.org/downloads/factsheets/ncms-summary.pdf.
America's Forgotten First: Malnutrition in American Indian Communities
Kansas City, MO — April 14, 2008 — Malnutrition is a growing issue facing marginalized and underserved segments of the U.S. population, especially rural and reservation-based American Indians. A new study, conducted by Dr. Michele Companion of the University of Colorado and commissioned by International Relief and Development, examines the “double burden” of poverty: malnutrition along with a rapid rise in obesity and diet-related chronic diseases in American Indians. Although many Americans may not know it, in fact, malnutrition on reservations is comparable to malnutrition is some developing countries. Learn more about the study and its preliminary findings here.
As part of its commitment to vulnerable populations worldwide, IRD is working to raise awareness about malnutrition on reservations here in the United States. Your voice can help contribute to this effort. Join the Mayor of Kansas City, Mark Funkhouser, in signing the petition to raise awareness. Help make sure that all Americans have access to this country's natural resources.
