PCI (Project Concern International) is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...

NGO based in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. PCI reaches nearly 19 million people a year through programs in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. PCI's programs address a broad range of topics including

food security Food security is the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, healthy Human food, food. The availability of food for people of any class, gender, ethnicity, or religion is another element of food protection. Simila ...

gender equity Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...

, water and sanitation,

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

, agriculture, education, health, and

emergency response Emergency services and rescue services are organizations that ensure public safety, security, and health by addressing and resolving different emergencies. Some of these agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies, while oth ...

. In March 2022, agreed to pay $537,500 to the United States Agency for International Development to resolve claims that it knowingly submitted false financial claims to the agency

History

PCI was founded in 1961. In 1961, a young doctor from living in San Diego James Wesley Turpin, had an ambition to live a meaningful life of helping people and learned of a clinic in Tijuana that needed help and there he saved the lives of two small children who were dying of pneumonia. This experience led Turpin to found Project Concern when he realized it took more than one caring doctor in one place. From there he learned of the challenges in Hong Kong and from there he learned of the challenges in Vietnam. He published two books detailing and expanding the commentary on the work.* * Along the way he was assisted in fundraising for the project* * * * * and other doctors working in the clinics. Project Concern began to provide services in more and more places - Hong Kong, Vietnam, Appalachia, Navajo lands - with an internationally diverse personnel. And Turpin's work would come to be recognized in later years.* * In 1974 Turpin gave up being general director of PCI though he's continued to work the same kinds of care in his other endeavors and some of the work, for example in Vietnam, has survived. Turpin continued to help with fundraising for PCI into 2002. PCI is headquartered in San Diego with offices in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and employs more than 900 people around the world, 83 percent of whom are host country nationals. In 2018, PCI impacted the lives of 10 million people around the world.

Projects

Health

In 2018, more than 1.4 million community members participated in peer/self-help groups to improve health and nutrition behaviors. That same year, PCI reached 25,314 orphans and vulnerable children to improve their health and well-being.

Food security

More than 18,135,000 nutritious meals were served to over 220,000 primary school children through PCI's school-based programs in 2018.

Disaster relief

In 2018, 930,172 people benefited from PCI's risk reduction and resilience programming globally. The organization also completed a post-project sustainability study of post-earthquake relief efforts in

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

, determining that neighborhood-level infrastructure continued to make a significant impact on the community and its recovery.

Gender related issues

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

and

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

, PCI is helping adolescent girls develop into resilient, empowered women through the DREAMS program, so they can forge a path to a brighter future. In 2018, over 85,000 new Women Empowered (WE) groups totaling 908,298 members were formed. $894,200 was saved by 48,000 active WE members to improve their lives, households and their communities.

Accusations of Fraud

In March 2022, Project Concern International agreed to pay $537,500 to the United States Agency for International Development as a result of "improperly shifting costs between projects, and sometimes using USAID grant funds to cover for privately-funded projects." The fraudulent activity took place between 2014 and 2016. As reported in the Department of Justice press release on the topic: "Specifically, once grant funding for one assistance project was depleted, PCI supervisors would instruct its employees to bill their time or other costs to separate and unrelated USAID grant projects that had money remaining in their accounts, even though those employees did not work on that project. PCI then certified to USAID that it used the grant funds only as allowed under each project."

References

External links

Project Concern International
- official website {{Authority control Make Poverty History Development charities based in the United States Organizations established in 1961 HIV/AIDS activism Health charities in the United States Charities based in California Medical and health organizations based in California