One of the many lessons learned as a consequence of 9/11 is that no one in the developed world can afford to overlook the plight of the impoverished countries whose struggling economies and governments provide a natural breeding ground for extremists.

The US government, along with governments of developed countries around the world, have pledged record levels of financial support for education and training programs designed to give the world's poorest countries the know-how to build and maintain agricultural, financial, health, political and social infrastructures.

All of these programs are run through organizations such as the World Bank, the United Nations, the regional development banks, and bilateral development agencies such as the US Agency for International Development.

For the most part, these development agencies do not run these programs themselves, they bid them to specialists in the private sector. These specialists traditionally have come from the many consulting firms that have sprung up In the DC area for the sole purpose of winning such project assignments.

With additional funds and more complex needs, World Bank, USAID, and the UN are seeking to expand the range of talent available to them, and are looking to nonprofits. The rationale is that nonprofits have their hearts in the right place, and they have proved to be more adept than consulting firms in replicating themselves - leaving behind self-sustaining trade and business associations that continue the work that was started.

US associations have an unprecedented opportunity to do well by doing good. Particularly those in high-demand sectors, such as agriculture, healthcare, construction and engineering, and disciplines that provide the skills to properly build and manage a business.

Many US association executivess are assessing the challenges and opportunities of the global marketplace, but are finding it hard to convince members to invest the association funds needed to start an international membership program. In this regard, government-funded international education and training programs are a golden opportunity to travel abroad, lend a hand and help appreciative people. Doing so also creates contacts that can and do translate into new international friends and members for the association

It pays for association execs to take the time to investigate these programs. One FL-based professional society has been particularly skillful in bidding on and winning contracts from the World Bank and USAID. The association produces training materials used mostly by retired members who appreciate the opportunity to travel to exotic lands, transfer skills, and make a difference in the lives of the people they meet.

The association also benefits from a financially profitable activity. It provides associations yet another arrow in the quiver of membership services. And it has slowly allowed associations to build a global network of members and strategic contacts that could evolve into overseas chapters.