AUTUMN/ WINTER
2013
www.salvationarmy.org.uk/id
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT NEWSLETTER
SCHOOLS AND SUGAR Find out how we’re providing education and nutritional support to children and families amongst the sugarcane fields of Kenya.
GROWN IN CHINA
THE EMPOWERED BUSINESSWOMAN
See how growing an unexpected summer fruit is tackling hunger and poverty in rural China.
Read how our micro-finance programme is bringing respect and an income to women in Tanzania.
CONTENTS
PROJECTS
Our Vision Life with dignity, equality for all people and a world without poverty and injustice.
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Our Mission Our mission is to resource, empower and support developing communities to defeat poverty and injustice and enable them to build a better life and future. We engage people to comprehend injustice and take action to restore our world as a place where justice, dignity and equality are a reality for all people.
COVER STORY
The Salvation Army is at work in 126 countries worldwide.
SCHOOLS AND SUGAR 4
WHO OWNS WATER?
Want to know more?
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If you would like to find out more about our work, have further information about one of our projects, or would like to inquire about booking one of our team members for an event, simply contact us and we will be happy to help resource you. Similarly, if you are interested in ordering resources or have a story to tell us about how you are helping to make a difference then please get in touch:
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The Salvation Army International Development UK 101 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BN United Kingdom
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TEL EMAIL WEB
THE EMPOWERED BUSINESSWOMAN
A GROWING RESPONSE MARATHON EFFORTS
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+44 (0)20 7367 4777 id@salvationarmy.org.uk www.salvationarmy.org.uk/id
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NEWS Design: Snap Designs (www.snapdesigns.co.uk)
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EDITORIAL
MONEY TALKS Carl Jobson Information and Resources Officer
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oody Allen once famously said that ‘Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons’. As we have visited different events and meetings around the UK we have spoken many times about our comparative wealth compared to the rest of the world. When confronted with a news cycle of economic downturns, welfare reduction and rising living costs it’s easy to forget that we are among the richest people on the planet. A website I came across recently called the Global Rich List actually works out where you are in comparison to the rest of the world, and the average worker in the UK would come in amongst the top 2 per cent of the world’s wealthy.
We don’t like to talk about money too much, but in this issue of Develop that’s exactly what we do. At the back of the magazine you can see a breakdown of what you have given your money to and where we have spent it. We also explore the responsibility of having money to give and how we can each try to ensure that we use this money effectively (p14). We know that your money is essential for us to facilitate change in parts of the world where a little bit of money can make a big difference – where £10 can pay for someone to have access to clean water (p4) or where families can struggle to pay the £3 per term to send their children to nursery school (p12). We’re thrilled by the thousands of pounds raised through initiatives like Live Below the Line (p2) or by running a marathon (p16), as well as the thousands more given sacrificially by you through your direct debits, one-off donations and JUST Gifts purchases. In these pages we want to celebrate and share with you some of the amazing things that are happening all around the world because of your money. Whether it’s empowering women in Tanzania through a £40 loan (p8) or growing strawberries as a cash crop in the remote valleys of rural China (p6), your money is playing a crucial part in this progress. We may be in the top 2 per cent of the world’s wealthy, but the good news is that the other 98 per cent aren’t all in extreme poverty – the reality is that it’s more like 17 per cent. What’s even better is that this number continues to fall. Some organisations have even been bold enough to suggest that by 2030 that number could fall to zero. Wouldn’t that be a great world to live in? The small and large amounts of money that you help to generate for our work are helping to play their part in this progress. Thank you.
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NEWS
DISQUALIFIED LAUNCH Back in March we launched our Disqualified photo exhibition in the display space of Café 101 at The Salvation Army’s International Headquarters in the City of London. As featured in the last issue of DEVELOP, this exhibition was produced to highlight the inequality and injustices faced by women in Pakistan and the work that The Salvation Army is doing to start to tackle this by educating women about their legal rights and access to justice. The month-long exhibition engaged around 500 people per day that come through the café in the heart of central London. Since then the exhibition has been displayed at various corps, churches and divisional (regional) tea parties. Liz Hall, The Salvation Army’s
Divisional Family Officer for the London North-East region who organised one of the tea parties, said: ‘This exhibition is stunning in beauty and information. The photographs are attention-seeking in the best possible way. Then you read the stories, get to know the women and the men in their lives, and suddenly you’re in their world, marvelling at their courage while struggling with anger at the injustice of their “accidents of birth”.’ Find out more at www.salvationarmy.org.uk/disqualified, where you can watch a video of the exhibition launch event, find out how to buy the accompanying photobook and enquire about hosting the exhibition in your area.
