The Love Anuppampattu Community Development Program in India gives priority to girls and those of a low caste from one specific village and includes primary school education, health activities and vocational training for women.  The children receive a basic education, school uniforms, daily lunches, access to clean water and toilets and new clothes at Christmas.

Funded by EHGC child sponsors, this program is implemented and managed by our Indian partner “EHC”, a registered NGO with whom we have partnered for more than 20 years. The Board and staff are all Indian as are the Project Manager, school Principal and 8 teaching staff.  9 or 10 local men and women also find employment in the school as bookkeepers, cleaners, bus drivers, security guards and cooks.  A new computer training program initiated by Microsoft USA is to be introduced in the school in 2021 which will provide the study material and modules and train the teachers (who will be our own staff). They will also provide all required computers and necessary equipment … a wonderful asset to the school program.

The Love Anupampattu program also conducts a 6 months tailoring course for 20 women a year where women learn both tailoring and embroidery skills. One class works from the school premises and another class is trained in the community hall built after the Tsunami. Many of the graduates find work in an export company and the others use our project centre machines to earn enough money to be eligible under the EHGC 50% saving scheme to  receive their own sewing machine, a wonderful achievement for previously unskilled women; their pride in this achievement has been immense!

As a result of this program men, women and children’s lives are being changed… making a difference that  lasts.

Global Concern in India:

Love Anuppampattu Community Development Program

Project background: From the humble days of sewing classes under a tree with one treadle machine, the Love Anuppampattu Vocational Training Program began in 2004 with the aim of building the skills of local village women so that they would have increased income opportunities. Soon afterwards, Global Concern was donated a piece of land from which a vocational training centre (doubling as a primary school) was built. By 2005, the construction of the Love Anuppampattu Vocational Training Centre/Primary School was complete, giving access to poor unskilled women of the village the opportunity to undertake vocational training in sewing and tailoring.

Project description: The training program runs free six-month sewing and tailoring courses for poor unskilled women in the Anuppampattu community. At the end of the course, the women each receive a certificate of achievement from the Centre that indicates their completion of the training. The program also offers a subsidised savings scheme for a select few that have graduated from the course and in desperate need of a sewing machine to start earning an income. The scheme offers to pay for 50% of the cost of the machine if the women are able to pay for the other 50%.

Some statistics: Global Concern followed the progress of 215 women that had graduated from our vocational training program since its inception in 2004 and found the following:

• 62% of them had utilised their training to land jobs at local garment export factories making clothes. These factories have been visited by Global Concern staff and found to be basic, but safe and hygienic and the women were happy to work there.

• 27% of them had purchased their own sewing machine or were engaged in Global Concern’s savings scheme, which allowed them to start their own tailoring business from home or even their own shops.

• Income has more than tripled amongst the graduated women, increasing from approximately 30Rs a day (70 cents) as a daily labourer to now 100 – 150Rs a day ($2.50-$3) working in tailoring.

Story:  Prema was a housewife with no skills and no income. She relied solely on her husband who earned Rs 75 ($1.50) a day as a van cleaner. This measly income supported the whole family – including Prema, her husband and their two sons. They lived in a single room mud hut with a thatched roof and owned nothing.

Prema undertook Global Concern’s sewing training course in 2005, which afterwards landed her a job at a local garment factory. This gave her an earning of Rs 2,500 ($55) a month, which she said was a good salary for her. While she worked at the factory, Prema diligently saved 10% of her earnings each month for a sewing machine. When she had saved 50% of the cost of the machine, Global Concern contributed the other 50%, and then Prema was on her way to become her own boss.

Since having her own machine, she now earns double what she did at the factory. With the money, she was able to build a concrete house for her and her family to live in. Not only does Prema still do all the domestic duties of cooking and cleaning, she also brings in the main income for the family, which now includes her in-laws too. She is thankful to Global Concern for changing her life, from the unskilled and dependent housewife she once was, to the capable and empowered breadwinner that she is today.

What is still needed:

In order to help more women like Prema, Global Concern welcomes donations to support the Love Annuppampattu Vocational Training Centre so that more underprivileged women can develop the skills they need to build a better future for them and their families. It costs only $375 to provide six months of training to each woman and $170 for their sewing machine. Make a donation today to help support Global Concern in our efforts to improve the lives of poor women in South India.

Love Annupampattu Primary School

Project background: Since its construction in 2005, the Love Annupampattu Primary School has been providing free primary education to the children of Annupampattu village in Chennai, South India. The school gives particular priority to girls and those children of a low caste, aiming to provide an education to children who otherwise would not have been able to afford schooling. Through the primary school, Global Concern hopes to provide these children an opportunity to escape the cycle of poverty that grips the illiterate in India.

