What are 100 Champions?

Over the past forty years, Dr James B. Mayfield, PhD has worked with many government agencies, international donor organizations and non-government organizations (NGOs) to eliminate the scourge of extreme poverty. As we struggle with the present COVID 19, many fear the next set of pandemics will be far more deadly.

So how do we prepare for this future?

Since most pandemics have tended to start in the poorest areas of the world, Dr Mayfield proposes we start now with a group of concerned citizens committed to reducing, if not eliminating, extreme poverty where another pandemic is most likely.  In the spirit of “If not now when and if not me who?” individuals wanting to participate in such a group would commit to the these action steps:

1. Pick a country that you have a personal interest in or has a high percentage of its population in extreme poverty. You can google that to determine which country you might want to work in!
2. Join the group on Facebook called the Council of 100 Champions, to be explained below.
3. Recruit people, both within and outside the US, willing to join in a sub-group committed to eliminate extreme poverty in one specific country. In each country group someone will be selected to act as the administrator for that country.
4. Working together, each country group will seek to identify, recruit and support one person to be the Champion of that country. This will be someone who has the leadership skills, the deep sense of compassion for the poor, has access to networks and partnerships within his or her country, that will mobilize the needed resources, and has the management skills to implement a successful program to eliminate extreme poverty. Our hope is that at least 100 Champions will be functioning, one in each of the 100 poorest countries by the year 2030.
5. Now one last action step.  It is recommended that CHOICE Humanitarian.org, a non-profit, voluntary organization with nearly forty years of experience in poverty reduction, become the sponsoring agency of this movement. 

After many years of learning what does not work, a few things were found to be effective in eliminating extreme poverty. Presently, CHOICE is working in seven countries: Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Kenya and Nepal.   Between the years 2014 and 2017, CHOICE Humanitarian implemented the Nepal Self Developing District Program (NSDP), which was able to eliminate extreme poverty in an area of 68,000 people.