The Middle East Policy Council is a nonprofit organization based in Washington D.C. It works to educate Americans on the political, economic, and cultural issues in the Middle East relevant to the United States.

Read the 2005 report by the United Nations Millennium Project about reducing gender inequality through education.

Read a August 23, 2012, story on the World Food Programme website about how the organization’s programs to improve maternal health have changed one community.

Read an August 2012 research report about the effects of religion on the spread of AIDS in Africa.

Read a Jan. 6, 2011, article in Bloomberg Businessweek about Kiva, a microlending non-profit, and how microfinancing can help women around the globe.

The Institute of Halal Investing in Portland, Ore., can provide an Islamic perspective on microfinance and development assistance. It is associated with Rubicon Global, a halal financial advisory firm.

Greg R. Taylor is lead minister of the Garnett Church of Christ in Tulsa, Okla. He spent six years working in Uganda and recently returned there for a visit and to bring a well kit to provide clean water. He co-wrote How to Get Ready for Short-Term Missions, blogs and can speak about the changing ideas behind mission work and […]

Chris Heuertz is international executive director of Word Made Flesh, which works with the world’s vulnerable people. He lives in Omaha, Neb.

Rebecca Todd Peters is an associate professor of religious studies at Elon University in North Carolina. She is involved in a globalization project of the World Council of Churches and teaches a course on wealth and poverty.