The post Relief Bed International Celebrates a 10 year Collaboration with World Vision appeared first on B2B.

WORLD VISION PARTNER SINCE 2015

According to UNICEF, communicable and infectious diseases are the leading causes of death in children under the age of 5. This is particularly true for children in marginalized populations, where the tragedy of child mortality further contributes to the cycle of extreme poverty.

As one of the world’s leading biopharmaceutical companies, Pfizer—along with The Pfizer Foundation—is on the forefront of inventive solutions to such crippling healthcare problems. “We are committed to partnerships like this to improve community-based care and strengthen health systems to prevent, correctly diagnose, and appropriately treat infectious diseases among underserved communities,” said Caroline Roan, president of The Pfizer Foundation and vice president of Global Health and Patient Access at Pfizer, Inc. “Through this partnership with World Vision, we aim to contribute toward decreased child mortality.” 

The Pfizer Foundation’s goal to drive catalytic change plus World Vision’s experienced, community-based approaches form a powerful partnership to strengthen vulnerable health systems and contribute to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. The Pfizer Foundation has supported global emergency response and maternal and child health programs in which World Vision’s strong local relationships provide the base for equitable and effective work that empowers families and communities. Starting with the community and listening to the people they’re serving enable The Pfizer Foundation and World Vision to achieve better outcomes.

Recently, The Pfizer Foundation and World Vision collaborated on the Expanding Access to Immunization and Treatment program, which aims to reduce mortality among 85,743 children under 5 in Uganda, by treating and preventing childhood illnesses. The project will improve demand and intake of child health services at the community level, strengthen systems and structures supporting child health interventions, and strengthen the child health information and supply system. 

Since its inauguration, this program has screened 129,436 children under 5 for cases of malaria, diarrhea, and pneumonia, and reached 178,806 people with education on disease prevention and management. Through the program, 52 healthcare facilities have been supported, training 1,000 community health workers to provide quality care and 144 health facility staff in integrated management of childhood illness. 

The Pfizer Foundation recognize that innovative, local-born solutions can create ripple effects that transform the healthcare landscape and redefine the way we fight infectious disease. Through partnerships like that with World Vision, meaningful and sustainable solutions can be found to address today’s and tomorrow’s biggest challenges, bringing equitable and affordable interventions to people who need them most and helping protect the world’s most vulnerable people.

The post ACTIVELY INVESTING IN GLOBAL HEALTH: Real-world approaches to healthcare make a difference appeared first on B2B.

WORLD VISION PARTNER SINCE 2015

In just one year, the U.S. added 290 million tons of waste to our bulging landfills. For companies like Costco, that simply isn’t acceptable. 

With hundreds of locations worldwide, Costco’s membership warehouse club provides a wide selection of merchandise plus specialty departments and exclusive member services. Costco is a recognized retail leader, dedicated to quality in every area and respected for outstanding business ethics. The company’s sustainability commitment is an important part of a corporate goal of increasing their environmental and social responsibility. To Costco, sustainability means “remaining a profitable business while doing the right thing.” What is “the right thing”? One way of approaching this question is found in Costco’s key principles for sustainability: “for Costco to thrive, the world needs to thrive.”

“The sustainability commitment,” CEO Craig Jelinek describes, “explains the efforts and steps we are taking to achieve our global sustainability goals. With nearly 850 warehouses around the world, we understand the impact we have on environmental and sustainability issues globally … [and] we believe we can play a positive role in helping the world face these most pressing issues. While we see progress in many areas, we are committed to continuous improvement across all elements of our business: people and communities, operations and merchandise.”

The generosity of Costco donations shows that commitment in action. Not only are people being equipped to thrive, but it’s also better for the earth. 

In 2022, Costco donated 103,139 pallets of valuable and much-needed product valued at over $156 million benefiting millions of people in 32 countries—including the U.S. Because of their priority on sustainability and helping our world thrive, Costco has birthed a new life cycle for their products: When members return first-quality, undamaged merchandise, these products are then shipped to a Costco return center. Once there, Costco selects products to donate, which are given to partners like World Vision, who in turn send the goods to people in critical areas of need—both locally and globally. Through this partnership, over 1 million tons of product were kept out of landfills so they could get into the hands of people in need.

People like the Lopez family in California, who were expecting a child—and facing some hard decisions. Should they buy cleaning supplies during the pandemic or use their money on baby products? When buying food, which household items could they do without? Items donated by Costco answered many of these questions for the Lopezes. They received cleaning supplies, personal hygiene products, and baby food. It was a huge relief—and a boost of confidence for this growing family.

