The commitment of the Permanent Secretariat to support the activities of Nobel Peace Laureates
The Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates has supported the activities of the following organisations:
THE GORBACHEV FOUNDATION
The Gorbachev Foundation attaches particular importance to humanitarian and charitable projects. In particular, the Foundation’s main emphasis has been on children’s health. With direct financial support from the Foundation and its partners, the first Bone Marrow Transplantation Center for children with leukemia was established in Moscow, with several other similar centers in other regions of Russia. Raising funds to finance the construction of Raisa Gorbachev Center for Children’s Hematology and Marrow Transplantation in St. Petersburg has been the top priority in the Foundation’s charitable activities since 2002.
THE FOUNDATION, LECH WALESA INSTITUTE
The Foundation is dedicated to accomplishing the goals which Lech Walesa considers valid and significant and to which he has been faithful all his life, such as safeguarding the national heritage, independence and solidarity traditions, consolidating democracy and promoting moral values in politics and public activity.
FW DE KLERK FOUNDATION
The Foundation administers the following programmes:
- The promotion of the Constitution, constitutional rights and the national accord. The Unit which pursues this goal is the Centre for Constitutional Rights CFCR.
- The promotion of communication, peace and harmony in multicultural communities and between leadership groups.
- The mobilization of resources for disabled and underprivileged children.
GRAMEEN SOCIAL BUSINESS ACTIVITIES
Grameen Bank (GB), founded by Professor Muhammad Yunus, has reversed conventional banking practice by removing the need for collateral and created a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity. GB provides credit to the poorest of the poor in rural Bangladesh, without any collateral. At GB, credit is a cost effective weapon to fight poverty and serves as a catalyst in the overall development of socio-economic conditions of the poor who have been kept outside the banking orbit on the grounds that they are poor and hence not bankable. As of January 2010, it had 8.01 million borrowers, 97 percent of whom were women. With 2,563 branches, GB provides services in 81,343 villages, covering almost all villages in Bangladesh.
PEACE PEOPLE PROGRAMME
The Peace People began in 1976 as a protest movement against the ongoing violence in Northern Ireland. Its three founders were: Mairead Corrigan, (now Mairead Corrigan Maguire), Betty Williams and Ciaran McKeown. Since its inception the organization has been committed to building a just and peaceful society through nonviolent means – a society based on respect for each individual and that has at its core the highest standards of human and civil rights.
THE CITY OF PEACE FOR CHILDREN OF THE WORLD
In the past few years the Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates has supported and continues to support the activities of the World Centers of Compassion for Children International organisation promoted by Nobel Laureate Betty Williams.
In November 2003, in a big popular event, citizens of the Basilicata Region asked the Italian government to stop the installation of a European nuclear waste storage site at Terzo Cavone in the municipality of Scanzano Jonico. Betty Williams, present in Basilicata during the days of protest, asked that land to be used to build the first “City of Peace for the children of the world”.
After just 30 days the Region allocated a fund of its Budget for 2004 for a feasibility study for the project. On 30 January 2007, during a visit by Betty Williams to Basilicata, the President of the region Vito De Filippo announced the creation of a seat, at Sant’Arcangelo in Val D’Agri, of the World Centers of Compassion for Children International, dedicated to training.
In the following month of July the feasibility study for the actual construction of the City of Peace was completed, and in November 2007 the Basilicata Regional Council agreed to allocate a figure of 4.4 million euro for the startup.
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