ENOUGH FOOD FOR EVERYONE IF HIGHLIGHTS The Enough Food For Everyone IF campaign has engaged people all across the UK to take action on the scandal of hunger. Because of the one million actions taken by you and others who stood up and used their voices for change, we were able to put hunger and malnutrition on the G8 agenda like never before. The outcome of the G8 summit was a step in the right direction for the one in eight people living with hunger around the world, but there is still a long way to go. We know that hunger won’t be ended over a two-day summit next to a golf course, but by continued effort on a local, national and international level. The positive steps achieved as a result of the IF Campaign are important, but there is still more to do. We’re continuing to support local communities who couldn’t be further away from the G8 summit to grow enough food for themselves and their families. See Page 6 to see how we’re supporting rural communities where hunger is a daily reality.
THANK YOU FOR LIVING BELOW THE LINE We’re pleased that 115 of you joined with us back in April and May to take part in Live Below the Line. Between us we managed to persuade hundreds of friends and colleagues to put their hands in their pockets and support us, raising over £17,000 for our work. Thank you to everyone who took part or supported someone who did. We hope it was a worthwhile experience for you and helped you gain a deeper understanding of what the reality of extreme poverty must be like.
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Photo credit: Mikael Buck / UNICEF
HERE ARE SOME OF THE IF CAMPAIGN HIGHLIGHTS...
An animated projection on the façade of Somerset House launched the campaign and confirmed that we can break the chains that keep one in eight people in the world hungry – if we care enough to make it happen.
Ahead of the budget, campaigners dressed as George Osborne headed to Westminster to call on the Government to keep its aid promises to the world’s poorest people.
Schoolchildren from across the country played a major role in the campaign. Tens of thousands of them wrote and drew messages asking David Cameron to take notice, which were delivered to him in the run-up to the G8.
Thousands more people joined the Big IF Belfast event, braving the rain to ensure their message was heard less than 48 hours before world leaders descended on Enniskillen for their two-day summit.
The ‘G8 heads’ made a number of appearances around Northern Ireland during the summit, but their most dramatic appearance was sailing into Lough Erne on a flotilla of longships bearing the message ‘End Tax Dodging’. This was a very visible reminder to the world leaders meeting nearby of the need for them to take decisive action on tax during the summit.
Photo credit: Danny North/Save the Children
As part of the Big IF London event, supporters helped to create a huge visual petition made up of 250,000 spinning flowers, with each petal representing one of the millions of children who die each year because of malnutrition.
45,000 people joined together at the Big IF London event in Hyde Park to call on G8 leaders to take action to tackle the causes of hunger.
Photo credits: All photos ‘Enough Food for Everyone IF’ unless otherwise stated
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WHO OWNS WATER? One question that we constantly ask ourselves in our team is ‘Who owns our projects?’ If the answer is ‘The Salvation Army’, we will most likely fail. However, if the answer is ‘the community’, then success is attainable. Here we show why.
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New borehole in action
ome estimate that there are around 50,000 boreholes in Africa that are out of service. One reason for this is that when the pumps fall into disrepair, the donors or politicians who drilled them are nowhere to be found. The community is not trained in maintenance and feels no ownership over the pump, and so, sadly, another investment in clean water is lost. Enter the village committee! Many of our community-based projects are built around village committees who manage, govern and implement our projects. Whilst in Malawi we met with the committees that are part of a large water, sanitation and hygiene project partly funded by money raised for WATERSHED. Through this programme The Salvation Army is
working in 50 communities in Malawi to provide safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, improved agriculture and capacity building. Each village has a number of committees which have responsibility for various aspects, such as water, sanitation and health or agriculture and nutrition, that are required to make the project successful in both the short and long term. Each committee is formed of five males and five females from the community who are trained by government officials in their respective areas, and throughout the entire process the committees are reminded that they are the owners of the project. In keeping with this ethos, here are some of the members from these committees talking in their own words about what the project means to them:
Dorothy Gunde Water Committee Chairwoman As chairwoman, I call for meetings, guide the meetings, and identify problems with the pump. Our committee decided that every household must contribute 150 Malawian Kwacha (about 30 pence) per month, and this money will be used to purchase a spare part if anything goes wrong. We explained to the community that the payment was for their benefit, so they are willing to pay. Almost every household can afford 150 Kwacha per month, but there are a very few that are not able to pay, such as the elderly. These persons are allowed to come and use the water without paying. People are very happy with the water and feel as though they own it and the pump.
Also the new washing slab assists me so much by making washing clothes very simple. Before this slab was constructed we used to wash our clothes in the dirty river that sometimes even had dead animals floating in it. Before the borehole was built, we walked about 30-45 minutes each way to collect water. Since the borehole has come with clean drinking water, my family does not get so sick any more. Previously we all had stomach pain, cholera and diarrhoea. Dorothy using the new clothes washing station that keeps dirty soapy water away from the drinking source.