Donated Costco products helped people outside the U.S., too. In Mali, World Vision distributed Costco balance bikes to young children, helping meet both social and emotional needs. Toys and playtime are critical for a child’s development. And when you’re living in poverty, having something of your very own to play with becomes even more important. It can give dignity and self-esteem. In 2022 alone, Costco donated over 6,000 bicycles along with hundreds of pallets of diapers to World Vision.

Together, World Vision and Costco are empowering vulnerable communities around the world. And they’re proving the wisdom of the company’s sustainability model—you can be profitable and do the right thing. Costco is showing how.

The post INCREASING SUSTAINABILITY WHILE IMPACTING LIVES: Costco partners with World Vision to serve the world appeared first on B2B.

   

WORLD VISION PARTNER SINCE 2020

In many countries, one repercussion of the COVID-19 outbreak was the exposure of significant gaps in healthcare access. In rural and remote areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Nepal, barriers to healthcare already existed, including lack of health facilities and inconsistent quality of care as well as worsening inequalities between ethnic groups. With the onset of the global pandemic, health services in Nepal were severely disrupted and risk of infection was high due to open borders, international commutes, and lack of accurate information.

However, situations like these are why the Astellas Global Health Foundation was created. An international philanthropic organization focused on helping underserved people in low- to middle-income countries where Astellas Pharma Inc. does not have a business presence, the Foundation funds efforts to improve health access, build resilient communities, and provide disaster support for vulnerable global communities. 

The Astellas Global Health Foundation found a like-minded partner in World Vision. With its first grant to World Vision, the Astellas Global Health Foundation supported a COVID-19 community prevention and partnership project with health systems in the DRC, impacting nearly 217,000 people, which surpassed original program goals by 100%. 

Building on this success, the Astellas Global Health Foundation partnered with World Vision by awarding a second grant to support its COVID-19 preparedness and recovery project in Nepal. The project aimed to limit the spread of the virus in the community through education and equipping health facilities for both in-patient and at-home care for COVID-19.

Education efforts, which reached more than 130,000 people in the region, included activities such as:

• Providing hygiene kits to frontline health workers, people with disabilities, and children 
• Mobilization of community health volunteers and workers to share information through informal group and mothers’ meetings
• “Miking” to disseminate messages on the streets using carts with signs and loudspeakers
• Advertising COVID-19 prevention and vaccine adoption through mass media campaigns and on the radio

In addition to education efforts, World Vision set up mobile vaccination camps to reach more than 1,500 people, focusing particularly on pregnant and nursing women, people with disabilities, and senior citizens in areas where vaccination sites aren’t accessible. World Vision also equipped and staffed additional vaccination sites, which provided vaccinations to more than 18,500 people.Additionally, through the project, World Vision and the Astellas Global Health Foundation were able to provide personal protective equipment and COVID-19 antigen tests as well as home isolation kits to local health facilities.

“We are extremely proud to have supported the meaningful impact World Vision has made in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in hard-to-reach communities,” said Shingo Iino, Ph.D., president of the Astellas Global Health Foundation. “We view the opportunity to fund efforts like these as important opportunities for the Foundation to address urgent healthcare needs and make a sustainable impact on the health of underserved people around the world.” Taukir, a resident of rural Nepal, shared how hearing COVID-19 messages made him aware about the virus and encouraged him to get the vaccine. “[They explained how] to stay safe from the coronavirus like getting vaccinated, maintaining 3-meter social distance, using sanitizer and soap water to clean hands. With this message dissemination, I learnt a lot. I took the COVID-19 vaccine.”

Since September 2020, the Astellas Global Health Foundation has directed more than $2.75 million in funding to help improve organizations’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic in underserved communities.

 

The post MEDICINE, “MIKING,” AND MASS MEDIA: How one foundation is meeting medical needs of remote communities appeared first on B2B.

The post Logitech uses tech products to impact education: “ THESE HEADPHONES ARE AMAZING” appeared first on B2B.

World Vision Partner Since 2020

SmartBuyGlasses is one of the world’s largest online eyewear retailers. With more than 10 years of expertise and a presence in 40 countries, SmartBuyGlasses offers a catalog of over 80,000 products from more than 180 brands. The company gives back to the community through its SmartBuy Collection, SmartBuy Readers, and SmartBuy Kids brands. After working with many organizations over the last decade to further their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, SmartBuyGlasses is partnering with World Vision to deepen that impact.

