Please list in order the 30 poorest (GDP) countries in the Western
Hemisphere, targeting Central and South America and the US charities
that deal with them, targeting children's health and education

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Clarification of Question by jude333-ga on 14 Aug 2002 14:59 PDT

Re your question, would like those countries that are listed as the
most in need of assistance in regards to childrens health and
education in the western hemisphere and which private charities assist
in that regard.
Thanks.

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Request for Question Clarification by leli-ga on 17 Aug 2002 02:57 PDT

This question is interesting to work on but I need to check how
comprehensive a list of charities you require.  I can get you the
thirty poorest countries in the Western hemisphere by GDP per capita. 
It is also possible to get you details of several US charities
supporting children and families in the poorest Central and South
American countries, but I doubt that list would be truly complete
unless I had many hours to work on it.  Would that be good enough for
your needs?

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Request for Question Clarification by leli-ga on 17 Aug 2002 03:16 PDT

I should add that I would of course keep in mind that you are
interested in children's health and education in the poorest
countries.  But some charities cover a wider ground and I'm not sure
how specific your requirements are.

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Request for Question Clarification by prof-ga on 17 Aug 2002 07:51 PDT

One note Jude,

I'm not sure there are very many more than 30 countries in all of the
Western Hemisphere. We're talking North, Central, and South America
plus the Carribbean. 3 in North America, 6 in Central America, around
12 in South America, and a number of small island states in the West
Indies.

You might want to clarify your questions. :)

Prof

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Request for Question Clarification by leli-ga on 17 Aug 2002 12:29 PDT

You might want to clarify your question to make sure you get the
answer you're looking for, as prof suggests.  When considering that
you may want to know that there are more than twenty Western
hemisphere countries poorer than the world average for prosperity . 
This world average is less than 20% of the US figure for GDP per
capita.  A dozen or so of these countries are on the American
continent.

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Clarification of Question by jude333-ga on 19 Aug 2002 15:18 PDT

Pursuant to your questions below, pls amend as follows:
 Poorest 8 countries in the Western Hemisphere 
 Poorest 20 countries in the world
 Private U.S. charities - an incomplete list is adequate for starters.
Many thanks.

Hello Jude and thank-you for your question. Thanks also for getting
back to us after all our messages and queries.

For your interest I'll give you a slightly longer list of Western poor
countries than the eight you request.  You'll see that one or two of
the places on the list are tiny states where I doubt there are any US
charities operating.  I think I'm right in assuming that you're still
principally interested in children's charities working in Central and
South America.

Here are the rankings on poverty/prosperity in the Western hemisphere
starting with the poorest:

1 jointly: Wallis and Futuna, Saint Helena
3 jointly: Honduras, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
5 jointly: Nicaragua and Guyana
7          American Samoa
8 jointly: El Salvador, Bolivia and Belize

You might be interested to know that all these other 'Western'
countries are still below the world average for prosperity:

Dominica
Suriname
Grenada
Paraguay
Guatemala
Cook Islands
Saint Lucia
Peru
Ecuador
Dominican Republic
Saint Kitts and Nevis
French Guiana
Brazil

Now for the poorest 20 countries in the whole world:
Sierra Leone
Ethiopia
Somalia
Mayotte
Eritrea
Rwanda
Comoros 
Cambodia
Congo
Tanzania
Madagascar
Yemen
Burundi
Mali
Tuvalu
Kiribati
Afghanistan
Zambia
Mozambique
Sudan


These figures come from the CIA World Factbook, online at:

http://www.photius.com/wfb1999/rankings/gdp_per_capita_0.html

..........................................................................................


Now for the major private US charities helping children in one or some
of:
Honduras, Nicaragua, Guyana, El Salvador, Bolivia and Belize.
Many of them are also active in other poor Central and Southern
American countries.  (And in some of the other 20 poor countries I've
listed for you.)
I've put either 'several' if they work in a few of the countries
you're interested in, or the name of the  relevant country after their
name:

CHRISTIAN CHILDREN'S FUND
(several)
http://www.christianchildrensfund.org/

A quote about their work:

"Health and Nutrition
In Honduras, the goal is to improve the local medical services
(treatments, medicines and vaccines). The program integrates these
services with education and training in primary health care to prevent
illness. Periodic medical checkups are given to the children.

Treatment is provided when needed. For those children who are
malnourished, supplementary food, vitamins and medication are
administered. The children's parents are taught how to identify the
causes of malnutrition and how to prevent and treat them. They learn
what foods are more nutritious to grow than others, and how to prepare
well-balanced meals with a base of soy beans.

Education
Mothers are given early stimulation techniques to apply to their
children through training and home visits by "guide mothers." 
CCF-assisted projects have a preschool center staffed with volunteer
personnel to attend children 4-6 years old. The children are supported
to attend school, high school and/or non-formal education by providing
them with their school needs and uniforms. Schools are given didactic
materials, and teachers receive training to improve the educational
quality. Adults and teenagers take literacy classes to improve their
reading and writing skills. These classes are conducted by volunteers
from the community and receive didactic materials, lamps and radios."

see:

http://www.christianchildrensfund.org/p.cfm/where_we_work/honduras.cfm

MERCY CORPS
(several)
http://www.mercycorps.org

BAPTIST WORLD AID
(several)
http://www.bwanet.org/bwaid/2003%20projects/Nicaragua%20Provadenic.htm

"Major problems [we] seek to address are high rates of childhood
malnutrition and illnesses, high fertility rates, high maternal and
infant morbidity and mortality, lack of clean and reliable sources of
water, lack of sanitation, acute and chronic diseases in the general
population and the lack of access to primary health care services in
rural Nicaragua."

COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL
(several)
http://www.compassion.com/about/index.asp

CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL
(honduras)
https://www.children.org/whereWork.asp?sid=53EEA24B-BC4D-4CB6-B046-3385A71ECAD3

CHILDREN INCORPORATED
(various)
http://www.children-inc.org/main.html

CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION FOR CHILDREN AND AGING
(various)
http://www.cfcausa.org/

Their programs in El Salvador for children "cover nutrition; school
supplies, uniforms and shoes; food supplements; and religious
education. Health education is provided for parents in order to
prevent illnesses and promote hygiene and the proper preparation of
food."

SALVATION ARMY
http://www.salvationarmy.org 


This information came mostly from:

http://www.warm-hearts.com/charitylist1.html

http://www.happychild.org.uk/nvs/appeals/americas/index.htm

http://www.charitywatch.org/topgrps.html

This last one, Charitywatch, has a very comprehensive listing of
charities and should be a good source for further information.  It
also gives ratings for charities, based on considerations like the
proportion of their income spent on admin.  I don't think I've given
you any that get less than an A minus.

I hope this is helpful for you.  Please let me know if you require any
clarification.

Regards - Leli

search notes:
"gdp per capita" list
children charity charities + names of countries

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Clarification of Answer by leli-ga on 20 Aug 2002 03:27 PDT

Jude - somehow I left out that I was using GDP per capita to measure
poverty as these should be the figures that relate most closely to
child poverty.  Leli

None of the Latin American countries is counted among "the poorest
countries in the world" (except for Haiti). Would you still want a
list?

What do you mean by "all" US carities (government? private? etc.).

the following site can be useful for time-series & indicators for
countries eg. high income, heavily indebted poor countries, or
regional groupings such as East Asia and the Pacific, it spans 5
years, 1996-2000.

http://devdata.worldbank.org/data-query/