ABOUT CORE

WHAT WE DO

CORE International works to help small groups of people in Nepal who are very poor and have not had other assistance. We work to build “bridges” between groups of people, organizations & individuals who are able to provide services and support. We see changes after we invest in education, literacy, saving-credit and skills, and health.

CORE works with very disadvantaged people – they are often those who face discrimination and marginalization, who live in areas with few opportunities, or the urban poor who migrated to urban areas for employment.

CORE promotes opportunities for learning skills and education and resources for saving and credit to start small enterprises from which people can improve their livelihoods.
CORE develops partnerships and programs to address the self-identified needs of excluded people. We work to build ‘bridges’ between groups of people, organizations, and individuals who are able to provide services and support.

CORE has seven priorities including:

Literacy, education, and “Participatory Learning and Action”.
Gender and social inclusion.
Relief in crisis situations.
Primary health care.
Sustainable use of resources to improve the livelihoods of the poor.
Appropriate alternative agriculture and technology and innovations.
Indigenous knowledge.

MISSION STATEMENT

CORE International’s mission is to serve people in poor communities who have been excluded from conventional philanthropic or development assistance. CORE works to help them create opportunities to improve their quality of life through innovative solutions and facilitates lasting change that is guided by the needs and aspirations of the community. CORE International will work as a partner with the many other organizations within the worldwide movement dedicated to ending poverty.

GOALS

Strives to enable people and communities who are socio-economically disadvantaged to progress towards economic self-reliance and improved livelihoods through micro-finance, literacy programs, and training.

Aims to promote awareness among the Canadian public by encouraging discussion on development issues to increase general awareness of the enormous discrepancies between the rich and the poor people and nations using website, newsletters, and discussion forums.Provides support in the form of funds, skilled trainers (or support to hire trainers), and facilitators for local groups to organize training and resources to improve literacy, education, vocational or technical skills (health worker training, etc), to open opportunities to improve livelihoods and help communities.

Although many of these priorities are linked, we are first focusing on literacy, educational, and micro-finance projects, which address the issues of gender and social inclusion.
We have prioritized working in Nepal for the immediate future, though we intend to expand to other countries as our organization gains experience and resources.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Aims to enable people to have the skills and access to resources (revolving funds, savings-&-credit, and training) to help themselves.

Reaches people who are poor and/or marginalized as the primary beneficiaries by supporting community groups with funds for training and facilitators for literacy groups and micro-finance.
Supports work among groups of people and in geographical regions where international aid organizations have not provided assistance in a particular sector or issue.
Works to enable local organizations with training, mentoring, and funds to carry out small projects that enable people to have the skills and/or resources to help themselves.
Provides training, funds, and mentoring to community organizations at the village level to carry out small initiatives that will generate local ownership.
Matches the needs of our beneficiaries with other services available in the communities and districts by referring our local partner organizations to other projects and organizations that can provide:
- Cost and time-saving appropriate technology that improves the livelihoods of our beneficiary individuals and communities. For instance, a woman can save five-hours a day by not having to collect firewood if she can get a small biogas producing chamber that produces methane gas for cooking.
- Expertise in building skills in a particular sector: education, health, etc.
Contributes to the preservation of local traditions, diversity, and indigenous knowledge that promote the well-being of the community and individuals, for instance, by providing funds for a school that teaches traditional herbal medicine. However, we will provide funds for awareness raising/education to help minimize practices that might harm, physically or mentally, individuals or groups of people.
Acknowledges that real progress is a long-term process that requires commitments to communities and partners.
Contributes to addressing problems of urban migration at both the rural origins and the urban destination of the migrants.
Creates opportunities for women, minorities, and disenfranchised people in both the selection of projects and, when applicable, the hiring of individuals.

VISION

“A world of hope, tolerance, opportunity and social justice; where all people live with dignity and security.”