In early 2020, as they witnessed the toll the pandemic was taking on the world, especially the most vulnerable communities, SmartBuyGlasses was ready to amplify their CSR with bigger and more compelling goals. That’s why partnering with World Vision’s healthcare programs in developing countries made sense. “As it is one of the most renowned global charities that supports children, we knew that this specific partnership would take our charitable efforts to the next level. After careful consideration of many social projects, we selected the mother and child program in Zambia to combine our expertise and passion to make a notable impact,” says Julia Ritchie, head of CSR. “In 2022, social initiatives should be at the forefront of the e-commerce industry, and we are happy to have a role in driving this much-needed change.”

With a goal to reach 40,000 women and children in Zambia through World Vision healthcare programs, SmartBuyGlasses has adopted a “buy one, help one” model for their SmartBuy Collection line. In 2021, they promoted the partnership on Mother’s Day and Giving Tuesday, in particular, raising awareness for the health needs of moms and kids in Zambian communities. Through the initiative, they were able to support nearly 5,000 women and children with access to healthcare in 2021 alone.

Aligning their business goals with CSR goals has propelled the company to take even further steps for children and more change they’ve seen, the more they’ve been inspired to press forward with giving back. “When we see our efforts in action, it gives even more meaning to our mission and makes us proud,” Ritchie adds.

“As a global company, we have our sights set on global initiatives. By identifying areas of the world that need our support and providing resources in the best ways we can,” says Ritchie, “we feel that we can be an industry leader with initiatives that have the power to change lives. We hope that our customers feel empowered when they give back to the community, and every time they put on their SmartBuy Collection eyewear it can serve as a reminder of the real impact that they helped create.”

The post SIGHTS SET ON HELPING OTHERS: SmartBuyGlasses invests in global impact appeared first on B2B.

World Vision Partner Since 2014

Founded 90 years ago, Henry Schein is an international solutions company for healthcare professionals, particularly dental and medical offices. Henry Schein Cares, the company’s global corporate social responsibility program, discovered World Vision through their work with Partnership for Quality Medical Donations (PQMD), a global collaboration that promotes sustainable access to quality healthcare in underserved communities and populations in crisis. World Vision has been a grant recipient of Henry Schein Cares’ Global Product Donation Program (GPDP) since 2014, receiving more than $6.1 million worth of donated product like toothbrushes to distribute to children and families in need. GPDP provides a broad selection of healthcare products and supplies to community medical or dental organizations on a two-year cycle. Along with helping people in need, it also helps advance the company’s role in the circular economy by keeping thousands of tons of imperfectly packaged productsout of landfills.

Advancing health equity is one of Henry Schein Cares’ key pillars, so access to care for underserved populations and disaster preparedness and response are their focus areas in partnering with World Vision. It’s a partnership that “helps health happen” to support wellness and prevention education for communities as well as ensuring the swift availability of life-saving supplies for healthcare professionals responding to disasters.

“We believe that regardless of where someone is born, their social or economic situation, or the color of their skin, all people should have access to quality, affordable healthcare. Particularly in times of disaster, we know that vulnerable populations and communities are especially affected, and we appreciate the emergency relief support World Vision provides,” says Jennifer Kim Field, Henry Schein’s vice president of corporate social responsibility.

In 2021 Henry Schein Cares donated over $460,000 worth of product to World Vision. Depending on the needs, World Vision determines where best to use the donated product, and the majority of the support goes toward World Vision’s U.S. programs or global emergency response efforts. “We do not step into nonprofit partnerships lightly, because we want to bring longevity to our partnership to achieve mutual goals that are deep and sustained over time,” says Field. “World Vision has exceeded our expectations as a partner in their expertise in working with underserved communities, responding to disasters, and managing product donations.”

World Vision’s global scale and strong infrastructure are also important to Henry Schein Cares, since these ensure that care and relief are delivered quickly and directly to people in need. “Particularly given the impacts of COVID-19 and the additional burden on vulnerable communities in times of disaster,” says Field, “we look forward to working more closely with World Vision to ensure everyone who needs help is able to receive it, and that equity is a key piece of our partnership.”

The post PRODUCT DONATIONS TO PROMOTE GLOBAL HEALTH EQUITY: Henry Schein Cares “helps health happen” appeared first on B2B.

