Where Your Charitable Giving Goes

Much of the money Americans donated went to organizations such as the U.S. Fund for UNICEF-a fundraising and advocacy arm of the world's leading child survival agency, the United Nations Children's Fund. The group's relief and recovery activities include providing life-saving interventions in the areas of health and nutrition, water and sanitation, education, child protection and, in some cases, family reunification. It is estimated that the agency will need to raise $635 million in 2007 for humanitarian emergencies, including the crisis in Darfur.

Inside A Charity

UNICEF's Humanitarian Action Report 2007 looks at the agency's emergency programs. It highlights a number of international crises that are not widely publicized but still threaten thousands of children. For instance, Haiti has one of the world's worst child mortality rates, while Eritrean children are beset by war and drought. Areas identified as needing funding include:

• Sudan-The country still experiences the long-term effects of the conflict in the south.

• The Horn of Africa-This region was beset by cyclical drought, then flooding and war in 2006.

• Central and Eastern Europe-Several countries are affected by insecurity and extensive damage to social and economic infrastructure.

• South Asia-The area has the highest number of children living in absolute poverty.

• East Asia and the Pacific- Still recovering from the 2004 tsunami, the area was faced with an increase in the number and size of emergencies during 2006.

• The Middle East and North Africa-This region is dominated by the situation in Iraq, and the aftermath of the war and violence in a number of other areas.

Sharing Funds

UNICEF uses donated funds to improve access to education, treat children suffering from malnutrition, establish safe drinking water supplies and sanitation facilities, and to protect tens of millions of children against measles and malaria, among other projects.

To learn more, visit the Web site at www.unicefusa.org or call (800) 4-UNICEF. PAKISTAN: Blue tarpaulins, some of them bearing the UNICEF logo, cover tents at a camp for people displaced by the earthquake in the district of Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Article Source: http://www.thearticleinsiders.com