DEVELOPING WORLD GROUP (DWG)

Contents (last updated 26/6/16) Latest news

Role

Objectives

Projects

History

Finance

Gift Aid Declaration & Banking Order Forms

Joining the DWG----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Latest newsFebruary - £2,000 sent by DWG for medical care for Syrian refugees

April - £3,000 sent to help fund Sri Lankan sewing and training centre

18 June - Plant Sale raised £1,372.25

28 June - £6,800 scheduled to be donated to fund clean water project in Uganda

3 July - parish Strawberry Social with proceeds going to the DWG

22 July - parish Golf Day (see list at the back of the church)

1 October - parish quiz night in Lourdes Hall (details to be announced)

Role The group (aka DWG below) currently comprises around 15 members, who meet roughly quarterly at one of their homes. Members propose and thence identify projects which fit in with the group’s goals. Having agreed on which ones to support, the group help fund them via collections at church, special events (e.g. quiz nights, the annual golf day, coffee mornings, barn dances etc, working jointly with other parish groups in some cases).

ObjectivesThe group’s aims are:

• To give financial support to projects in the poorer - especially the poorest - developing coun-tries which are (i) not supported by any major, well-known charities, providing (ii) that the group has direct contact with a named person where the project is undertaken.

• To provide social occasions for parishioners to meet, involving all facets of parish life.

Consistent with this, all projects should:

• Be based on local initiatives, identified and managed by local people.

• Avoid creating a culture of dependency.

• Provide project support in areas not reached by the large relief organisations.

• Aim to support primary education, nurture enterprise and develop self-sufficiency.

Projects

This sections describes the two projects being funded now, in Uganda and Sri Lanka; where a possi-ble future project in Zimbabwe stands; and the latest two completed projects in Jordan and Uganda.

Clean water Uganda - our latest project

1 The Developing World Group (DWG) will fund the cost - £7,500 - of one borehole and the pro-tection of three natural springs, which, together, will serve 5 villages in the Lira District of Northern Uganda. This will benefit around 3,800 people directly by ensuring that they have access to clean water.

2 This area is one where there are a large number of returnees, who were originally displaced by the Lord's Resistance Army. The International Refugee Trust (IRT) is a charity which is leading work to lift rural families in the area out of poverty. It has set up a programme (the StepUp Programme) to do so. This focuses on crop production, sanitation, microcredit, education and clean water. It works with local community associations to implement the programme. The DWG will provide funds to IRT to help fund the clean water part of this programme.

3 Clean water is a fundamental element of the StepUp programme. Water is needed for drinking, washing, cleaning, cooking and growing food. Without local and convenient sources of fresh, clean water, women and girls are forced to walk long distances to collect water, wasting enormous amounts of time and energy. Moreover, the water is often contaminated, which is a serious impedi-ment to maintaining good health, and frequently results in death from water-related diseases in the developing world.

4 The borehole will cost approximately £4,500, while protecting the three natural springs will cost around £1,000 each. This protection involves installing a metal pump built into a concrete structure, which allows villagers to obtain water not contaminated with animal faeces, insects, etc, as is the case now when the springs surface in muddy pools.

5 Protecting a spring takes about four weeks. The first week is for training in safe water manage-ment, with the second and third weeks for cost share contributions by farmers and for gathering lo-cal materials. The work of the technical team starts in the third week and is completed work in the fourth week.

6 Drilling a borehole also takes around four weeks. The first week is for training in safe water man-agement, the second week for hydrogeological survey, while farmers provide their cost share contri-butions in the second and third weeks. The technical team's work begins at the end of the second week and runs to the end of the fourth week.

7 At local level, the following local community groups will conduct the physical implementation in the villages shown below:

· Spring protection for Rwot Atwero Group, Atonmoo Village, Olaoilongo Parish.

· Spring protection for Oribcing Group, Olaoilongo Village, Olaoilongo Parish.

· Spring protection for Obanga Atwero Group, Ayumu Falls Village, Olaoilongo Parish.

· Borehole for Oyele Pi Anyim, Bar Obia Village and Note Ber Group, Angirodyang Village, Okwangole Parish (one borehole shared between two villages).

Coordination on the ground will be provided by the local NGO, the Organisation for Community Action (OCA), which IRT has supported since 2009, through the provision of training, oversight, and capacity-building. Overall project accountability (allocation of funds, project oversight, provi-sion of external audit, coordination of reports, check-visits and progress chasing) will remain in the hands of IRT.

8 On the basis of paragraphs 5 & 6 above, and of the four mini-projects being undertaken broadly concurrently, it is projected that the work - which is scheduled to begin in July/August - will end by late-September 2016. However, this timetable could be delayed by for example, a drill breakdown, the death of a community member, or other unpredictable incidents. Once installed the borehole will provide clean water to around 1260 people, with each protected natural spring serving 840. But there will be additional indirect beneficiaries, including those stopping by during onward journeys, and others who would walk several miles to access the water.