Project description: Global Concern provides vital funding to employ staff members in the school such as teachers, teacher assistants, cooks, cleaners and administration staff. The funding also supports the purchase of meals, medicines, uniforms, textbooks and equipment for the students, as well as covering the general operational costs of the school. The school teaches in English, which was the preferred choice of the parents of the children as they felt that with increasing international business and trade in Chennai, an English medium education would increase opportunities for their children.

What is still needed: While the Love Annupampattu Primary School provides quality education to its students, a high school is required to ensure the opportunity for secondary education is available. Global Concern has purchased 2.75 acres of land 100 metres away from the primary school and now is in need of funding to begin its construction.

EDUCATION , LITERACY, VOCATIONAL TRAINING

The EHGC Community Development program in Bangladesh targets whole families and includes 3 schools and vocational training centres in Dhaka and one in a country area. Over many years these schools have educated around 1,000 children each year –  from extremely poor families (mostly from the slum areas) and enabled the women to gain a skill in sewing and earn some money. The schools set a good standard and almost all children pass the government-set exams each year.  Girls are especially targeted so that they have the opportunity to be educated, as are the children of rickshaw pullers and the unemployed.

For more than 40 years EHGC has partnered with Bangladesh EHGC, a registered NGO whose programs and budgets are approved each 5 years by the Bangladeshi government. All staff and teachers are nationals from Bangladesh being paid, along with the program expenses, from funds raised in Australia and New Zealand.

We are delighted to report that, as a result of this program:

• 1200 boys and girls each year in 4 primary schools in Bangladesh have received a basic education, school uniforms, daily lunches, health and hygiene training, access to clean water and toilets and new clothes at Christmas.

• Many of the children have progressed to higher education and become engineers, doctors and government workers or are working in other professional positions.

• 200 unskilled women each year have been trained in sewing and embroidery skills, enabling them to earn an income, often at a clothing factory or by being enabled to buy their own sewing machine.

• Rickshaw pullers have been able to own their own rickshaw or van, pay off their debts, pay back 50% of the rickshaw, leave the slums, provide an education for their children and, in many cases, start their own business.

We are grateful for the donors and sponsors who make all this possible.

Education for 1000 children from Bangladesh!

This is the core activity in the Global Concern community development program which continues to give men, women and children who live in poverty hope for a brighter future.  Micro-enterprise programs such as the Rickshaw/Van program has provided men with the opportunity to own their own rickshaw or van instead of being forced to pay exorbitant rental fees. This has enabled manyto improve their financial status, pay off their debts and better provide for their families. Sewing classes have trained unskilled women so they canwork in one of the many garment factories in Bangladesh or sew at home to earn an income. Four Global Concern schools, where a large percentage of the village children being educated are girls, provide primary school education, a hot meal each day, clean water and sanitation facilities, school books, school uniforms and new clothes at Christmas,  helping to give these children a sense of worth and importance, essential to their development.  A Physical Education program has recently been introduced.

Funding for this work is provided by Global Concern supporters and the current funding need is to buy land for further education facilities.

Rickshaw Pullers Move Out of the Slums

The Global Concern community development program in Bangladesh continues to give men, women and children who live in poverty hope for a brighter future. Micro-enterprise programs such as the Rickshaw/Van program have provided men with the opportunity to own their own rickshaw or van instead of being forced to pay exorbitant rental fees. This has resulted in remarkable change in the lives of the poor. Many rickshaw families have been able to improve their financial status, pay off their debts, move out of the slums, start a business, send their children to school and better provide for their families.

$270 will provide one rickshaw and change the life of a desperately poor Bangladeshi family.

Women’s Lives are Changed

Unskilled women in the communities where Global Concern is educating children are also given an opportunity for self-development. In India and Bangladesh sewing classes as part of the community development program train village women in the tailoring skills they need for employment and many are able to find work in garment factories, earning an income for the first time in their lives. The Indian women who formed a “Self-Help” group are so grateful to Global Concern for giving them the opportunity to own their own sewing machines so they can sew clothes at home and earn a living. All these women from poor communities have developed in their self-esteem as they are able to help provide daily needs for their families.

$170 will provide a sewing machine to help one woman fight her way out of poverty

FOOD SECURITY PROJECT – MALAWI

Malawi EHC was registered as a charity in 1973 and is a national organization with its own national staff of 15 men and women and a 6 member Board of Directors. EHGC has been partnering with Malawi EHC since 2004 after funds were raised to help with food after a devastating famine. In partnership with the Australian government aid department this was followed up with the implementation of a food security program. Since then, working in 3-5 year cycles in areas most in need, EHC Malawi, with funding from Australia and New Zealand, has implemented and managed a community development program which emphasizes food security and income generation.