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PROJECTS
Mavice Hararwe Health Committee Chairwoman After the health training, we called a village meeting and explained to everyone about using latrines and hand washing. Then we went door-to-door in the village, visiting each household and surveying which had latrines and which did not. When we sensitised the community, we asked what their major health problems were, and we discovered that they are malaria and diarrhoea. Another group distributed medicines to fight these two diseases. We also checked that all children have been vaccinated and that mothers are taking children to the clinic.
Patrick Mawlona Village Headman
Jennifer Tembo Community Member
Mavice sharing about the health committee.
George Gunde Agriculture Committee Member
Thank you to The Salvation Army for providing the borehole for us. We were struggling before and gathering unsafe water. Before, our entire families, from the adults to the children, suffered from diarrhoea and dysentery. Now we are happy and our children are safe.
This project has changed us very much. The agriculture aspect in particular has changed my life. I now grow maize crops with the new methods we learned and now there are three pieces of corn on each stalk, where before there was only one per stalk. From the agriculture and nutrition classes we learned how to prepare potato leaves into a juice as well as papaya juice. We are now doing this in our household. George showing off his three ears of maize.
We are happy because The Salvation Army saw our need and then met it. If it weren’t for the love and passion behind this project, it would not have been achieved. There are still many needs in the community since we face financial problems, but at least now we can cover some of those needs especially through the new farming techniques we have learned. It is good to learn how to manage crops.
GIVE WATER AND GIVE LIFE
• Give water, and you really do give life to communities. It can take just £10 to provide someone with access to clean water. Give £10 a month to WATERSHED with the form at the back of this newsletter and you can help transform the lives of others. • You can also order a copy of our WATERSHED ACTION PACK which will give you everything you need to take action on water in your corps, church, school or workplace. To order yours now contact us on 020 7367 4777 or id@salvationarmy.org.uk. • All of the resources and videos are also available on the website at www.salvationarmy.org.uk/watershed.
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GROWN IN CHINA In June Major Heather Poxon returned to China for the second time to visit some of the projects we are supporting there. Here she reflects on some of what she saw.
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Just one of the many women benefiting from Salvation Army projects in rural China
hina is a place of extreme contrast and rich diversity. It’s a country of both opulent wealth and desperate poverty, of packed, noisy and polluted cities alongside the quiet tradition found in the rural villages. Markets sell both the very latest technology as well as wild delicacies only to be found in the country’s rapidly disappearing countryside. It is an emerging global super-power, but arguably somehow growing too fast to keep up with itself. One of the things that was obvious to me was the sheer amount of pollution, particularly in urban areas. The spectacular speed of growth experienced has caused waste that is much harder to manage than it would have been under conditions of slower growth. Not only that, but in this eagerness for growth, the Government has cleared acres and acres of forest to support the mining industry, causing a large amount of environmental destruction and an increase in the prevalence of landslides. Thankfully the Government is now trying to redress the balance and is funding a large amount of tree re-planting, as well as supporting farmers to plant trees on their land and provide efficient wood-burning stoves to villages to prevent any additional unnecessary deforestation. Despite this pollution, as I visited different communities far removed from the development of the
A traditional Chinese meal time
cities I was amazed and thrilled to see that culturally people make use of everything and try to ensure that nothing is wasted. These communities are largely untouched by the spoils of this growth. However, these communities are not completely isolated. The Government has invested huge resources in infrastructure, building roads and providing electricity to even the most rural of areas. This was most evident in one of the many homes I was welcomed into to share a meal. There I was, sitting on a wooden bench about six inches off the floor around a traditional fire, the wok resting on top cooking our meal. Maize and other crops were hanging from the roof drying, the smoke from the fire keeping the insects away. Yet, to my side there was a TV that stayed on for the duration of our meal providing our entertainment as we shared our food from bowls on the floor (and in China you really do share). Undoubtedly one of the highlights of the trip was meeting Mr Yu, a gentle and humble person, but with a fire in his eyes and a passion for farming. He has a deep respect for nature and uses it well. He lives in Chikai village in the Great Nujiang valley, where most of the community survive on a diet of maize, potatoes and rice and very much live below the extreme poverty line (approximately £1 a day). The village is just one of many in a valley which stretches across 200 kilometres, and Mr Yu’s reputation is known throughout. Mr Yu has been a farmer all of his life and he loves to experiment. Despite there being no history of strawberry planting in the area, a few years ago Mr Yu decided to try his hand at doing just that. His first attempt was hampered by rain and the growth was
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PROJECTS
poor. But rather than give up, he tried planting again later in the year and had a very successful yield. People were sceptical at first when these strawberries first appeared in the market, but such is Mr Yu’s reputation that when they were labelled as his produce people were keen to try them. Now they are extremely popular, and demand is far exceeding the supply. They also bring a great return, generating six times as much income than giving the same amount of land over to maize production. Mr Yu is a village elder and wants to share his knowledge and the benefits with the rest of his community. We are working with him to provide loans to families to purchase the plants and material that they need to get started, with Mr Yu providing the necessary training. This will allow them to both grow strawberries as a cash crop and yams, another popular and nutritious food. Once they have paid the loans back, this money will then be used to help other families with similar loans. Mr Yu is helping the community to be the best it can be. He has been successful thanks to his farming gifts, and the fact that he wants to share this is truly inspirational. When I asked him of his dreams, he told me that he shares the dream of the Government, that everyone in China can earn $2,000 a year by 2020. With his passion and hard work, the people of Chikai village certainly have a great chance of this becoming a reality.