9 Each community will be required to appoint a Water Source Committee. This will oversee routine maintenance. Households within the community will be trained (within the programme) regarding the importance of having a clean water supply and maintaining it. Households benefitting from ac-cess to the supply will be expected to contribute a small sum per month to contribute to routine re-pairs (5,000 Ugandan shillings to open an account (just over £1), followed by 1,000 UGS per month)

10 In order to ensure that the project is fully completed on schedule, IRT will put in place a number of measures, including:

· Tight contract with penalties.

· Detailed reports on time – with penalties for failure (for example, cessation of wider funding until matter resolved).

· Photographs to be provided of work in progress. IRT’s Chief Executive, Steve Smith, will be visiting the area in the near future, and will report back to the DWG on where the project stands. Although dates have yet to be finalised, it is currently planned that this visit will take place in mid-July.

· Sampling as part of IRT visits to the programme.

· The establishment of an online monitoring and evaluation system, which could be monitored by IRT from UK, allowing better analysis of inputs/outputs.

11 We are delighted to be supporting this truly worthwhile project, which, in providing clean water to many hundreds of people in Uganda, will contribute enormously to their day-to-day health and wellbeing.

Sewing and training centre in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka

The Group agreed to donate £9,000 to a project in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka. The first £3000 was sent over in April 2016, with it is planned that the remainder will be transferred over the summer. The money will be used to construct a building to be used as a sewing centre (to make school bags etc) by self employed women and to train young girls so they can be self sufficient. There are al-ready machines for the women, but not enough space for them to be used and for training to be car-ried out. We will report on progress as the project develops, including via photos.

Pending project: new school in Nkaai, Zimbabwe

We plan to begin a project in Zimbabwe, subject to specified conditions being met, to fund the first two classrooms of a school for 7 to 13 year olds in Nkaai, Zimbabwe. There is no school for children in this poor area at present so that they have to walk several miles in the heat or not go at all. The building work will be carried out by local people for free and our money will go towards necessary building materials. The Sisters of Notre Dame who have helped prepare the project, are still working to secure final planning permission and sufficient residual funding for the project, for which the time schedule is not yet certain.

Medical care for Syrian refugees in Jordan

The Group donated £2,000 on 22 February to two Italian Hospitals in Jordan so that they can treat Syrian refugees (the number of whom exceeds 600,000 in Jordan), free of charge or at subsidised rates, The money, to be transferred to Jordan via the International Refugee Trust (IRT), will be used to buy more bandages/ medicines, provide emergency care (including formula baby milk) to expec-tant mothers and perform vital surgery.

Provision of clean water in Arua district, North East Uganda

In October 2014, the group committed to funding part of the cost of a project in Arua in North West Uganda, which aimed to provide clean water to around 5,000 people. The project entailed (i) drilling 2 boreholes and (ii) protecting around 18 natural springs from animals, erosion etc by con-creting them. It would mean that 32 million litres of clean water would be supplied each year indefi-nitely, to the local communities in the Arua and Zombo Districts, which are spread out over a very large area. The project was overseen by the IRT through which our funding was channelled.

The boreholes are drilled in areas where there are no springs and go 60-75 metres deep on average, tapping into the water table which is a totally different source from the springs.  The drilling com-pany is responsible for drilling the boreholes in the right places.

The Group donated £6,956 to cover half the cost of the first phase of the project. This phase re-sulted in ten natural springs being protected and one of the two boreholes drilled. The borehole

means that instead of making a round trip of up to eight miles to get dirty water, villagers will have clean water on tap. The second phase of the project has been postponed.

History of the DWG

The group was started as the ‘Third World Group’ around 1976 by Ian McGregor and Terry Lane. It was inspired in part by a CTS booklet, ‘One Parish - One World’ – published in 1974 about the ex-perience of a Midlands parish on making a practical response to the Pope’s appeal in Populorum Progressio to all Christians to ‘open the paths which lead to mutual assistance among peoples, to a deepening of human knowledge, to a more brotherly way of living with a truly universal human so-ciety’. For many years, relatively small amounts were given to needy causes to further the group’s objectives. In 1999, it was agreed that it would be of more benefit to both the benefactors and donors, if projects were selected which were funded over a 12 to 18 month period. Such a time range allowed not only for larger projects, but also enabled more information to be provided to parishioners which showed exactly what their money was going towards and the practical results of each project. Over the last fourteen years, the parish, via the group contributed to a wide range of projects, including though not restricted to those listed below:

2002: £13,000 for the building of an upper storey to the parish house in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka – the room is now used as a work room to teach sewing and craft.

