Institute of International Social Development
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About the Institute

NEW - Access to the pictures of September 2008 cycle vans distribution

The Institute of International Social Development is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations

Our Institute was registered in the month of October 1996, under Section 25 of the Indian Companies Act of 1956.  

The Institute was formed "To Build a Better World". The main objective of the Institute was thus to promote the United Nation's vision "One Earth-One Family".

Location:

The Institute is headquartered in Kolkata, India, and has branches and/or representatives in New York, USA; Geneva, Switzerland, Vienna, Austria; and Berlin, Germany.

The Foundations:

The founding members of the Institute firmly believe that human or moral values are the foundation of any sustainable, holistic development. To create a benchmark in that regard, the Institute organized the ‘First International Conference on Values for a Better World’ soon after its formation. It had the presence of a galaxy of eminent personalities including Dr. Robert Mueller, former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations and presently the Chancellor of University of Peace, Costa Rica; Dr. David Long, philosopher of global repute; Dr. Crystal Woodword, eminent Sociologist from France; and Dr. Dora Bazen, Advisor to the Vice President of Peru.

Projects:

The Institute has several welfare projects running in West Bengal, India, in Geneva, Switzerland and an active cultural training forum and holistic development program in New York, USA. The projects aim at holistic development and empowerment of disadvantaged communities and societies and improving the quality of life all around.

The Recommendations from the  founding conference were framed to serve as a template for the Institute’s future welfare programs in the areas of Education (Project Sushiksha), Health (Project Sushwasthya), Income Generation (Project Shramdaan), Holistic Development (Project Self-Help Groups) and HIV/AIDS Awareness and Prevention (Project Hope).

The Institute also conducts workshops, conferences, seminars and other programs with human values as the foundation and issues relevant to the United Nations and India or any branch nation as the themes. It partners with reputed organizations including the United Nations bodies, Government of India Ministries, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Rotary Clubs, and other similar organizations.


United Nations affiliation:

The Institute received the most prestigious Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC of the United Nations in October 2000. Presently it has representatives at the UN Headquarters in New York, Geneva and Vienna.

By virtue of this Status of prestige and privilege we felt responsible for ensuring the UN Millenium Development Goals are rightly and productively implemented in our network and that their feedback reaches the global policy-making body through our written statements to the ECOSOC of the UN.

Thus, we reinvented ourselves by charting all our activities on the UN Millenium Development Goals so as to ensure a uniform global method of evaluation and bringing global facilities to the grassroot beneficiaries.All these eight goals including a short description about our activities are listed in our section


                     Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)




Major Achievements:
  • Organizing the United Nations Procurement Conference in cooperation with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on “How to do Business with the United Nationsand become its supplier” at Kolkata in January 2005. This was the first time in India’s history that 8 heads or senior members of different UN Procurement divisions came to address 131 Indian business owners on the subject.
  •  Participated in an exhibition of tribal crafts of the world at the Visitor’s Lobby at the United Nations Headquarters in New York for the first time in India’s history during the Indigenous Forum from May-July 2005 to showcase and promote Indian Handicrafts to the international community. This was done with the support of the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India. The exhibition of Indian Handicrafts was organized again independently in March – April 2006 in partnership with United Nations Staff Recreation Council.
  • Conducted a twelve day awareness from India to Nepal 2-Wheeler-Rally on HIV/AIDS which went through the route from which trans-border flesh trade is prevalent.
  • Submission of Recommendations on Sustainable Self Help Group Module which has been accepted as official UN Document by the ECOSOC for Self Reliance for Least Developed Nations.
  • Implemented Kamasutra-based Safe Sex Entertainment Module amongst Sex-workers and their clients to eliminate the risk of HIV/AIDS infection. This was appreciated and recognized by the media worldwide including the BBC, AFC, Los Angeles Times among many others.
  • Developed for the NGO Section, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations a PowerPoint presentation on the ‘Millennium Development Goals’, now being used globally by the world body. In it, the Institute has been recognized as an ideal South Block NGO.


 


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One Earth - One Family