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For other Projects, with accompanying documentation, please click on any of the links below:
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Twinnage Projects have a 3-fold aim. The main aim is to enable families to become self-sufficient, by providing training, working capital and/or equipment for income generation. A second aim is to provide the basic necessities of housing, water supply and sanitation. A third aim, restricted to Sudan, is to help to set up schemes which not only provide work for families, but also generate income for the Society’s wider needs in that country. For examples of Projects and information on how you can support a Project, please click on the Projects link.
Self-sufficiency for families by the provision of:
- Training in a variety of skills – sewing, embroidery, bookbinding, printing, carpentry, leatherworking, computing, office work and more. The Society has a number of training centres for many of these skills and a number of these provide state-recognised qualifications. The tutors are all qualified people. Often a small charge is made to students, waived in the case of those from poor families. Such skills are in great demand and employment is usually available either at home or with a company.
- Working capital for initial stocks and equipment for income generation. Examples include sewing machines for students who have successfully completed a training course. Bicycles, barbering tools and booth, trolleys and artisan’s tools will enable someone to carry on a petty business. After the 2004 tsunami, inshore fishing boats and nets were provided, so that the fishermen could restart their work. Cows, buffaloes, goats, rabbits and ducks are all examples of what the Society can provide to enable a family to generate income. Loan schemes perform a similar task. In many cases, the initial costs are repaid by those benefitting from the schemes, enabling others to benefit in turn.
Basic necessities for families include housing, water and sanitation. The Society has built houses for their adopted families. For communities in poor villages, wells have been dug and latrines constructed. Although the demand for houses is always high, the Society regards them as of lower priority than the schemes mentioned above.
Self-sufficiency of the Society In Sudan, increasingly the Society is aiming to generate more income to support its many schemes throughout the country (see the Sudan section of the website). Opportunities for work and income generation include a bakery, a flour mill, public telephone provision and small-scale haulage using, for example, donkeys.
Other types of project include community weddings, where the bride and groom from poor families and often unlikely ever to be married, are supported by the Society. The local Conference will pay for the wedding day, including the breakfast, new clothing, kitchen utensils and other necessities. Elsewhere, in Patna, a Conference now has an ice-coffin, which will preserve a dead body until a funeral can be arranged. Often, relatives may have to travel a day or two to attend the funeral.
Each year, over the past few years about 100 Project Applications, valued at about £80,000, have been received from India and paid for. Of these 42% are for self-help projects related to agricultural and fishing; 27% for other self-help projects; 7% for training schemes; 6% for water and sanitation; 4% for loan schemes; 11% for housing (new and repairs); 3% others. There are fewer from the other twinned countries, though they follow a similar pattern.
How does it work? An overseas Conference, with advice and help from their Central Council Projects Officer, will make a formal Project Application. Various criteria are examined such as long-term viability, potential employment possibilities, local needs and some local funding, usually a minimum of 10%. The amount of funding to be requested from the Society in England and Wales is limited to Rs60,000 (approximately £800 - £1,000) in India and equivalent sums elsewhere. After the Application is vetted, it is first offered to the E&W twin. If they are unable to support it, then it is offered elsewhere. Once a commitment to support is made, the money is then released from a project reserve fund to the overseas Conference via their National Council. The sponsoring Conference then repays the money into the reserve.
An example of what is done with the money donated is captured in the photograph below. Taken at the handing over ceremony of a newly built house for a poor family in an Indian village.
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