Mona Foundation is a non-profit organization that supports grassroots initiatives focused on education and raising the status of women and girls in the US and abroad. They believe that universal education and gender equity are the cornerstones of the eradication of poverty, disease, and conflict[1].
Mona Foundation is named after Mona Mahmudnizhad, an Iranian high school student who was executed in 1983 for her religious beliefs – Bahá'í – and teaching of children classes[2].
Contents |
One of Mona Foundation's main objective is to meet the educational needs of the country it operates in. It achieves these objectives by giving 100% of designated funds, and 97% of general funds, directly to its projects, to-date impacting the lives of more than 30,000 children, women and their families. In addition, they provide logistical and material resources, as well as technical trainings and strategic consulting for its projects[3]. Even though education is important for both sexes, educating female has 50-60% higher amount of return than male[4]. Donors are able to view their donation online towards the specific request made from the school.
Ongoing projects in Haiti includes four schools and one training agency: Anís Zunúzí Bahá'í School, George Marcellus, New Horizon, Zunuzi Annex and CAFT(Centre d’apprentissage et de Formation pour la Transformation). By identifying specific need of the Haitians community, Mona Foundation uses funds donated by the general public to support educational needs, general funds, infrastructure, operation funds, scholarship and teacher training[5].
Issues faced by Haiti like corruption and lack of infrastructure hinder their development even if foreign aids are given. The incentive to not study and work is a common issue faced by the youth in Haiti as poverty is widespread and the need to support their family. Hence without the support from within the community itself, foreign aid may not seem to be useful. In fact much of the effort put in the previous decade by various organizations have proven to be ineffective[6]. Thus Mona Foundation had help to alleviate these two issues by providing resources through direct contact of the manager in Haiti.