The main components are –

(i) conservation agriculture, crops and livestock diversification, seed multiplication and climate change interventions

(ii) income generation activities, capacity building training and financial management

(iii) nutrition education, dietary diversification, distribution of mosquito nets and construction of Community Based Care Centers for orphans under 5 years of age

(iv) a water and sanitation program emphasizing sanitation education, construction and rehabilitation of shallow wells and construction of toilets

A similar program has been introduced to Zambia and, as a result, the lives of men, women and children have changed for the better with less sickness and disease, better crops, more income, more nutritious meals and healthier and more productive lifestyles.

Thank you for the part you have played in making this possible.

Global Concern in Malawi:

Food Security Project

Project Background: In 2002, a disastrous famine hit Malawi killing thousands of people and leaving the country with an ongoing food crisis. Global Concern provided funds for emergency relief at the time. From that point on, Global Concern set up a food security project in northern Malawi so that the people would be less dependent on food prices and more self sufficient. The project began to train the local village people to farm using modern farming techniques and irrigation methods. Ploughs, hoes, seeds, fertilizers and treadle pumps were made available to select farmers who were trained on demonstration plots. These farmers then went back to their own villages to train others in these techniques as well as using them for their own farming. The project has since expanded to provide nutritional training as well as education on HIV/AIDS, malaria and water.

Project Description: The project focuses on three key areas:

1. Farming and agriculture – this part of the project involves training farmers in modern conservation farming methods and diversified agriculture production. Conservation farming techniques such as organic compost production, water conservation through irrigation, tree planting for soil management and conservation tillage help to protect the quality of the soil and increase the fertility of the land. Diversified agriculture production allows farmers to produce more crop varieties and maintain crop rotation so that their land continues to be productive. Non-traditional crops and fruits such as peanuts soybeans and bananas are introduced for plantation alongside local crops such as maize and cassava. The project also runs a chicken farming program where the eggs are distributed to community members for chicken raising.

Local women learning how to make scones

2. Nutrition – this aspect of the project involves education and awareness on the benefits of highly nutritious non-traditional food groups such as soy and groundnuts and how to incorporate them into the daily diets of the local people. Prior to the project, many locals did not know how to take advantage of these nutritious foods; now as a result of the project, locals have learnt how to make delicious new products such as soy milk, cow pea fritters, banana sauce, scones and cakes to provide their families with more foods and better nutrition.

3. Health – this aspect of the project focuses on health education on HIV/AIDS, malaria and water and sanitation. On HIV/AIDS, Global Concern workers visit the local communities to establish support groups for HIV/AIDS victims, encourage the use of testing centres, educate against the stigma surrounding the disease and teach young people on methods of prevention and care. On Malaria, Global Concern distributes mosquito nets and trains the communities on methods of prevention of a disease that is one of the highest killers of children in the country. On water and sanitation, Global Concern builds new wells and showers throughout the communities to improve access to fresh drinking water and sanitation facilities.

Mary Komandani (beneficiary) with her maize crops

Story: ‘The project encouraged us to plant our crops together as a community to make it easier for training and education in our fields. It was difficult to transport the manure to the new fields but my crops here are doing better than the ones I have outside my home. Planting our crops together as a community has also encouraged healthy competition between farmers in applying the new techniques we are being taught. I personally believe my fields are ranked around number 2 in the competition (Mary laughs modestly).’

Mary Komandani – Kayera Village

What is still needed: Current funding for this project is provided by Global Concern supporters. Individual donors can support this project by purchasing a mosquito net for a family ($10), build a well for a community ($550) or construct a pit latrine ($250) to improve the lives of our underprivileged villagers in northern Malawi.

Zambia EHC is a registered NGO with its own staff and Board of Directors. All are nationals and work under the umbrella of the Zambian government strategic plan for the improvement of their country and its people. EHGC in Australia has worked in partnership with Zambia EHC since 2012 and continues with a food and income security program to improve the lives of the people.

The main emphasis is on food security projects with training, income generation and health components as in Malawi.

Now included in some villages are Supplementary Feeding Centres for orphaned pre-school children as well as village income generating groups where men and women are taught how to save money and borrow from the pool of funds to increase their small businesses. This is having phenomenal results and the people are so excited!

What a difference this program has made to Enala and her children!

Enala Nyangulube, a 44 year old widow in this area, had a very miserable life. She lost her husband due to HIV/AIDS as well as two of her children from Malaria. She has been supporting her family by selling firewood but it was difficult to earn enough for food or even a piece of soap. When Global Concern commenced farmer training, Enala was selected, given maize seed, cassava and fertilizers and trained to plant crops following modern methods of farming. She has been trained in good nutrition and sanitation and given a mosquito net for her two children who now are free from the deadly Malaria mosquito bites. She has been trained to make mud stoves and prepare nutritious meals. Her crops have done very well and she is hoping to have surplus next year for sale.