World Vision Partners Since 2020

Harry Sangree, an experienced technology innovator in sea freight and global trade, had no idea the launch of his new company would land on the day that a global pandemic shut down much of the U.S. The company, SeaFreight Labs, was poised to begin marketing its service to discover innovative solutions to the toughest global shipping problems through a crowdsourced “challenge” model. Sangree explains, “I had this company and this capability, and the world had shut down, so I wondered who else could benefit from it. And my wife said, ‘What about World Vision?’”

In a short time, Sangree was connected to World Vision’s water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) team, who proposed a series of seemingly intractable problems for SeaFreight Labs’ crowdsourcing model to tackle. The first challenge entailed coming up with scalable and affordable rural single-family sanitation solutions. Through InnoCentive—the crowdsourcing challenge platform used by SeaFreight Labs—525 participating “solvers” came up with over 100 different proposals, of which three were named winners and awarded prizes. SeaFreight Labs collaborated with World Vision’s WASH team on the crowd-solving model, and the winning solutions are now being tested in rural African communities where World Vision works to determine their commercial viability and scalability.

“Because this is an innovation partnership, there’s a high risk but a potentially very high return,” says Sangree. Since a successful challenge in SeaFreight Labs’ model creates a design rather than a commercially available product, it’s too early to tell what the impact of this solution could be for areas where organizations like World Vision are working to empower people in poverty. But a key aspect of this collaboration is availability—the stipulations of each challenge require the solutions to stay in the public domain so other organizations can share in the innovation and knowledge as each works to contribute to people’s well-being.

The second WASH challenge involved creating a low-cost chlorine monitoring mechanism for rural piped water systems in Africa, where the use of chlorination to safeguard public drinking water remains low. From five viable proposed solutions, World Vision awarded a prize to a solution for a fully automated system that uses sensors to monitor free chlorine residual levels. The bill of materials cost at scale for this solution amounts to less than US$400, a more than 80% reduction from currently available offerings.

“It is rare to invoke Jesus and Steve Jobs in the same breath,” says Sangree. “But Steve’s famous quote that ‘the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do’ synced with Jesus’ instructions to love and serve others and became the motivation for this project.”

“As a longtime donor to World Vision, I’m excited to have a chance to participate in trying new ways to innovate. World Vision is uniquely positioned in the world because of its focus on the poor and the scale of its operations,” he says. “They can identify high-impact problems and dedicate appropriate resources to truly mitigate or eliminate them, so I’m quite hopeful about what could happen through our partnership.”

The post INNOVATING BETTER TOGETHER: Crowdsourcing to solve global WASH issues appeared first on B2B.

Gates: World Vision Partners Since 2000 | Rotary: World Vision Partners Since 2005

In January 2020, The Rotary Foundation launched its first Programs of Scale grant competition to fund Rotary member–led, evidence-based programs with demonstrated success in bringing about change. The Foundation received 70 proposals, and in March 2021, the Rotary trustees awarded the Programs of Scale grant to Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia. Those partners supporting the malaria elimination program in Zambia include The Rotary Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and World Vision: organizations that have built a shared trust and a joint vision over years of collaborative work. Rotary’s $2 million grant has been matched by both World Vision and the Gates Foundation for a total of $6 million, to be implemented in Zambia by Rotary members, World Vision staff, the Zambian government’s National Malaria Elimination Centre, PATH MACEPA, and other partners. The ambitious yet achievable project is sure to make a significant impact in curtailing malaria in Zambia. Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia aims to help reduce malaria cases over time by 90% in 10 of the most highly affected districts in Central and Muchinga provinces. In Rotary’s words, “The grant will allow Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia to strengthen the country’s health system by working with Zambian health officials at all levels and training 380 health facility staff members, as well as training and equipping more than 2,500 new community health workers. This will increase access to malaria diagnosis and treatment for the more than 1.3 million people in heavily affected areas … and greatly contribute to the national effort to eliminate the deadly disease.”

The Gates Foundation, Rotary International, and World Vision came together to identify where they would be most strongly positioned to make an impact. “This proposal stood out in particular because of the idea that we could come together and apply the strengths of each organization to make a positive change,” explains Sarah Crawford, assistant director for Rotary’s Programs of Scale. All three partners have existing work in Zambia, and Rotary has collaborated with World Vision on Rotary member global grant projects for over 15 years. Zambia’s National Malaria Elimination Strategy—combined with these partner organizations’ capabilities—provides a strong foundation for the project’s success: The Zambian government has committed resources toward eliminating malaria, and both World Vision and Rotary members have invested decades of work building community networks and infrastructure to help strengthen the country’s health system.

