Project Concern International

PCI (Project Concern International)

PCI: Celebrating 50 Years of Positive Community Impact
Official Site:	www.pciglobal.org
Classification:	International NGO
Rating:	84% of spending goes directly to program services.

PCI (Project Concern International), (Project Concern), a non-profit, humanitarian NGO based in San Diego, California, is dedicated to preventing disease, improving community health, and promoting sustainable development. PCI reaches nearly 6 million people a year through programs in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

History

In 1961, a young doctor from San Diego, James Wesley Turpin, had an ambition to live a meaningful life of helping people and learned of a clinic in Tijuana that needed help and there he saved the lives of two small children who were dying of pneumonia. This experience led Turpin to found Project Concern when he realized it took more than one caring doctor in one place. From there he learned of the challenges in Hong Kong and from there he learned of the challenges in Vietnam. He published two books detailing and expanding the commentary on the work. Along the way he was assisted in fundraising for the project and other doctors working in the clinics. Project Concern began to provide services in more and more places - Hong Kong, Vietnam, Appalachia, Navajo lands - with an internationally diverse personnel. And Turpin's work would come to be recognized in later years. In 1974 Turpin gave up being general director of PCI though he's continued to work the same kinds of care in his other endeavors and some of the work, for example in Vietnam, has survived. Turpin continues to help with fundraising for PCI.

Since then, the focus of the organization has remained true to its founder: PCI works in vulnerable communities to improve health and create long-term change by helping people help themselves. For fifty years, thousands of dedicated individuals and groups have worked to make this vision a reality.

Today, PCI employs over 600 staff and has thousands of volunteers in countries all over the world, including the United States.

Women Empowered (WE) Initiative

Women Empowered is a PCI initiative dedicated to promoting the economic and social empowerment of women through the formation of self-managed and self-sustaining savings groups.

A key aspect of PCI work is providing training for self-empowerment rather than outside work deciding local priorities. In this case it provides training to savings group participants in keep records, financial practices of savings and lendings, and overall entrepreneurship. Regular group meetings also provide a platform for social support and individual leadership development, enabling women to become agents of economic and societal transformation within their communities.

As of May 2014, the program engages one hundred and ninety-five thousand participants across 12 countries, with the goal of reaching 1 million women through the initiative by 2016.

World water crisis

PCI has an initiatives for cost-effective and sustainable water and sanitation services because it is essential to helping children and communities prevent disease. The impact of clean water and proper sanitation is profound; not only does it bring about better health, but it also has positive economic, environmental, and social impacts. By working together with its beneficiaries, the program provides access to sufficiently clean drinking water for cooking, bathing, washing, and irrigation – water that is desperately needed by communities in remote and impoverished regions.

Some of the projects are in Tanzania, Haiti, and the United States. Indeed, there are many projects in many countries.

Recognition

• Charity Navigator has given it high rating combining financial accountability and transparency while keeping administrative costs low. The 2013 budget of expenses was just over $46 million with administrative expenses of 11% and fundraising of 2% - over 86% of funds are spent on program expenses.

External links

• Project Concern International - official website

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