American Red Cross International Services Awarded

American Red Cross
Tuesday, 9 December 2003

American Red Cross International Services won two grant awards given by the World Bank at the 2003 Global Marketplace Thursday. The awards, totaling US$240,000, will allow American Red Cross International Services to support an extensive clean water project in flood-prone areas of Cambodia, and an innovative program in Zambia using handheld computers (PDAs) to link local development workers with expertise and collaboration.

In partnership with the Cambodian Red Cross and International Development Enterprises, the Safe Water Project will provide ceramic water purifiers that will benefit a targeted population of 44,000 in the Prey Vang province of Cambodia.

"The cleaner and safer water provided by the ceramic water purifiers will help reduce diarrhea and mortality rates in children under five, who are among the most vulnerable Cambodian populations," said Mark Preslan, regional manager of Asia/Pacific programs at the American Red Cross.

Distribution of the ceramic water purifiers will be united with education and outreach about the life-saving value of the product as well as key health and hygiene messages.

Developed collaboratively with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Handheld Software Tools for Program Assessment in Zambia will enable social and economic development workers in remote areas to share and retrieve assessment data quickly and efficiently, said Mark Grabowsky, M.D. M.P.H., senior technical consultant at the American Red Cross.

"Small, community-based development programs often have to forego the costly methods of the data-driven assessment process entirely, relying on less rigorous, qualitative measures of effectiveness," Grabowsky added. "By putting sophisticated quality control and data management in the handheld software, small-scale projects can have the same quality of assessment as larger ones."

As part of the world's largest humanitarian network, the American Red Cross alleviates the suffering of victims of war, disaster and other international emergencies, and works with other Red Cross societies to improve chronic, life-threatening conditions in developing nations. We reconnect families separated by emergencies and educate the American public about international humanitarian law. This assistance is made possible through the generosity of the American public.

The Development Marketplace is a World Bank program that promotes innovative development ideas through early stage seed funding. It links a wide range of social entrepreneurs with ideas for fighting poverty to partners with resources able to help implement their vision.

For more information, or to contact American Red Cross, see their website at: www.redcross.org