Programs and Events

Ambassador Self-Help Program

TYPES OF PROJECTS

Acceptable:

• Small construction projects (less than $10,000.) -- school rooms, community centers, health facilities, foot bridges, housing for a government or community-paid nurse or teacher, work shops, community abattoir, grain storage, rural airstrip for a hospital, and school dormitory for distant students.

• Water-related projects -- wells, latrines, pumps, boreholes, shower stalls and washbasins, or fishponds.

• School equipment and supplies -- desks, chairs, laboratory equipment, or library items.

• Communal construction equipment such as a brick-making machine.

• Miscellaneous durable goods -- stove or refrigerator for a school or hospital; washing machine for a clinic.

• Income-generating equipment -- weaving looms, tools for furniture making, rice-milling machine.  Avoid equipment that cannot be maintained by the local community.

Unacceptable:

• Projects, which directly benefit only a very limited number of people, are discouraged.

• Remodeling or renovating an existing facility that is in disrepair due to neglect or lack of money (purchasing paint to repaint a school). 

• Activities with unmitigated and negative environmental consequences, such as dams, roads through relatively un-degraded forest lands; activities that contribute to commercial deforestation or conversion of land-use from forest to livestock; actions that are likely to jeopardize, threaten, or endanger species and/or their habitat, and actions that are likely to degrade protected areas significantly, such as introduction of exotic plants or animals.

• Sports equipment or uniforms for a national sport team.

• Musical instruments or uniforms for a national orchestra or dance company.

• Salaries.

• Ongoing needs for education/training.

• Computers and office supplies such as pencils, paper, forms, or folders.