2003: £5,200 to complete a classroom in Gbarnga, Liberia. £3,800 to support Sister Joan Yates’ – a nun from our diocese - work in Kanyike, Uganda by fund-ing a new medical centre (google Kanyike Project for more information as this work is ongoing). £300 to the Missionaries of Charity to help their work in Latvia.

2004/5: over £13,000 to the Moyo Baby unit in Uganda to provide a solar electricity supply and to-wards staff wages.

2005: £5,000 to EducAid to build classrooms for its free schools network in Sierra Leone.

2006/7: nearly £5,000 for food for under 5s in Wau, South Sudan. £3,200 given to Yambio, South Sudan for training kindergarten teachers.

2007: £6,000 was given towards the cost of a solar power electricity supply at the Redeemer Chil-dren’s Home in Uganda, thus helping its reconstruction after a Lords Resistance Army attack. 2007/8: £12,000 for the replacement of the Victorian orphanage roof in Kandy, Sri Lanka.

2009: £8,000 plus towards the building of latrines at a new school in Uganda.

2010: £4,700 to the Italian Hospital in Kerak, Jordan to provide healthcare to Iraqi and Palestinian refugees.

2010/12: £5,000 to build a crop store and over £3,800 to install water tanks at the Redeemers Chil-dren’s Home in Uganda.

2012-14: £15,600 to pay half the cost of rebuilding a home for disabled persons in Wau, South Su-dan.

2014/5: £6,956 to the Arua water project in Uganda.

2016: £2,000 to Italian hospital in Jordan for medical care for Syrian refugees£3,000 to Sri Lanka sewing and training centre£6,800 to Lira water project in Uganda due to be sent by end June

International Refugee Trust (IRT)

In the case of many, though not all of these projects, the group provided financial support via the In-ternational Refugee Trust, a registered charity. IRT is a small charity, with four staff. It was founded in 1989 to help improve the lives of refugees, internally displaced people and returnees around the world, aiming to be ‘there when the big agencies move on.’ Its mission is ‘to support community based organisations in developing countries working in partnership with marginalised refugees, internally displaced returnees and those at risk of displacement. Together, we aim to achieve social and economic development through building resilient and peaceful communities.’ This mission is close to that of the DWG. Moreover, the DWG is able not only to choose the spe-cific projects it supports, but also obtain direct feedback from the IRT and thus ensure that all funds are used to directly benefit those they are intended for. This accountability is strengthened by the permanent offer for parishioners to accompany IRT staff on their field missions, and periodic visits to the parish by the IRT chief executive. During the last such visit in November 2014, IRT chief ex-ecutive Adrian Hatch spoke at each weekend mass to explain how the church’s donations were be-ing used and more broadly on the work of the IRT. See IRT website for more information – www.irt.org.uk - including on its current projects in Uganda, South Sudan, Thailand and Jordan.

Finance – including sources and how to donateOn average parishioners donated over £8,000 a year over the decade 2005-2014, though the amount varied considerably year to year.

Receipts are reported through the year in the Parish Newsletter. Broadly quarterly financial reports are discussed at each Group meeting.

The group obtains some of its funds from special events as mentioned above; and the rest from parishioners’ donations. Cash donations and cheques can be paid into the DWG collection box which is stationed in the vestibule after all weekend masses – and has been over the 30 plus years the group has been established. They can also be paid in via the permanent wall safe at the back of the church or to the DWG chair or treasurer.

You can donate to the group and thus its projects by cash, cheque or Standing Order. Please write cheques to: ‘WRCDT Harpenden Catholic Church – Third World’.

The Group also provides green collection boxes for parishioners to take home. They will be col-lected in February 2017 with the cash immediately transferred to the DWG bank account to be used to fund projects. Members will collect boxes earlier if they are already full. Please contact Julia Roche if this is necessary or if you would like a box.

Gift Aid

Add 25p to every pound you give by completing a Gift Aid declaration. If all donors signed up for Gift Aid, the amount of money raised each year would increase by over £1,000 from that currently

received. To make a declaration, please complete the appropriate form and hand it to the Church of-fice, addressed to the DWG Treasurer. Forms are available from the DWG chair and Treasurer.

Standing Order

To set up a Standing Order, please print off and complete the form entitled ‘Bankers Order’ below and send it directly to your bank. The form is also available from the DWG Chair and Treasurer.

Joining the DWG

If you are interested in finding out more about the group including joining it, or would like to help in any way, please contact Julia Roche, who is the DWG chair, or any of the other members (names are on the DWG notice board in the vestibule). All parishioners are welcome, as well as invited with their friends to all the fundraising events the group arranges. The DWG is open to proposals for small projects which meet its criteria, from all parts of the world.