The Gates Foundation has also invested significant funds in Zambia through their malaria eradication strategy, which emphasizes the importance of subnational solutions tailored to each region’s needs and capacities. For these reasons and others, the model implemented by the Partners for a Malaria-Free Zambia program could serve as an example for global efforts to eliminate malaria. “The comparative strengths of each organization are what make this partnership so important,” says Abigail Pratt, a program officer on the Gates Foundation malaria team. She cites “the technical expertise that Gates partners provide in country, the scale and implementation expertise of World Vision, and the advocacy and influence that Rotary members can mobilize within communities” as important individual strengths. “It’s made for a very coordinated effort that’s been woven together over the last year,” she says, adding, “It’s a prime opportunity to see Rotary members and World Vision working together to tackle really challenging problems.”

The multi-stakeholder approach to an effort this large highlights the three organizations’ shared respect, trust, and commitment to empowering communities worldwide to fight poverty and its effects. At its heart, the Programs of Scale grant is about empowering Rotary members to work with partners and local communities to make a lasting impact. Like World Vision, both Rotary and the Gates Foundation are committed to working in a way that amplifies community members’ own voices and work. The partners saw an opportunity to do that empowering work in Zambia, while learning valuable lessons from each other about method, measurement, and impact as they work to strengthen national and local health systems for sustainability. One year into the first Programs of Scale grant, Rotary, the Gates Foundation, and World Vision are eager to maximize their respective strengths and areas of growth as they continue partnering and learning from each other.

In Rotary CEO John Hewko’s words, “Like our longstanding polio eradication effort, the partnership in Zambia today is not only a blueprint for transformative public health projects; it also offers a long-term vision of the collaboration we need to address hard and systemic problems in a post-COVID world. These problems require great boldness to tackle, but also the humble admission that we cannot tackle them alone, and that we must identify proven methods to catalyze sustainable change.”

The post PARTNERS FOR A MALARIA-FREE ZAMBIA: Rotary’s first-ever Programs of Scale grant goes to a dynamic partnership appeared first on B2B.

World Vision Partner Since 2020

As a leading provider of hybrid colocation and mega scale data center solutions, QTS Data Centers has also become a leader in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) in the data industry. For a business dependent on energy and water, QTS understood their impact on the environment and knew they wanted to partner with philanthropies that give back. Values that support family, faith, and community drive the company, and they’re committed to delivering their services in a way that improves the lives of their employees, customers, and community members “while taking equal care of the environment and natural resources we all share.” After establishing “Grow with QTS” and partnering with a forestry nonprofit, QTS developed the HumanKind initiative, partnering with World Vision to equip people in developing countries with clean water for the life of every customer’s contract, at no cost to the customer. For large, multi-megawatt customers, QTS funds a sustainable clean water source, such as a well or water point, in a developing country of their customer’s choice, equipping an entire community with lasting access to clean water. For every 100kW contracted through QTS, they donate enough to World Vision to equip three people in need with lasting access to clean water. As well, some of QTS’s largest contracts last five to 15 years or longer, so they can assure their customers that the impact through the World Vision partnership will be significant.

In December 2020, QTS funded their first water point on behalf of a customer in a community in Kenya, and they have four more in progress. “It means so much to see the report of the impact now that the water point is done,” says Megan Hofmeyer, QTS director of strategic marketing. “It’s so exciting to share updates with the customer, and they were so happy to see what this partnership had done for a community in need.” To date, over 6,800 people in communities around the world have been equipped with access to life-changing clean water thanks to this partnership. QTS was also a corporate sponsor for World Vision’s 2021 Global 6K for Water®, an event that nearly 30 QTS employees across the U.S. also participated in—helping equip nearly 100 more people with clean water through fundraising and registration fees. Hofmeyer describes the company as “an extremely charity-minded organization,” where individuals and teams are encouraged to spend their time on giving back to their local communities and global efforts: “We’re always looking for ways to give back corporately and individually.” “We want our partnerships to be meaningful and measurable,” continues Hofmeyer, “so to be able to write up the impact of our partnership with World Vision and share with customers how they’re helping make a difference is important. With this partnership, we’re really showing that there’s an ongoing effort in our commitment to ESG.”

The post DATA CENTERS THAT DO GOOD: Prioritizing ESG benefits companies and the planet appeared first on B2B.