I was searching Flickr to find a photographer based in Katmandu Nepal to do an assignment for me, and in my keyword search using Flickr’s tagging search engine I found the Panos Network. Wow ! Blew my mind, wanted to use ‘Giving for the Global Good’ to get the word out.

Panos in not one site, but 9 individual sites, all across the world, each with a unique look, feel and message.  In writing this post I realize that this site, Giving for the Global Good, actually could help get the word out and inspire people to dial into Planet Earth and help out.

Panos’ mission statement is clear, and yet so sophisticated – the understanding that to get the message out there needs to be a dynamic conduit for, what I call the 3 Ds – the desperate, disenfranchised, and the diaspora, get get their voices heard to the global community.

Twenty years after the creation of Panos, the vision of a global network of institutes striving towards a common goal – ensuring that information is effectively used to foster public debate, pluralism and democracy – has become a reality.

In 1974, UK journalist Jon Tinker started Earthscan, a unit of the International Institute for Environment and Development which offered journalists (and later NGOs) objective information on key global issues and on policy options for addressing them.

By 1986 Jon had transformed Earthscan’s Southern media programme into a new independent institution: Panos.

From the outset, as part of its commitment to Southern-led development, Panos aimed to build a network of independent institutes around the world.

During the late 1990s offices opened in Zambia, Haiti, Nepal, Ethiopia and India, among others. In 2000 West Africa became the first autonomous Southern institute, and six years later Eastern Africa completed the transition.

It was Gordon Goodman, then head of the Stockholm Environment Institute, who proposed that we take the name Panos – meaning ‘beacon’ in the Doric version of classical Greek.

Today, in Nepali, a panas is an oil lamp around which people gather to discuss important issues, and in Amharic the word means a torch.

Appropriately enough, the prefix pan means ‘all’ or ‘universal’ in modern Latin, resonating with our global approach.

Panos

Panos South Asia

Panos France

Panos Caribe

Panos London

Panos West Afrika

Panos Southern Afrika

Panos East Afrika

Panos Canada

Check out Global Agents for Change

On May 31st, more than 20 people will ride their bikes 3,000km from Vancouver to Tijuana, Mexico to raise money and awareness for entrepreneurs in developing countries.

Agents of Change, a nonprofit registered charity, hopes to raise $1 million from the challenge to connect those living in poverty with microcredit – small, interest-free loans. The loans are to help entrepreneurs in developing countries by helping to get them out of poverty.

The organization is raising awareness about how microcredit can help families escape poverty, with help from its partner organization, Kiva. Kiva, a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, provides loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Agents of Change, which has so far raised more than $8,000 for microcredit, is trying to raise the million dollar fund so people in developing countries can be provided with loans through Kiva.

Kiva’s website provides a platform for borrowers to post their stories, pictures, business goals and needs. Supporters can view the profiles and get a choice of who they would like to support, as well as receive information on the borrowers’ progress and how the money is being used.

Through Kiva, lenders receive their money back after the loan is repaid, but that money can also be used again to help another entrepreneur. The million dollar fund through Agents of Change, however, isn’t refundable as it’s being set up to be used as a constant source of funding for Kiva.

Through Kiva, the businesses are screened by recognized local microfinance partners. All of the funds go directly to the borrower. So far, Kiva’s repayment rate is estimated to be 97 per cent successful.

Dr. Muhammad Yunus, who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and is the inspiration behind the cause, founded the microcredit bank, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh.

Unitus

Unitus is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing innovative, market-based solutions to global poverty.

We work to create pathways out of poverty by increasing access to life-changing microfinance services—small loans, insurance, and savings programs designed to serve the poor. For millions of families around the world, microfinance means the opportunity for a successful small business and more—better healthcare and housing, increased household savings, education for their children, and ultimately, the real possibility of self-sufficiency.

The need is staggering—nearly half of the world’s population lives on $2 a day or less. To reach the most people in need as quickly as possible, Unitus seeks out and partners with young, high-potential microfinance institutions (MFIs), helping them to build capacity, attract capital, and achieve exponential growth. Through this leveraged approach, Unitus seeks to empower millions of the world’s working poor while transforming the financial systems now left out of their reach.

Rather than directly providing microfinance services, Unitus connects the ambitious, visionary social entrepreneurs who lead our partner MFIs with the business expertise, capital investments, and innovative tools and services required to grow faster, dream bigger, and reach farther. Their success in turn provides hope and opportunity for thousands who would otherwise remain stuck in the downward cycle of devastating poverty.

Unitus partners are adding new clients 7 times faster than the industry average. In just 6 years, we’ve helped our partners serve more than 3.5 million micro-entrepreneurs; our goal is to extend their reach to 15 million families by 2010.

Global Agents for Change is a fellow traveler with their GFAC fund The group’s vision is to create the world’s largest youth built, youth led microcredit fund and connecting youth with developing world entrepreneurs, providing a crucial tool in the fight to escape poverty. In 2007 they did a 7 week 3000 kilometer ride from Vancouver, Canada to Tijuana, Mexico to help build the fund. They will be doing it again May 31, 2008.

Whole Planet Foundation

Our Mission

The Whole Planet Foundation’s mission is to create economic partnerships with the poor in those developing-world communities that supply our stores with product. Through innovative assistance for entrepreneurship – including direct microcredit loans and tangible support for other community partnership projects – we seek to unleash the energy and creativity of every human being we work with in order to create wealth and prosperity in emerging economies.

Whole Planet Foundation’s Approach

Whole Planet Foundation, a private, nonprofit organization established by Whole Foods Market, provides grants to microfinance institutions in Latin America, Africa and Asia who in turn develop and offer microenterprise loan programs, training and other financial services to the self-employed poor.

Whole Planet Foundation is authorized to work in developing countries where Whole Foods Market sources products. Priority is given to projects that demonstrate financial leverage and potential financial sustainability over time. We look for strategic partnership opportunities in areas of relative political stability.

The Foundation does not accept unsolicited applications and proposals.

Global Giving

We connect people like you with great projects you might not otherwise find.

Much like eBay’s approach to online commerce, GlobalGiving is changing the way people give. We work with a network of well-run organizations and carefully research their projects – gathering detailed information on the project leaders, as well as the projects’ objectives and expected outcomes. Then, we make it simple for you to give to these projects and track the impact of your generosity.

• Vision

• Unleash the potential of people around the world to make positive change happen.
  Mission

Build an efficient, open, thriving marketplace that connects people who have community and world-changing ideas with people who can support them.

A quick overview of how GlobalGiving works:

We connect donors to projects via our website, www.globalgiving.com, as well as through custom giving services–helping corporations, foundations, affinity groups, and other institutions with their specific giving needs. All donations are tax-deductible through the GlobalGiving Foundation, a registered 501(c)3 organization. Learn more about how GlobalGiving works.

Agents For Change

We are social change catalysts. We support sustainable solutions to global poverty and inspire youth to create a better world.

At Global Agents for Change we believe that no dream is too big and nothing is impossible, that inspired and motivated young people can truly change the world.

• Our Agents organize innovative and sustainable projects such as our Riding to Break the Cycle bicycle tours, university based Microcredit Challenge, and The Catalyst, a youth run magazine on social change.

• We provide funding and mentorship for young social entrepreneurs (12-18) with projects capable of meaningful impact, and work with teachers and schools to speak with young people about the power of youth to shape their world.

• We are building the world’s largest youth run microcredit fund, supporting hundreds of developing world entrepreneurs in their struggle to escape poverty and tangibly connecting young people to global issues.