TAKE ACTION
By supporting our FARM programme you can help us in our efforts to tackle hunger in some of the poorest regions of the world. Our projects help by giving people the tools and training that they need to make the best use of their land and grow enough food to support their families. Find out more at www.salvationarmy.org.uk/farm.
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THE EMPOWERED BUSINESSWOM In May, Faith Kroeker Maus, Programme Advisor for Sustainable Livelihood Development, visited Tanzania to visit The Salvation Army’s micro-finance programme and meet with some of the women benefiting from this support.
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Some of the group, like Salima, make their money through tailoring.
icro-finance brings respect to women, because husbands now understand how much women can contribute to the household,’ a young woman said with a smile. The room full of brightly-clad women erupted in enthusiastic applause and affirming murmurs. Encouraged, she continued: ‘Before joining a solidarity group, the situation at home with my husband was very bad. We were always fighting. Now we have peace because I am able to save for the whole month and not ask the man for any money. I can support my family myself.’ We were sitting in a Salvation Army church in western Tanzania in the isolated town of Tabora, holding a public discussion with women who had received loans through The Salvation Army’s microfinance programme there. My journey to meet with these women had been long and tiring – a two-hour flight from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza, a four-hour drive to Kahama and, the following day, a four-and-a-halfhour drive on dirt roads to Tabora. The road to Tabora was dotted with herds of donkeys, goats and cows, brilliant birds, scampering monkeys, and even a lone hyena sauntering across the road. The businesswomen in front of me were some of the poorest of the poor who had presented business plans and qualified for small loans from The Salvation Army. Each was part of a five-member solidarity group,
which was mutually accountable if any member were to default on her loan. Individual women started with a loan of 100,000 TZ Shillings (around £40) to be repaid over four months. Over the next two years women could qualify for larger loan amounts with extended repayment periods if all members of their solidarity group successfully had repaid the previous loan. This programme differs from many other microfinance schemes. First, it has a very low interest rate of 16 per cent compared to the average rate of around 25 per cent. The low rate ensures that the programme reaches the poorest and most vulnerable, but this also means that the programme relies on funds from outside to cover administration costs. Second, the programme teaches the importance of savings, and requires that each woman save at least 20 per cent of her loan. Finally, many choose to join The Salvation Army’s programme rather than others because it offers quality training on entrepreneurship, market research, business expansion, basic literacy and technical skills. The impact is tangible. Women have expanded their businesses through increased capital and improved management skills. As I visited their businesses, the borrowers proudly showed me how they had diversified their products and sought out new markets. They praised their solidarity groups as sources of
You can shift the balance of inequality that continues to hold women back all over the world. Most of our GENERATION projects focus on the empowerment of women, so by supporting GENERATION you are also supporting the fight for gender equality . Visit www.salvationarmy.org.uk/generation to find out how you can help shift the balance and help people work their own way out of poverty, or fill in and return the form at the back of this magazine with a donation for GENERATION. Martha selling mobile phone credit in the market.
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MAN encouragement and co-operation. Some solidarity groups had even pooled their loan funds to start cooperatives such as tailoring shops and chicken rearing businesses. On the household level, women spoke of how they were now able to pay their children’s school fees and feed their families three times per day rather than just once.
Perhaps the largest impact of the programme is the ‘infusion of hope’ that it gives to borrowers. Women are now confident in their business skills and empowered to take ownership over their livelihoods. They have gained power through solidarity and self-assurance through increased respect.
Laurencia Nsabi Machibya Wrap Skirts Shop Before I joined the programme I was selling tomatoes on the side of the road. I owned a shop but I was renting the space to someone else. I have now decided to use the space for myself and sell vitenge (wrap skirts). I sell two or three vitenge per day and make much more money than I did selling tomatoes. With my increased profits I bought stones, cement and iron sheets to build a house on the land that I own. I also pay school fees for a secondary student. I like working in my solidarity group. Everyone is very hard-working, so we encourage each other.
