World Neighbors, Inc.

World Neighbors invests in people and their communities by training and inspiring them to create their own life-changing solutions through programs in agriculture, literacy, water, health and environmental protection. Since 1951, more than 25 million people in 45 countries have transformed their lives with the support of World Neighbors.

World Neighbors does not give away food or material aid. World Neighbors takes a big-picture, integrated approach focusing on the entire community rather than on one issue. World Neighbors has found that problems and issues within a community are all interrelated and that you cannot solve one problem in isolation.

World Neighbors listens to people, without predetermined ideas, to identify and address their needs, resulting in greater community involvement and long-lasting impact. World Neighbors provides knowledge and training so people gain skills and confidence, then local leaders and organizations emerge and work together to carry on the work. This makes World Neighbors programs very efficient and creates lasting change rather than a short-term fix.

Our approach is simple. In cooperation with our global neighbors, we:
* Select the areas where we work on the basis of need and opportunity.
* Listen to what they have to say and what limits their success and establish a relationship of trust.
* Help strengthen their capacity to identify, analyze and solve their own problems using locally available resources and the simplest tools to do the job.
* Try new ideas on a small scale. Stay practical to generate early enthusiasm and success.
* Help document the results and apply lessons learned to improve programs.
* Reinforce their capacity to maintain and multiply results and ongoing problem-solving processes by forming new partnerships and by coordinating with additional villages and local organizations.
* Widen program impact by documenting and sharing the results and processes with larger-scale organizations, villages, networks, coalitions and governments to influence policies and actions.

Source: www.wn.org