Good deeds on a continental scale: the PADF

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Many people who are members of OAS FCU qualify for membership because they work at

international organizations that are in the credit union’s field of membership. Among those organizations is the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF).

Founded in 1962 by the Organization of American States, the PADF is a non-profit organization whose goals are sustainable social and economic progress, the strengthening of communities and the people who form them, to promote democracy and inclusion of all, and readiness and response to natural disasters in the Americas.

As for non-profits go, these are some of the broadest, hardest, and most challenging goals you can think of. And PADF has been working on all of them for as many years as OAS FCU has been in business. It may seem an irrelevant relationship, that both the credit union and the Foundation were created the same year, but I think it goes to show how people at the OAS -from where both our organizations stemmed- really have it, in their core values, to think of the many different, possible ways to make people’s lives better.

So that people can understand better the scope of the work of the Pan American

Development Foundation, you need to look at their hands-on work; this is where you see that they use a combination of problem solving of current and ongoing issues, alongside an intrepid forward-thinking approach to steer people, communities, businesses, and society towards achievable, sustainable, and progressive goals.

PADF works with governments, the private sector, NGOs, community groups, businesses and organizations in projects destined to improve the quality of life in focus areas and places. They use an all for one, one for all approach that starts from a current issue that they aim to help change/correct/help and, by working on causes, current developments, and goals for the future, they found programs that help now and make positive changes for the future. They have many areas of focus:

• Afro-descendants and Indigenous Groups
• Community Capacity Building
• Disaster Response and Preparedness
• Assistance of Displaced Persons
• Education
• Employment Generation
•  Environment
• Girls and Women
• Health
• Human Rights
• Infrastructure and Housing
• In-Kind Donations
• Public-Private Partnerships for the common, greater good
• South-South Cooperation (Promoting the exchange of knowledge, technology and resources among developing nations)
• Stronger Communities & Civil Society
• Youth

To see the full description of focus areas that PADF works to help change and improve, visit their page.

Who funds all these projects?
The Pan American Development Foundation works with everyone. Their donors are national, and local governments, other non-profits and NGOs, corporations, businesses, and

individual donors. No help is too small, as you see very quickly when you visit The Opportunity Shop. This is the catalog of donations that anyone can make to help the labors of PADF.

The shop sells ‘gifts’ that you can buy for a person, a family, or a whole community. The smallest -I find it every sweet- is to buy a chicken for a family to help them with food and possible income generation, and you can provide one for $12. You can also help provide clean water, seeds and tools for a family to start a small food crop, a sewing machine and training, help build local sanitation, donate for disaster relief, women’s and girls’ education, or just provide help where it’s most needed. I encourage you to visit their shop, especially now that the holiday season is around the corner. For those friends and relatives who have everything, why not make the world a better place in their names?

Honestly, I can’t praise the work of the Pan American development Foundation enough. The

years that I worked at OAS FCU put me in contact with people who work on some mighty ideals, people who want to make the Americas, and the world at large a better place. And yet, the Foundation is one that gets involved, and goes hand to hand with the people working to make those changes come true.

This article is part of the series "Our Members" that aims to show where the members of OAS FCU around the world work.