Contributing to a sustainable future for families

research in practice aims to improve outcomes for vulnerable children and families in England and Wales by promoting and facilitating evidence-informed practice.

Since 2005 we have offered support to vulnerable children and families in need in the wider global community, donating income form our presentations and 25% of the proceeds of sales of our publications each year to a particular project by an international charity.

2008: Buying books and other resources for village schools in Rajastan

download a presentation (PPT file, 3.93MB) about AMIED by Elizabeth Cooke

In 2008, we will contribute to AMIED (Alwar Mewat Institute of Education and Development), which is supported by Action Aid, to buy books and other resources for village schools in a rural area of Rajastan in the north west of India.

AMIED works with marginalised communities; this project focuses on the Meo-Muslim community who are primarily agriculturalists living in the Alwar, Bhatatpur and Dholpur Districts. The basic necessities are available but education is a neglected resource and school provision very basic. Girls are particularly vulnerable with a very low level of literacy and a high level of drop-out. AMIED has been working in a variety of ways to improve school attendance and engage the families and children in learning. One of these is the provision of small libraries for local village schools. Most schools are very basic with out of date text books that can’t be borrowed. A relatively small sum – about £250 – can equip a school with picture and story books which can be borrowed and taken home. This has also proved to be a helpful way of engaging parents and has been very successful in the few schools where there have been funds to provide the library. Action Aid reports an observable impact on reading, interest in drawing and story reading to younger children.

Money donated for this project is ‘ring-fenced’ by Action Aid, based in Jaipur, and specifically used for the purchase of books and other resources for the identified schools.

2007: Support to FUNARTE in Esteli, Nicaragua

In 2007 we gave to FUNARTE, a local non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Esteli, Nicaragua (Programa Talleres de Muralismo Communitarios). Since 1989, it has worked with children and young people by promoting and facilitating the development of their creativity, identity, self-esteem and independence through the arts.
Nicaragua is one of poorest countries in the western hemisphere, second only to Haiti. The children and families of Nicaragua live under very difficult conditions and circumstances. Over two million Nicaraguans are living in poverty. 82% of the population lives on less than $1 a day and unemployment and underemployment averages about 50% (UNICEF and World Bank).  Esteli, where the project is sited, suffered particularly badly during the civil war in Nicaragua during the 80’s. Hurricane Mitch in 1998 further compounded these problems by the destruction of much of the local infrastructure.

The project uses ‘educadores’, to work with children and young people to collectively design, prepare and paint murals for public settings as a means of self-expression, developing self-esteem, exploring such themes as Nicaraguan history, colonialism, health, legends and stories, and children’s rights. The project also works with young people in prisons and children with disabilities.

The murals are public artworks painted collectively by the children and young people participating in FUNARTE's Programa Talleres de Muralismo Communitarios. Photo credit: Photographic archive of FUNARTE

2006: Support for AIDS orphans in Rwanda

In 2006, we gave to a Hope and Homes for Children project to aid families in Rwanda where children have lost parents through AIDS. The project helps child- and grandparent-headed families stay together, providing basic resources and access to education.

Every 14 seconds AIDS turns a child into an orphan and almost 20 million of these children
live in sub-Saharan Africa. Hope and Homes for Children supports families who have lost parents through AIDS. Their work helps to keep families together, and in the case of a parent with HIV to make plans and provision for their children. This helps to avoid the alternative - children without homes or schools, forced into begging, crime or prostitution in order to survive; and confused because all the adults in their lives are dead.

In Rwanda Home and Homes for Children has four projects in different parts of the country, providing social workers and volunteers who support the most desperate families with both material support and the psycho-social support they so badly need. The projects ensure that children have access to basic resources, as well as to education and enables the families to become self-sufficient.

Hope and Homes for Children was set up in 1994 by UN Commander Colonel Mark Cook to provide families and homes for children who have been orphaned or abandoned by war or disaster. In its first ten years it has provided families and support for over 10,000 children in fourteen countries across Eastern Europe and Africa.

More information about Hope and Homes for Children and its projects in 13 countries is on their website: www.hopeandhomes.org

Registered charity number: 1089490

2005: Recovery for families in tsunami-hit farming village in India

In 2005, we contributed to a livelihood and agriculture rehabilitation programme in the tsunami hit Therkupoikai Nallur Village in the Nagapattinam District in Tamil Nadu, India. The project aims to help a farming community of 4,000 families to stay together and regain a sustainable livelihood on their ancestral land – without remaining dependent on relief programmes. The project is helping them to desalinate land, introduce saline resistant crops, train in sustainable organic farming practices and develop new irrigation sources.

The project is sponsored through the Navdanya Trust: www.navdanya.org

Registered charity number: FCRA 231250760