SAN DIEGO — Project Concern International, or PCI, is a nonprofit that focuses primarily on providing health, development and humanitarian assistance. Its presence spans over 15 different countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America – affecting over 5.8 million people each year.
It was founded in by Dr. James Turpin, who in 1961 saved the lives of two young children while volunteering at a clinic in Tijuana. Since then, over the span of 5 decades, PCI has developed into an organization that has devoted itself into addressing the issues of poverty by prioritizing good health and establishing lasting impact in regions. Currently, PCI is headquartered in San Diego and its annual $49 million budget is financed primarily through federal grants and private donors.
PCI works with five major overarching causes: women’s empowerment and poverty, children’s health, food and water programs, disease prevention, and disaster relief and recovery.
The programs that PCI offers build communities and train them to sustain themselves in the future. For instance, the food and water programs address the issues that perpetuate poor sanitation. Their disease prevention program includes supporting those with HIV/AIDs by offering antiretroviral therapies, providing counseling and support groups and other similar programs.
In addition to various programs, PCI has various initiatives. Most notable is their Women Empowered (WE) Initiative.
Incepted in 2011, the WE Initiative was birthed in partnership with Women’s Empowerment International, a group of women from San Diego committed to providing microfinance loans to pull women out of the cycle of poverty.
The objective of the WE Initiative is to fostering financial responsibility and independence among the women who participate in their programs. This is accomplished through offering women the opportunity to join a savings group. Through savings groups, women receive various trainings that will ultimately empower them to be economically and socially independent.
Each group receives training to manage small businesses. The women also have an opportunity to hone their skills in literacy, numeracy, financial budgeting and other areas.
Not only does the WE Initiative set the women up for greater financial stability, but it also provides an opportunity to expand their social support system by discussing together the various challenges that they encounter as they manage their businesses.
Ultimately, the savings group program wants women to cultivate their business management skills to become effective members of their family who make contributions to the household income. An extra source of income and the discipline to regularly save help to create a cushion for unforeseeable emergencies in the future, such as crop failure or health issues in the family.
Through program monitoring and evaluation, PCI attempts to quantify and measure the amount of impact their programs are creating. Specifically for the WE Initiative, there are two elements of the savings group program that are measured.
The first dissects the effectiveness of the savings groups by tracking the financial success and the members’ satisfaction levels.
The second measures, more specifically, how members are affected by the Initiative by measuring social, physical, behavioral and economic aspects of each woman.
Currently, the WE Initiative has 1,142 active WE groups. Collectively, the WE groups have saved and have lent a total of $600,425.
The women who participate in WE groups hail from communities in Zambia, Botswana, India – to name a few.
The success of the WE Initiative has garnered high recognition. Due to the successes of the programs in the Ethiopian cities of Tigray, SNNRP, Oromia and Addis Ababa City, PCI has received a nomination for the Classy Award, an award which celebrates the top five organizations who effectively fight for Women’s Rights.
Over the past five decades, PCI has made significant strides in the areas of disease prevention and community health, so that people may thrive on their own.
– Christina Cho
Sources: CLASSY Awards, PCI 1, Women’s Empowerment International, PCI 2, PCI 3
Photo: The Carmel Valley Life