HELP US SHIFT THE BALANCE
Tina January Nutritious Foodstuffs and Natural Remedies This business is very important to me because my husband abandoned me four years ago. I am now left alone with three children, and I am struggling to provide for my children. This means that the business is everything to me. So far I have been able to pay for all three of my children to attend school. ‘I have learned three things through the programme. First, through working with a solidarity group, I have gained many new business ideas. Second, I learned that customer care is very important. I now take more time with each customer to explain each of my goods and its benefits. I am now more kind and patient. Third, I learned about market research. I learned that it is very important where you choose to put a business because you need to find a good place to sell your products. With the next loan, I hope to add more goods and additional packaging for my products. I also want to prepare labels for the products.
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A GROWING RESPONSE Back in March, volunteer Charlotte Buckley travelled to Nepal to spend three months working with The Salvation Army on our emerging antitrafficking response in the country. This is what she discovered‌
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have spent a number of years working as a legal representative for asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. I have worked with many vulnerable migrants, representing people seeking asylum for reasons of honour-killing, domestic violence, human trafficking, torture, automatic deportation and family reunion. During this time I developed a particular experience working with female and child victims of human trafficking and became increasingly passionate about this area of work. I felt that my heart was committed to working with exceptionally vulnerable women and children and I wanted to use my skills to assist them in helpful and practical ways. It was on this basis that I embarked on a three-month research project in Nepal, to assist The Salvation Army with the research phase of its anti-human trafficking programme in Kathmandu. Human trafficking is a serious crime and a grave violation of human rights. It involves an act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring or receiving a person through a use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them. Every year, thousands of men, women and children fall into the hands of traffickers, in their own countries and abroad. The Salvation Army is seeking to expand its antihuman trafficking programme from the north-east of India into Kathmandu in Nepal because of the persistent cross-border trafficking from Nepal to India,
TO SAY I WAS IMPRESSED BY THE WORK THAT MAJORS MANUN AND SANGA, AND THEIR CHILDREN, ARE UNDERTAKING IN NEPAL IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT
as well as to the Middle East. Kathmandu is a key source area for the trafficking of women and girls, in particular for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. Following a period of protracted conflict, there is still a transitional government in place in Nepal, exacerbating the instability and sustaining a lack of border security. It became apparent through our research that many women and men are falling victim to human trafficking because they are seeking unsafe foreign employment. During my time in Nepal I lived with two Salvation Army missionaries, Majors Manun and Sangliana and their two daughters, who were wonderful and welcoming hosts. They have been in Nepal for four years and are working hard to reach out to the vulnerable and impoverished communities in Kathmandu. Their faith and dedication shines through everything they do. It was a privilege for me to be welcomed into their family and to be able to share in their knowledge and understanding of the vulnerable men, women and children who attend their church and whom they have been living alongside for the past four years. Through sharing their profound understanding of these communities and through conducting further research, we were able to identify the root causes of human trafficking from Nepal. We were also able to identify the communities in Kathmandu and the surrounding area who are most at risk of
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being trafficked. Through developing professional relationships with other NGOs which are conducting anti-trafficking initiatives, and through making contact with national and international organisations working in this field, we have made sound and objective recommendations with regard to how The Salvation Army can expand its anti-trafficking work effectively into this new context. This is likely to include a comprehensive prevention and awareness programme, which will target the identified vulnerable areas in Kathmandu and an additional two rural communities. Majors Manun and Sanga hope to utilise their resources in order to provide skills training to vulnerable women in Kathmandu in an effort to provide a sustainable livelihood for themselves and their children and thus break the tragic cycle of human trafficking. It is hoped that their resources will also provide training to trafficking survivors who return to Nepal. The aim will ultimately be to empower the most vulnerable members of Nepali society to protect
themselves from human trafficking. To say I was impressed by the work that Majors Manun and Sanga, and their children, are undertaking in Nepal is an understatement. I was at times overwhelmed by their dedication and commitment to the Christian community in Nepal and to the heartbreaking cause of anti-trafficking work. It was clear to me that, through prayer and petition and with the support of their colleagues, they truly have the ability to save many vulnerable individuals from the horrors of human trafficking. I personally found my time in Nepal a deeply enriching experience, not only spiritually but also in terms of developing my understanding of these heartbreaking issues and my knowledge of how to tackle them. I hope that this is just the beginning of the journey towards a safer society in Nepal, devoid of trafficking and violence against women.
TAKE ACTION
You can help The Salvation Army tackle the horrendous injustice that is human trafficking in places like Nepal. With your support we can continue to offer support to those who have been trafficked, providing them with the care they need to come to terms with their experience, and the skills to give them hope for the future. We can also engage with vulnerable communities to educate them about the dangers of trafficking and protect them from similar exploitation. Fill in the form at the back of this magazine to make a regular or one-off donation to support this much-needed and vital work.
