From
the 2nd February until 18th March 2012, two trustees
visited Uganda, Lesotho and Swaziland, to continue work started three years ago
on Stage 1 of the Project. This was to review and assess some of the best
community development projects for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC), in
the initially chosen countries of Lesotho, Swaziland, Kenya and Uganda and then
elsewhere, with the aim of disseminating effective ideas and appropriate
methods of governments and local organisations in other countries and
communities to help more children. It is also to make donor countries more
aware of the needs of OVC in Africa; how they can best be met and funded.
It
was also an opportunity to identify families and communities where it was
appropriate to provide small amounts of funding to enable, for example,
appropriate technology horticulture or income generating projects enabling
self-sufficiency for the future. This is one of the principal outlets for funds
raised during fundraising activities.
Update
This
turned out to be a very successful visit and many of the objectives were
achieved, including making partnerships or collaboration agreements with
organisations and projects in the countries visited. We also gave some funding
to three separate families, to help them start up three different income
generating projects.