Silver Spring, Maryland— On Friday, April 4, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) International presented an innovative success story related to sustainable development at the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Forum held at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

ADRA International was selected from a pool of numerous applicants to showcase a success story, and prepared a presentation on ADRA Peru's Increased Employment and Income Among Small Milk and Cheese Producers project. This agricultural project targets impoverished farming communities in the Hualgayoc Province in the economic corridor of the Cajamarca region, northern Peru, helping dairy farmers obtain sustainable sources of employment through the increased sale of high-quality dairy products.

"In its consultative role to the UN, ADRA recognizes the value of sharing its success stories with member states about the issues that affect the people we serve in so many countries," noted Anne Woodworth, ADRA's main representative to the UN. "We are privileged to be able to engage at the highest levels of government through our work at the UN, and thus we have a responsibility to help countries meet their commitments to improve people's lives. For example, ADRA is doing its part to help many countries meet the Millennium Development Goals."

During the presentation, ADRA also took advantage of the opportunity to talk about what it's doing to improve the lives of vulnerable people through sustainable development practices.

The NGO Forum was held at UN headquarters in the prestigious Economic and Social Affairs Council (ECOSOC) Chamber, and was attended by representatives from other NGOs, UN agencies, and member states representatives such as Ambassador Antonio Pedro Monteiro Lima (Cape Verde), Ambassador Zina Andrianarivelo-Razafy (Madagascar), and Ambassador Francis Lorenzo (Dominican Republic). ECOSOC serves as the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues, and for formulating policy recommendations addressed to member states and the UN system.

The NGO Forum is an event held in preparation for the 2008 High-Level Segment of ECOSOC's annual conference. President Charles Sandefur will be representing ADRA at that event in July, when UN member nations will learn what NGOs are doing to help them achieve the Millennium Development Goals by highlighting innovative, best practices in sustainable development.

A presentation of ADRA's project will also be displayed at the Innovation Fair Civil Society Pavilion, as well as posted on a related blog, where countries can approach NGOs on their involvement in sustainable development.

ADRA has held general consultative status at the UN since 1997. In implementing its programs, ADRA coordinates and at times partners directly with appropriate UN agencies in developing countries to provide services. Indirectly, ADRA's community-based programs support country-specific goals of UN agencies at the field level. In addition, ADRA regularly participates in UN conferences, special events, consultation processes and workshops related to development and relief.

ADRA is present in 125 countries, providing community development and emergency management without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race, or ethnicity.

Additional information about ADRA can be found at www.adra.org.

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Authors: Nadia McGill / Anne Woodworth Media Contact: Hearly Mayr ADRA International 12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, MD 20904 Phone: 301.680.6357 Mobile: 301.526.2625 E-mail: Media.Inquiries@adra.org