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SCHOOLS AND SUGAR Education is vital in the fight against poverty, and good nutrition is vital to good education. See how The Salvation Army is trying to bring both to children and their families amongst the sugarcane fields of Kenya.
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n the densely populated and poverty-striken Kakamega district in western Kenya, The Salvation Army runs the Shinoyi nursery school for children aged four to six years old to meet the need for early years education in the area. However, it has been a challenge to offer quality education to the pupils. The school is jointly funded locally by The Salvation Army and parents, but because of the poverty in the area and the fact that many of the children have lost either one or both parents, it is often difficult for them to pay even the small school fees of about ÂŁ3 per term. Also the 160 children attending the school are split into three different classes, but as the school is run out of one room (the church hall), all three classes had to sit in the same room, facing different directions towards their teachers. Earlier in the year we met with a group of parents to ask them about some of the problems being faced by the community. They explained that although they have a lot of very good land, almost all of it has
been rented to factories for growing sugarcane rather than being used for food crops. Community members, even though they are the landowners, are not making enough money from the rent to feed their own children or pay the school fees. To make matters worse, sugarcane takes almost two years to mature, meaning that income from sugarcane sales is very infrequent. During those two years many families go further into debt to the middle-men who rent them their land. The parents said that they are only able to provide around one meal per day for their children. Mothers noted that the one meal they feed their children each day normally consists of just cassava, potatoes or ugali (a porridge made from maize), without variety and lacking in nutrients. They expressed a desire to feed their children more beans, milk, fruits, fish, green vegetables and avocados, something that is currently out of reach for them. We have helped the school to construct some additional classrooms, with the community members
COMMUNITY MEMBERS ARE NOT MAKING ENOUGH MONEY FROM THE RENT TO FEED THEIR OWN CHILDREN OR PAY THE SCHOOL FEES.
Children receiving their school meal of maize porridge.
The kids enjoying the use of their new classroom.
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helping by donating stones, sand and bricks for the construction. This means each of the classes now has their own permanent and comfortable classroom, making it easier for the children to concentrate and improving the service that the school is providing to the community. We will also be purchasing additional land, seeds and dairy cows so that the school can begin to grow its own food and generate its own milk supply. This will help to improve the nutrition of the children while they are at school. However, after conversations with the parents it was very clear that an agricultural intervention
shouldn’t be limited just to the school but must extend to and involve the whole community. This is why we will also be training the community about how to grow nutritious crops as well as demonstrating how small plots of land around people’s homes can be used for small gardens. The issues surrounding the sugar trade and the way that the land is being used is a much larger problem, but at least this small agriculture project can start to bring some change to the lives of both the children and their parents.
It was difficult to provide quality education in their original
cramped classroom
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IT’S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNT Information and Resources Officer Carl Jobson explores what it means to make your money count, and why good intentions aren’t always enough.
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any of us who have been privileged enough to spend some time in developing countries feel a special affinity with a particular place that we have visited. The things that we saw there affected us, moved us and changed us. We were filled with compassion for the people we met who were struggling every day with the competing issues of healthcare, education, hunger and thirst, all vying for a piece of their ever-stretched resources. We feel compelled to help – after all we have so much and they have so little, and we feel that giving something of what we have will help. Well, this is true, but is it as simple as that? As we all know, good intentions are not enough. Rather, when giving money to alleviate poverty, it’s the thought that counts. It’s not just about the money, it’s about what is done with it. It is all too easy for us to see needs and want to meet them. This is an urge – an instinct – that many of us share. Often we are impatient to fix problems, especially when we are faced with tackling the injustice of poverty. The problem of people living below the poverty line is one we want to be solved – and solved quickly. Why would anyone want it to
WE ALWAYS STRIVE TO ENSURE THAT THE PROJECTS WE IDENTIFY AND FUND INVOLVE THE PARTICIPATION OF THE COMMUNITY.
take years, decades even, for the poor to experience a better and fuller life? However, we also need to be aware of the possibility of inadvertently imposing some of our own personal and cultural values on to a situation which we know relatively little about. Responding to an immediate need may not always be the most effective way of tackling the problem, despite the best intentions, as this immediate response often results in only short-term respite. Sometimes, unless our response is part of a genuine emergency intervention, it may even do harm1. Sometimes we do need to respond to the hungry with food, but sometimes we need to respond by working out why they are hungry – to address the cause rather than the symptoms to solve the underlying problem. This is something that we have been addressing this year as part of Enough Food for Everyone IF, campaigning on issues such as land and tax as well as on aid and nutrition. As this campaign has shown, merely sending food parcels to the hundreds of millions of people who are hungry isn’t going to solve the problem of hunger. In the long term it is much more beneficial to tackle the political and social barriers that cause this hunger. The approach may well be more complex, but it is ultimately much more beneficial to all concerned. The same principle can be applied to how we spend our money. Should we make a donation whenever we see a need, or should we reconsider our approach? Development is all about working towards sustainable
1 If you are interested in exploring this further then this is dealt with extensively in the book When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert.
