Nike Foundation Secures Footing in Helping to Reach Millennium Development Goals
15 September 2005 - 11:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
Awards $5.2 Million to Organizations Dedicated to Improving the
Lives of Adolescent Girls in the Developing World BEAVERTON, Ore.,
Sept. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today, coinciding with the
Millennium Development Goals UN World Summit, the Nike Foundation
announced 11 global and in-country projects with key partners.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990818/NIKELOGO ) The
Nike Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, has been
working closely with its partners to identify its countries of
focus (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ethiopia and Zambia), and to
further develop its overall giving principles announced in March
2005. Contributing to global efforts to reach the United Nations
Millennium Development Goals, The Nike Foundation will place
particular emphasis on reaching the goals of poverty alleviation
and gender equality. Initially, the Foundation is supporting
primarily non- governmental organizations and programs that provide
direct services and capacity building to improve the lives and
well-being of adolescent girls in the developing world. "Through
partnerships with extraordinary international organizations, we
have continued to evolve our strategies and deepen our knowledge of
what is needed to improve the lives of girls in the developing
world as well as where the Foundation can have the greatest
impact," said Maria Eitel, President of the Nike Foundation. She
added that the Foundation is in a learning phase, making initial
strides to achieve two long-term goals: -- Invest in solutions that
are creative, high-impact, result in poverty alleviation, and
empower impoverished girls by expanding their opportunities,
capabilities and choices; and -- Contribute to positive change in
the development field through an innovative model of corporate
philanthropy -- that inspires heightened, highly effective
corporate engagement in global problems. Addressing Major
Challenges The Nike Foundation has awarded over $5.2 million to
organizations globally in the past fiscal year. Each of the latest
Nike Foundation projects seeks to tackle one of the major
challenges facing girls and women in the developing world,
including inadequate health services, education access and economic
opportunities. The research is clear that improvements in education
and increased opportunities for girls and women serve as a bedrock
for economic growth, development and societal progress. Research
conducted by the World Bank and others convincingly shows that
programs directed to girls and women yield a higher rate of return
than virtually any other community investment available in the
developing world. Investing in girls and women's development
projects results in better maternal and children's health,
increased school enrollments, improved economic growth and
productivity, and leads to a ripple effect that also benefits boys,
families and communities. "There are many ways to tackle the
challenges of poverty. The Nike Foundation's focus on adolescent
girls is sorely needed and is a point of maximum leverage in
creating momentum," said Sylvia Mathews, COO and Executive Director
of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "Healthy, safe,
empowered girls transform families, communities and countries."
Foundation Projects Through this series of grants, the Nike
Foundation, in partnership with others, contributes to efforts
around the world to: -- Empower girls -- build their capabilities
and provide opportunities; -- Engage communities -- improve the
influence and well-being of disadvantaged groups; -- Foster
advocacy -- broaden awareness and shift attitudes and policies to
benefit girls; and -- Leverage partners -- expand others'
capacities to empower girls. Specific projects include: Global --
International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) -- sponsoring partners
to participate in trainings and capacity building forums. -- Center
for Global Development (CGD) -- supporting advocacy efforts
bolstering policies that support adolescent girls. -- International
Center for Research on Women (ICRW) -- developing and sharing a
measurement framework for girls' empowerment and conducting
monitoring and evaluation of Nike Foundation supported programs.
Bangladesh -- Charities Aid Foundation of America (CAFAmerica) --
supporting the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), one
of the world's largest and most respected non-governmental
organizations, by expanding programs offering educational, social
and economic opportunities for girls in Bangladesh. -- The World
Bank -- Designing and implementing a social communications campaign
as part of a large-scale program by the Government of Bangladesh to
mobilize communities to request community learning centers to
increase access to education for out-of-school girls and boys.
Brazil -- Instituto Promundo -- offering innovative education
activities for young girls and boys in Rio de Janeiro to address
sexual health and education. -- International Planned Parenthood
Federation/Western Hemisphere Region -- promoting the involvement
of young women in Brazil in advocacy activities supporting the
inclusion of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the
Millennium Development Goals. China -- PATH -- developing a pilot
project to decrease the vulnerability of rural Chinese girls
through community empowerment as part of a traditional education
program and long-term advocacy. Egypt -- Population Council --
documenting a successful holistic program for vulnerable adolescent
girls in Egypt. Ethiopia -- United Nations Foundation/Population
Council -- addressing the prevalent issue of child marriage and its
devastating impact on young girls in Ethiopia. Zambia -- Campaign
for Female Education (CAMFED) -- scaling up an innovative model
that provides material and financial assistance to stay in school,
as well as training and small loans to enable girls to start their
own businesses upon completion of their education. About the Nike
Foundation The Nike Foundation is a non-profit organization
supported by Nike, Inc. dedicated to giving the world's neediest
girls the opportunities to lead full and active lives. The
Foundation is committed to extending Nike's passion, voice and
resources to inspire support for girls in some of the world's least
developed countries. The Foundation gives money to programs and
partnerships that help address two of the world's most pressing
challenges -- eliminating poverty and improving the lives of girls.
To achieve its vision, the Nike Foundation supports the experience
of local, national and global partners working together to create
innovative, compelling solutions that can achieve broader impact
than those delivered by individual efforts. The Foundation is
infused with funds on an annual basis out of Nike, Inc.'s three
percent commitment of the preceding year's pre-tax profits to
community investments around the world. The Nike Foundation is
governed by a Board of Directors comprised of Nike, Inc. senior
executives and guided by an Advisory Group of leading experts in
the fields of international development and gender equality. The
Nike Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals, but instead
works with its partners to identify and co-design innovative
projects in target countries. For more information about the Nike
Foundation, its partners and projects, please visit
http://www.nikefoundation.org/.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990818/NIKELOGO
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Nike Foundation CONTACT:
Jennifer Silberman, +1-202-778-1476, or , for Nike; or Jill Zanger
of Nike, +1-503-532-0316, or Web site: http://www.nikebiz.com/ Web
site: http://www.nikefoundation.org/
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