Get ideas and get involved. Here, PowerToHealIt.com spotlights innovative projects that are going on around the world. These organizations (leaders, staff and volunteers), and others like them, are among the heroes of modern society. These are organizations we know. If you think your organization should be on this list, Contact Us.

Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL)
AIL is a non-governmental organization that resolves the problem of no access to education and health services by Afghan women and children who have been affected by war, civil strife, displacement and natural disaster. It serves 350,000 women and children annually, is run by women, and employs about 450 Afghans, over 70% of them women. AIL has been a project partner with Creating Hope International (CHI) since 1996. For more information, visit www.creatinghope.org.

Center for Mind Body Medicine (CMBC)
Founded by Dr. Jim Gordon, a pre-eminent leader in the field of mind-body medicine in the US, CMBC is a non-profit that trains health and mental health professionals, teachers and community leaders worldwide in the most advanced mind-body science and methods. CMBC’s acclaimed Healing the Wounds of War program is empowering tens of thousands of soldiers and citizens in Israel, Gaza, Kosovo and the U.S. to heal from the trauma of war and natural disaster. For more information, visit www.cmbm.org.

Christian Children’s Fund (CCF)
CCF addresses the root causes of poverty in communities where children suffer from poverty, hunger, disease and deprivation. Its multi-disciplinary programs focus on early childhood development, education, nutrition, health, sanitation, sustainable livelihoods, and emergency/disaster relief for children, their families and communities. CCF assists more than 15.2 million children and family members in 31 countries, regardless of race, creed or gender, and they do it with incredible efficiency and transparency, and almost no overhead. For more information, visit www.christianchildrensfund.org.

Deepalaya
Deepalaya is a non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Delhi that is lifting poor and marginalized children and their families out of poverty in India. Its multi-disciplinary programs focus on education, institutional care, vocational training, health, programming for the differently-abled (the disabled), gender equity, and empowering other NGOs that are dedicated to providing freedom, health and opportunity for poor children and their families. For more information, visit www.deepalaya.org.

Doctors Without Borders (DWB)
DWB is a non-profit international medical humanitarian organization working in more than 60 countries to assist people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect or catastrophe. Through DWB, doctors and nurses volunteer to provide urgent medical care to people who need it, regardless of race, religion, or politics. Its programs have very low overhead, deliver fantastic improvements in human health and welfare, and forge cross-cultural understanding. For more information, visit www.doctorswithoutborders.org..

Habitat for Humanity
Habitat is a Christian non-profit that seeks to eliminate poverty and homelessness. It has built more than 300,000 houses around the world, providing more than 1.5 million people in more than 3,000 communities with safe, decent, affordable shelter, regardless of race, culture, religion or politics. Habitat invites people of all backgrounds, races and religions to build houses together in partnership with families in need. For more information, visit www.habitat.org.

Seva
Seva alleviates disease and poverty by building partnerships that respond to locally defined problems with culturally sustainable solutions. Working in nine countries and the US, Seva supports projects in the areas of health and wellness, community development, environmental protection and cultural preservation. Its program to restore sight to blind residents of India, Nepal, Tibet, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Tanzania and Guatemala has won international acclaim. For more information, visit www.seva.org.

Feeding America (formerly America’s Second Harvest)
Feeding America (FA) works with large corporate donors to secure food and grocery products to distribute food, as needed, to local food banks. It grants money to local food banks and trains their personnel to foster innovation in the procurement and delivery of food to those who need it most. FA also advocates for the needs of hungry, impoverished people and the folks who serve them. Its network members supply food to more than 25 million hungry Americans each year. For more information, visit www.feedingamerica.org.

Heifer International
Heifer is a non-profit organization whose goal is to help end world hunger and poverty through self-reliance & sustainability. In FY2008, Heifer had 869 active projects in 53 countries/provinces and 27 U.S. states. Heifer projects around the world help families achieve self-reliance through the gift of livestock and training. Gifts are passed from recipient to recipient until entire communities are transformed. All projects are eco-friendly. For more information, visit www.heifer.org.

Kiva
Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend money directly to real people who are entrepreneurs in the developing world, who then gain economic independence and improve life for themselves, their families and their communities. Kiva’s system allows investors (who can lend as little as $25 USD) to receive email journal updates and track repayments on their loans, which are usually repaid in 6 to 12 months. Kiva uplifts the world’s poor in a sustainable way while forging mutual cross-cultural respect and trust. For more information, visit www.kiva.org.

Spark
Spark seeks to build a community of young, global citizens who are invested in changing patterns of inequality that impact women throughout the world. They pursue their mission by cultivating communities of young professionals who are actively engaged in global women’s issues, through education and volunteer opportunities, international delegation trips, advocacy, and grant-making to grassroots women’s organizations that create positive social change in their communities. For more information, visit www.sparksf.org.

51SIM
51SIM is a non-profit that spurs innovation and entrepreneurship as means to address social, economic and ecological problems in China in an innovative, sustainable, and eco-friendly way. 51 means “I want” in the Chinese language, and SIM stands for Sustainable Innovation Movement. To accomplish its vision, 51SIM provides grants, sponsors competitions, and provides education and advocacy at the national, regional and global levels. For more information, visit www.51sim.org

Green for All
Green for All is dedicated to building an inclusive green economy, strong enough to lift people out of poverty. To achieve its goal, it advocates at the Federal level for policies like the Clean Energy Corps that would put Americans to work retrofitting and re-powering the country. It also works at the personal and local levels, to help cities “go green” and with the business sector, to ensure access – as workers, consumers and entrepreneurs – for people of color, low-income people and others from disadvantaged backgrounds. For more information, visit www.greenforall.org.

Pachamama Alliance
Pachamama Alliance has a twofold mission: to preserve the Earth’s tropical rainforests by empowering the indigenous people who are its natural custodians, and to contribute to the creation of a new global vision of equity and sustainability for all. It sponsors tangible, real-life projects through which rainforests provide more direct economic benefit standing than cut, and raises awareness that will broaden the general economic view so that the valut of standing rainforests and the costs associated with their destruction are measured and counted. For more information, visit www.pachamama.org.

Civilizations Exchange and Cooperation Foundation (CECF)
The goal of CECF is to foster cooperation, mutual understanding and peace among different religions and cultures that are presently in conflict. CECF organizes short exchange programs involving students, professionals, clergy and law enforcement personnel, and conducts national and international conferences, symposiums and seminars to achieve its vision: cross-cultural understanding and respect – the foundation of a peaceful, global society. For more information, visit www.cecf-net.org.

Global Peace Initiative of Women (GPIW)
GPIW is dedicated to building a global platform for women leaders who can initiate and lead peace efforts and promote ways for creating healthier and more compassionate societies. GPIW sponsors exchanges and conferences that promote inter-religious dialogue, peace-building, reconciliation and economic justice among peoples who have a history of conflict or oppression. For more information, visit www.gpiw.org.

Peace X Peace
Peace X Peace (pronounced Peace by Peace) multiplies the power of women by the power of leading-edge communications technologies. The Peace X Peace Global Network on the web is a secure social networking space where women meet from all over the world to build peace across cultures. For more information, visit www.peacexpeace.org.

Search for Common Ground (SFCG)
SFCG’s mission is to transform the way the world deals with conflict: away from adversarial approaches, toward cooperative solutions. It sponsors and evaluates innovative, eco-friendly models for conflict resolution worldwide in places that have been hardest-hit by war, oppression, poverty, displacement and other forms of dislocation. For more information, visit www.sfcg.org.