15
FEATURE
TS and long-lasting change. The objective is to lift people beyond poverty so that they don’t need our money any longer. Therefore, a more appropriate response when faced with a need is to support interventions that have been identified and developed either by or alongside the community affected specifically to meet that need. This mindset can help us prevent the dependence that can otherwise be unintentionally fostered through all kinds of giving from those who have more to those who have less. The sad truth is that despite all the progress that has been made, all over the world are the remnants of well-meaning but ill-thought-out projects that failed because the community weren’t properly involved and empowered in the process. Instead they were just recipients of it, benefiting while the support was there, but left dependent by it. When things started to go wrong again, they waited for another intervention, rather than finding a way to solve the problem themselves. By involving communities in the process, we can better ensure the long-term change that we want to see as a result of our projects. The various committees and groups involved in our water project in Malawi (see page 4) is just one example of how to try and ensure that change lasts longer than the money does. We don’t always get it right – we have learned many
lessons over the years and continue to learn many more. The truth is, some projects aren’t always as successful as they were originally intended to be, and this is usually down to a combination of factors. However, one thing we always strive to ensure is that the projects we identify and fund involve the participation of the community, address needs that the community is looking to be addressed and utilise the skills and resources within the community . There are many reasons which prompt us to give, but we must try to avoid giving that merely makes us feel good for helping. There is always the danger that this response can actually be at the expense of providing genuine help. This doesn’t mean we should give less; in fact most of us could be giving more. But in doing so we also need to give better. This means carefully supporting well-thought out and considered projects and programmes that can have a real impact on the underlying causes of poverty and injustice.
MAKE YOUR MONEY COUNT
Through our projects we utilise the skills and experience of our programme advisers, as well as our colleagues locally, to try and make sure that any intervention is as effective as it can be. Crucially, we also ensure that whatever support we give is carried out without causing any long-term harm to those we are trying to help. If you make a donation or fundraise for one of our programmes or for a project identified by our team, then you can feel confident that your money will be used in the most appropriate way possible to do this. If you want to find out more, do get in touch with us by phone or email (see back of this magazine for details). To find out how we used your money last year, turn to the inside back cover.
16
MARATHON EFFORTS
If you are interested in taking part in a fundraising challenge to raise funds for our work, then get in touch with us on 020 7367 4777 or id@salvationarmy.org.uk.
Ben Cotterill is currently a cadet at The Salvation Army’s William Booth College. Earlier this year he ran the London Marathon to raise money for our WATERSHED programme. Here are his reflections on the experience.
1) Sow lots of seeds – I was set a fundraising target of £2,000 which I worried I wouldn’t achieve, but actually a few days after the marathon it had become more like £4,000! This is largely down to the generosity of people, especially given the economic climate. However, I think it is also because I tapped into a number of different fundraising avenues such as events, support from local businesses, social media, doing guest speaking, a publicity campaign and getting in papers. 2) Create space in your life - Someone asked me whether I thought ‘spirituality’ and running were linked. I have come to the conclusion that they are not linked directly but are associated via the space. What I mean is that I haven’t had an increased sense of spirituality because of running per se, but the ‘space’ that running provides in my busy and cluttered 21st-century life facilitated time to think, to pray and reflect. 3) Aim higher than your perceived potential - My training suggested I would finish the Marathon in around 4 hours and 15 mins, perhaps 4 hours at best. I decided to aim to run at a consistent pace that would bring me home at around 3 hours 42 mins, knowing that as I became more tired I would have a buffer to reach my target. However, as I was then above target for most of the race I actually came home at 3 hours 58 mins. Now while aiming too high in life can have negative consequences, I think if you aim higher than your perceived best in life you just might surprise yourself and find your true potential. If you fall slightly short you will probably meet your original perceived best anyway. 4) Know what takes priority in life – Whilst I tried to protect my training schedule, I knew that when the really important things in life reared their heads, as they do, I had to cancel. 5) Seek and take advice from experts – I muddled on with a knee injury for two months without seeking proper advice. I tried to manage my body after doing some internet research, but really if I’d gone to a doctor earlier I would have been able to train to a faster time and had less pain.
