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?Dr. Donatus St. Aimee, Permanent Representative of Saint Lucia to the United Nations, meets with ADRA president Charles Sandefur during the UN Innovation Fair in New York.?
Hearly Mayr/ADRA International
Silver Spring, Maryland—--The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) showcased a success story about sustainable development during the 2008 United Nations Innovation Fair held between June 30 and July 3 at UN Headquarters in New York, and participated in the High-Level Segment meetings of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
The Innovation Fair, sponsored by ECOSOC, an international body in which
ADRA has held general consultative status since 1997, aimed to share examples of innovative development successes that various UN agencies and member non-government organizations, such as ADRA, have had recently. In the inaugural day of this year's fair, Mr. Sha Zukang, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, spoke with ADRA representatives about the work that ADRA is doing, in particular regarding
sustainable development. During the four-day event, ADRA featured a project that has significantly improved the production and commercial capacity of small
milk and cheese producers in the Hualgayoc Province, Cajamarca Region, in northern Peru. The project, whose goal is to increase the commercial quality, marketability, and hygienic standards of dairy production, has already created more than 2,100 jobs, increased household income by 45 percent and sales by as much as 34 percent. As a result of this project, currently being implemented by ADRA Peru, production processes such as pasteurization and homogenization were introduced, extending the shelf life of products, improving their overall quality, and, ultimately, raising sales in important Peruvian markets. The success of this initiative has prompted its replication in other dairy producing communities of Cajamarca, and in Ayacucho, in Peru's central highlands.
In April, this project was selected from a pool of numerous applications to be presented during the
NGO Forum at UN Headquarters, a meeting that was attended by representatives of member states,
NGOs, and UN agencies whose aim was to demonstrate the work that is being done to meet
the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The following month, the United Nations Non-governmental Organizations Informal Regional Networks (UN-NGO-IRENE) chose the project as the success story of the month.
ADRA also participated in the High-Level Segment meetings of ECOSOC's annual conference, which were held in conjunction with the Innovation Fair at UN Headquarters. The theme for this year was
sustainable development, a concept of resource management that aims to meet the human needs of present and future generations while preserving the environment. During the meetings, attendees, including
leaders of international financial and trade institutions, member state ministers and ambassadors, development experts, members of academia, and NGO representatives, discussed the progress of developing nations, solutions to the current global food crisis, and ways in which development cooperation can be streamlined to be more effective.
ADRA president Charles Sandefur, who attended the ECOSOC meetings, also participated in the Ministerial Roundtable, a forum hosted by the
UN Industrial Development Organization, during which participants presented agri-business methods and solutions to improve food supply and raise farm production as a substantive way to address the existing global food crisis.
"ADRA's active participation at the United Nations provides not only a way for us to highlight successful ideas and engage the global community at its highest levels, but also serves to give an important voice to
the millions of vulnerable people ADRA serves around the world every year," said Sandefur. ADRA is present in 125 countries, providing community development and emergency management without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race, or ethnicity.
Additional information about ADRA can be found at www.adra.org.
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Author: Hearly Mayr Media Contact: Hearly Mayr, Director for Public Awareness ADRA International 12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, MD 20904 Phone: 301.680.6376
