Promoting Transition to Home Orphan-Care!

We are excited to share the ONETrack International 2020 Impact Report with our GlobalGiving community! You can access the complete PDF here: https://onetrackinternational.org/2020impact/

As a small teaser, check out the letter from our board…

The year 2020 will be remembered by most as one of the truly challenging periods of human history. It certainly brought on a glut of destructive forces, in respect to global health and individual lives, economic hardships, and a retreat from transnational coordination; and, these will forever be the tragedies that will surface in our minds when we reflect upon the pandemic. However, it was also a year of polarity and the devastation at the foreground of the Covid-era newsfeed will always overshadow some of the more advantageous secondary effects that will emerge only once the catastrophe subsides: while there were so many that suffered from the virus itself, the race for treatments and cures also led to monumental strides in scientific achievement; while an erratic global economy damaged so many peoples’ situations and prospects, new innovations and systems derived to weather that uncertainty will be another irreversible byproduct of the pandemic; and, despite the ‘fend for yourself’ mentality of geopolitical 2020, we are starting to see multilateralism rise again as the world fights to bring infection rates down…

Just as the planet suffered such polarizing conditions, ONETrack International too experienced adverse outcomes in every aspect of our mission. From an Operations standpoint: While we are happy to report that none of the villages that we work in encountered any major outbreaks, there were certainly many losses in the developing world as economies closed, went on long lockdowns, families received fewer remittances from overseas and there was virtually no tourism in places that rely on it — and this added mounting pressure on already strained households. In addition, there are always lingering fears of what an outbreak could do to remote and rural villages with limited access to the health equipment required to fight the virus (and as all NGOs, we also had an abundance of non-pandemic matters to tend to — a conflict in Cameroon, two hurricanes in Honduras, and an economic collapse in Zimbabwe — to name a few).

As an Organization: The ONETrack model proved extremely resilient! As policy, ONETrack has always made it protocol to have our field teams composed completely of local coordinators and staff, and as other charities scrambled to recall expatriate personnel ‘from the field’; we charged on — business as usual. Also, our philosophy to maintain extremely low overhead and exist solely as a virtual office almost seems prescient now, because by the time the pandemic hit, our day to day was already working though the online platforms that most companies hurried to acquire and learn. As for our Fundraising Efforts: Despite the world undergoing a collective trauma not met in generations, and despite all the anger and blame on the façades, HUMANITY CAME THROUGH! We saw a colossal rise in individual giving and massive increase in our volunteer force- like never before! People from all backgrounds, regions of the world, and political creeds were excited to be part of our programs, despite all that was going on in their personal lives, and while a lot of viciousness consumed the headlines this year, compassion and sympathy found its way to a lot of folks that needed it. And, we need to thank our incredible Senior Executive Team, our outstanding Volunteer Staff and amazing Mission Ambassadors for all that you did to make 2020 such a success; and, to everyone who donated to our volunteered for our children in the year of 2020, we thank you so much for your continued faith in humanity.

By Todd Finklestone, Director of Operations & Shaun Bamforth, Executive Director

Links:

• ONETrack International 2020 Impact Report
• Our Website
• Ways to Give