6) Be economical with time – Training for a marathon takes up a lot of time especially if you’re fundraising as well. Now while it could have taken over my life, I tried to manage it in such a way that where possible I integrated life with my running schedule. For example, my wife occasionally came running with me on short runs, I listened to lectures on headphones whilst running and I ran to or from appointments I had – often beating London Transport! Inevitably training for a marathon has a huge impact on time, but the marginal gains available from being economical with time are the difference between it all becoming too much and having a sustainable balance in life. 7) Enlist support and find the people who energise you – On race day my family and friends were dotted around the course cheering me on, which was such a support. In the months before the race and throughout my fundraising I had a whole community at the training college and online who encouraged me. Thanks, guys! 8) Allow people to help you with their giftings and skills – Some people are born fundraisers and took some of that burden from me. Others hosted fundraising nights, cooked food and assisted with administration etc. It’s amazing what a group of people can achieve. 9) Get the right equipment – Whatever your aim is in life, if it’s practically possible try and get good equipment to help you achieve your potential. For me that meant some proper running shoes and socks! 10) ‘Hard work will always overcome natural talent when natural talent does not work hard enough’ (Sir Alex Ferguson) – I beat former athletics Olympic medallist Iwan Thomas, although he’s getting on a bit now! However, I think this quote is really insightful. It’s an encouragement to those of us without obvious natural talent, and a warning to those who have.
17
HOW WE SPEND YOUR MONEY W
e are so grateful for all of the donations and for the fundraising that takes place all around the UK and Ireland for us to be able to resource, empower and support people in developing communities to defeat poverty, tackle injustice and build a better life and future. The pie-charts on the right show a breakdown of the money that you gave during the financial year 2012/2013, and the money that we spent during this time.
THE CHARTS EXPLAINED
INCOME OTHER OVERSEAS DONATIONS
WATERSHED
6%
FARM
27%
10%
GENERATION
5%
DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS This is where the majority of your money is used. Money spent on projects includes all of the money that is sent overseas to enable The Salvation Army there to carry out the project. It also includes costs of any monitoring visits carried out by our team to add our expertise into these projects and evaluate them for any lessons that need to be learned.
GENERAL DONATIONS OTHER DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
FUNDRAISING We also invest some of our income into fundraising and other UKbased engagement to generate more income and support for our work. We do this to enable us to support even more people around the world. For every pound invested in fundraising we raise about £4 for our work.
ADMINISTRATION We work hard to ensure that your money is used effectively. This is why we strive to keep the amount of your donation that we spend on administration as low as possible.
OTHER INCOME We also receive money through our office to be passed on to The Salvation Army overseas for a particular country or project that our department is not actively involved in. In these situations our office merely acts as a ‘post box’ for the donation, facilitating the transfer to the relevant Salvation Army territory along with any particular instructions given by the donor. As these donations are not going towards our UK-funded projects we do not provide any project support and monitoring for these. Do get in touch with us if you have any further questions on 020 7367 4777 or id@salvationarmy.org.uk.
ANTI-TRAFFICKING
16%
25%
EMBRACE
8%
3%
£750,071.06
EXPENDITURE FUNDRAISING & UK ENGAGEMENT
ANTI-TRAFFICKING
14%
ADMINISTRATION
7%
5%
FARM
4%
WATERSHED
11%
OTHER OVERSEAS DONATIONS
15%
EMBRACE OTHER DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS GENERATION
28%
11%
5%
£650,517.20
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The Salvation Army International Development (UK), 101 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BN, United Kingdom TEL +44 (0)20 7367 4777
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This newsletter is printed on paper sourced from sustainable forests
The Salvation Army is a Christian Church and registered Charity Central Trust: Registered Charity No. 214779, and in Scotland SC009359 Social Trust: Registered Charity No. 215174, and in Scotland SC037961 Republic of Ireland: Registered Charity No. CHY6399
SUPPORT US REGULARLY We rely on your donations to make our work possible. Thank you for all that you give - we really do appreciate your commitment and sacrifice. The easiest and most helpful way you can support us is by signing up to a direct debit or, if you already do give in this way, increasing your monthly donation by a small amount.
HOW YOU CAN HELP Please tear off, fill out and return the form on the reverse and we’ll do the rest. A small monthly commitment from you can make a huge difference to: • Communities who currently don’t have access to clean water, through WATERSHED • People needing to earn a decent living to support their families, through GENERATION • Farmers who cannot grow enough food to live, through FARM • Men, women and children all around the world who have been, or are at risk of being, trafficked through ANTI-TRAFFICKING • Women vulnerable to abuse and exploitation due to GENDERBASED VIOLENCE • Vulnerable children in need of love, care and support, through EMBRACE You can choose to give to one of these areas or make a general donation so that we can use your money wherever it is most needed in our development work. You can also make one-off donations through the post, over the phone or online — call us on 020 7367 4777 (Mon-Fri, 9am5pm) or visit www.salvationarmy.org.uk/id to find out how.
CHANGING DETAILS? As you know we only mail out a couple of times a year – so it’s vital that we know when you move house so we can keep you up to date with the work we’re doing and the difference that your support is making. To change any of your details just call us on 020 7367 4777 or email id@salvationarmy.org.uk with your name, old postcode and new address so that we can update our database.
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