Roles played by International Organizations in Solving Social Problems

Red Cross Society

The Red Cross Society is an international organization that was established on 26th October 1863 A.D. in Geneva, Switzerland. A famous Swiss baker named Jean Henry Dunant founded it. In 1859, he had been to Italy on his vacation where there was the war of Solferino going on. The very next day, he saw a battlefield where about forty thousand people were killed and many people were badly wounded. The sight touched Dunant emotionally since there were no doctors or any volunteers to rescue and treat those war victims. After he returned to Switzerland, he wrote a book in which he stated his intention to help the victims of the war and the natural disasters. In 1863 AD, delegated from 16 countries assembled in Switzerland and founded the Red Cross Society.

In Nepal, it was established in 2020 B.S. at Tahachal, Kathmandu. Since then, it has been working a lot in Nepal to serve humanity.

Aims/Objectives/ Principles:

1. Humanity
2. Neutrality
3. Impartiality
4. Volunteer service
5. Non-alignment
6. Non-political activities

The main services provided by the Nepal Red Cross Society are as follows:

1. It has been providing food, clothes and shelter for the victims of natural calamities and the needy people of Nepal.
2. It has been arranging medical services for poor, sick people and providing free medicine for them and running eye hospitals, ambulance service, etc.
3. It has been setting up blood banks and making blood available for needy people.
4. It has been conducting child welfare programs, family planning, primary health case, Human resource Development etc.
5. It has been providing rehabilitation services for refugees and the people affected by natural disaster etc.

SOS (Save Our Soul)

The SOS stands for Save Our Soul. It is a renowned international social organization that has been providing social services since its establishment from 1949 AD. The founder of SOS was an Austrian citizen named Herman Gmeiner who established a children Village Austria in 1949 AD. The SOS was established to help the children who had been disabling or orphaned during the World War II. But later on, it started serving children who were abandoned and orphaned children throughout the world. There are SOS children villages in different parts of the world. In Nepal, there are eight such villages.

Its main functions are:

1. It provides protection to the children especially to the children who are homeless and orphans.
   2. It also provides vocational training to the children to make them self-reliant.
   3. It runs the mother retirement homes and social centers for mothers and children.
   4. It provides several facilities for games or special exercise to the children in the village.
   5. It provides education, health and other additional requirements to the needy children which help to develop a kind of confidence to the children in the village.

The Scout Association:

The Scout Associatioon was started in 1907 by Lord Robert Baden-Powell. His vision was to create a better world. He developed the Scout Promise and Law that Scouts still live by today. He began this to stop youths from going wronh way after returning from war.

Its main functions are:

1. It runs various programs including training programs to motivate the youths towards social service.
2. It also provides services to the victims of natural calamities.
3. It carries out various social services like free medical check up, free distribution of medicines, plantation and sanitation programs in the various parts of Nepal.