The Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI) is a Virginia-based, non-profit, international humanitarian organization formed in 1997 in the 50th anniversary year of the Marshall Plan. MLI aims to extend the vision of George C. Marshall by addressing 21st Century challenges to promote hope, growth and prosperity in the developing world.
MLI’s current focus is establishing affordable and sustainable indigenous programs to help severely affected countries rid their land of the scourge of mines.
Currently there are nearly 800
dogs “sniffing
out” landmines
and saving lives in 26 countries
around the world. Hundreds more
of these
wonderful dogs are needed
to help make a safer
world for
children to play, people to work
and
communities to grow.
Landmines affect millions of people in 70 countries worldwide. Establishing affordable and sustainable indigenous programs helps severely affected countries rid their land of the scourge of mines.
MLI’s
CHildren Against Mines Program (CHAMPS) fosters a sense of global
citizenship and informs American youth about the plight of children
in mine affected countries. Students have sent mine detection dogs
named Apollo, Arizona, Brownie,
Connecticut, Granite, Lilo, Lipscomb, Parky, South
Hadley and Wyoming to help save and
improve the lives of children in Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Sri Lanka. There
are currently five MDDs in training: Champlain,
Shadow, Stitch, Tornado and Vermont.
In one day, a human can search 50 square
meters of land suspected of mine contamination,
but a dog team may search up to 1,000 square
meters in the same period of time.
MLI reaches out to caring global citizens to “sponsor” a mine detection dog by making a tax-exempt contribution of $20,000 to acquire, train and deploy a dog to a needy country. Sponsors may name the dog, receive regular progress reports and visit the beneficiary nation to see the fruits of their investment.
International Trust Fund For Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF)
is
a
humanitarian,
non-profit organization devoted to eradication of
landmines within the region
of South-Eastern Europe and the world.
The International Trust Fund, when established by the Slovenian government in March 1998, was to help Bosnia and Herzegovina in solving its landmine problem and help the landmine survivors with physical and socio-economic rehabilitation. As also other countries were affected with the landmines in the region of South-Eastern Europe (see Mine-contamination in the countries of ITF operations) it was only fair to spread its activities also to other mine affected countries in the region of SEE. ITF is thus working in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro.
ITF seeks public and private donors for mine action related activities in the region of SEE, i.e. mine clearance, landmine survivors assistance, mine risk education and training in the field of mine action. ITF is thus practicing holistic approach to landmine and UXO problem, while still trying to meet the needs of the mine-affected communities on the ground.
ITF is thus working very closely with the national governments and mine action centers of the mine affected countries to guarantee that the donation is helpful and useful also for the end-users, i.e. the local population.