The Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI)
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Mission Statement
MLI’s mission is to locate, secure, and apply skills and resources to alleviate suffering, restore hope, and create conditions that nurture stability in countries affected by conflict.
About This Cause
The Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI) was founded by General Gordon R. Sullivan in 1997, the 50th Anniversary year of the Marshall Plan, to extend the vision & legacy of Nobel Peace Laureate George C. Marshall by promoting hope, growth, and stability in war-torn countries. MLI emphasizes the importance of helping countries help themselves, and provides landmine-affected countries with the resources & training they need to rid their soil of this horrific scourge. The focus is on building practical, affordable, and sustainable indigenous humanitarian programs. MLI’s programs emphasize local capacity-building and long-term sustainability, with our largest programs: 1) providing valuable resources (especially highly trained dogs through the Mine Detection Dog Partnership Program) and training local handlers to hasten the pace of landmine clearance operations; 2) providing medical assistance, prosthetic limbs, and vocational training to landmine survivors, and specialized training to doctors & local rehabilitation teams; 3) linking American youth with students abroad to work together to help others; 4) supporting interethnic & inter-religious reconciliation in post-conflict societies by connecting children from different ethnic/religious groups and uniting them in a common cause; and 5) promoting economic empowerment, hope, and dignity in women living in war-torn countries by providing education, training, and mentoring to enhance their job skills and employment opportunities. MLI’s longest-running program is the Mine Detection Dog Partnership Program, which provides highly trained explosive-sniffing dogs to the neediest of countries, and trains local handlers to safely & effectively employ lifesaving dogs. The success of the program is measured by MLI’s ability to satisfy urgent operational requirements/requests from contaminated countries, and by assessing the long-term care, sustainability, and effectiveness of the indigenous human-dog team capacities that are developed in each country. MLI has successfully established and/or expanded indigenous explosive detection dog programs in Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Eritrea, southern Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Yemen. By searching for mines and accelerating the pace of clearance operations, the MDD teams not only save lives but also positively impact the socio-economic growth of fragile post-conflict countries and increase the likelihood that these countries will remain at peace. In each country where MLI has developed an initial MDD capacity, the beneficiary countries have greatly expanded their MDD programs, recognizing the great value that the heroic animals provide. MLI adheres to international standards for training and certifying each of its dog-handler teams to ensure that the MDDs can safely, effectively, & reliably locate landmines and other explosive remnants of war. MLI’s MDD teams typically search up to 30 times the amount of land that manual deminers can search in a given period, without sacrificing safety or accuracy. None of MLI’s MDDs have ever been killed or injured in a landmine clearance operation; all are retired into loving homes at the end of their working life. MLI also has extensive programs to assist landmine survivors and other victims of war. MLI has provided medical assistance, prosthetics, and vocational training for thousands of survivors, especially children, offering renewed hope for their future. Additionally, for the past four years, MLI has been implementing targeted social impact programs, including inter-religious reconciliation projects for youth, and, more recently, mentoring and employment projects for vulnerable women, all of which aim to restore dignity and enhance the quality of life for people living in conflict-impacted countries. Through our Children Against Mines Program (CHAMPS), MLI delivers landmine presentations and simulated minefield demonstrations with its K9 Ambassador (a retired mine detection dog) to engage students in the landmine issue. CHAMPS inspires American children to not only explore the problem but to also become part of the solution. CHAMPS elevates mine awareness, promotes global citizenship, and generates funding to help others, especially children, living in mine-threatened communities around the world. CHAMPS also links American schools with ‘sister’ schools in beneficiary countries. By using Internet video messengers, such as Skype or Zoom, the students learn about each other and work together to help children who have been injured by mines. Participating foreign schools befriend and ‘adopt’ young landmine survivors in their community, identify their needs, and introduce the survivors to American students, who organize campaigns in their communities to provide medical assistance and other rehabilitative care. MLI identifies interested schools and hires in-country managers who lead the programs, form students into mine-action clubs, organize monthly video conferences, and arrange medical & vocational assistance for the survivors. CHAMPS increases mine awareness, promotes global citizenship, and raises funds to sponsor life-saving MDDs and to help youth who have been injured by landmines. CHAMPS youth have sponsored 49 mine detection dogs (MDDs) and have helped hundreds of landmine survivors. MLI’s humanitarian story has reached tens of thousands of students throughout the United States, as well as their parents, teachers, and school administrators. During the past year, hundreds of American youth connected with students in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Yemen through video calls in which they shared details about their lives and respective cultures. The children living in the mine-affected countries received mine risk education to share with others, introduced young survivors to American youth, and participating CHAMPS students in the US mobilized their schools & communities to provide medical support & prosthetic limbs for dozens of mine survivors. In addition to the CHAMPS program, MLI also promotes leadership and youth empowerment through virtual exchange. Through the Peace Through Sport (PTS) program, youth in the US and Yemen connect over eight-week sessions, learning important life lessons through sport. Youth not only participate in activities, but they also get to know their global peers, hear inspiring stories from professional athletes, and implement service projects in their communities. PTS is implemented by MLI and is supported by the J. Christopher Stevens Virtual Exchange Initiative (JCSVEI). JCSVEI is a U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs program administered by the Aspen Institute. The Peace Makers and Problem Solvers (PMPS) program, like PTS, focuses on encouraging global citizenship and youth action through virtual exchange and hands-on learning for high school-aged students. The PMPS program connects students in under-resourced and conflict-ridden areas in Colombia and the US. Students work throughout the semester to learn leadership and mentorship skills, applying their knowledge to implement unique social impact in their communities. PMPS student leaders go on to become future mentors for PMPS and in their University programs, encouraging other youth to see their potential and realize their power in becoming change-makers in their communities. MLI believes that the key to healing past scars and establishing a future of peace is through empowering youth. Through CHAMPS, PTS, and PMPS, we hope to not only eradicate the future landmine problem but also encourage intercultural understanding and reconciliation. We are working to embolden and expand our education programs to enhance global citizenship.