“Pride in India” Challenge
Washington, D.C.� In celebration of India's 56th Independence Day, the United Nations Foundation (UN Foundation)?created by philanthropist and entrepreneur Ted Turner ?is issuing a "Pride in India" challenge grant to the Indian community worldwide. The UN Foundation will match every gift contributed to its United Nations projects in support of India's advancement, dollar-for-dollar, up to $56,000.
"Partnering with the UN Foundation is an excellent opportunity for all those who wish to make a difference in India," said Seema Paul, an Indian national and the Senior Program Officer at the UN Foundation spearheading this effort. "We provide access to 50 years of UN expertise in development and magnify our partners' contributions with our own resources."
The UN Foundation funds programs in India that are developed and implemented by the United Nations and its agencies. Funded programs are diverse and are improving children's health care, empowering women through employment, alleviating poverty, promoting environmental conservation and reducing the scourge of HIV/AIDS.
The UN Foundation recognizes the vast health concerns impeding serious development in India and has supported polio vaccinations in a country with 80 percent of the world's polio cases, a disease approaching eradication elsewhere. In addition, the Foundation has supported projects that help children receive zinc supplements, a method proven to aid growth and reduce mortality.
UN Foundation funded projects are educating women and girls about their reproductive rights and empowering them against unwanted and unsafe sexual encounters while simultaneously granting access to better reproductive health services. With four million Indians already suffering from HIV/AIDS, 42 percent of whom are women and children, the Foundation is fighting to halt its progression and protect those already infected.
The UN Foundation is fostering India's social and economic development by working with its UN partners in Andhra Pradesh to ensure access to renewable energy for 20,000 families and business enterprises. It has provided women in rural areas with training skills and micro-credit to launch small business activities like food production and livestock maintenance. We are launching projects to protect India's rich environmental heritage by providing rural communities around the country's five natural World Heritage sites skills for alternative sources of income that do not disturb these precious and unique areas.
"Support from nearly 20 million Indians who live outside the country ? and particularly the 1.7 million in the United States ? can make a big difference to India's future. By partnering with the UN Foundation, they can become part of that difference," Ms. Paul said.
Donations can be made through the UN Foundation's India website, , which will be launched to coincide with India's Independence Day on August 15. For more information on the UN Foundation's grantmaking to India, visit www.PrideInIndia.org.
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