Community development

Agrarian communities of rural Gansu Province are periodically tormented by drought.  Lack of access to financial markets keep farmers in a trap of subsistence living as they are scarcely able to grow enough produce to break beyond their survival needs.

In Uganda, Remnant conflict and human rights abuses from the Lord’s Resistance Army continue to taunt at the diminished capacity of basic services and a crippled healthcare system.  Torture is widespread amongst security organisations, and child trafficking for sex and forced labour is painfully prevalent.

Due to population paucity and harsh weather conditions during winter, surface transportation is not well developed in Mongolia.  Rural regions in need of assistance are difficult to access whilst government agencies and humanitarian organisations are hindered in their delivery of long-term development projects.  

Chad's wavering history of civil conflict between the North and South have stunted growth and investment in infrastructure. Consequently, roads are often impassable and transport networks are meagre. Many hospitals have been damaged or destroyed and sporadic episodes of famine have caused repeated nutrition crises.

Arid and semi-arid pockets of Kenya are largely cut off from public services due to poor roads, dysfunctional railways and under utilised water transport.  Isolation leaves farmers watching their food rot as they cannot access markets.

Poverty and HIV/AIDs in Zambia is causing an epidemic of abandoned, neglected or orphaned children as family means are stretched beyond breaking point. Parents and extended relatives simply cannot afford to feed, clothe and educate the younger generation so many turn to orphanages as a last resort.

The large number of Burundian men killed by the HIV/AIDs epidemic or conflict, has created many poor and fragile households headed by women or minors who have little income to spare.  In order for the country to rebuild and provide a future for the next generation, these widows and orphans require adequate housing, healthcare, education and vocational training.

Poverty is not so much a lack of ‘things’ but a lack of ‘power’ – the liberating power of self-determination and opportunity.  It starts with belief in the people. Without first building the base of an empowered people, the whole edifice of community development and meaningful social change is top-heavy and unsustainable.

Many local development organisations in PNG have failed over the years for want of a sound system of leadership and administration.

Uganda has seen and suffered under almost twenty years of war between The Lord’s Resistance Army and government forces.  During this time, heinous atrocities were committed including massacres, torture, rape and abductions of young ones to become child soldiers and child brides.

Service delivery in Papua New Guinea is expensive and logistically difficult because of a combination of topography, governance and economic capacity.  The health sector is of particular concern as HIV prevalence is highest in the region, immunisation rates have stagnated, infant and maternal care services are limited and preventable diseases such as measles, pneumonia and diarrhoea cause extensive morbidity and mortality.

During the dry season many thousands of Bangladesh’s ‘extreme poor’ live on chars (sand islands) that are washed away each year when the monsoonal rains come.  The low-lying terrain means that up to one quarter of the country suffers severe flooding from swollen rivers and sea level rise. Whilst jeopardising the safety of residents (especially women and children), rising floodwaters cause great loss of homes and harvests.

Having suffered recent civil unrest, Timor-Leste remains fragile and in need of long term developmental support.  Public services are weak and economic capacity is low, particularly in isolated regions including the Oecussi enclave, Suai, Los Palos, Viqueque and Atauro Island.  Communicable diseases like malaria, diarrhoea and respiratory infections are highly prevalent and health risks are exacerbated by contaminated water and inadequate sanitation.

Out of a context of tension, torture, trauma and treason the fragile state of South Sudan was conceived in 2011. Ongoing warfare has severely stunted development as its economy is one of the world’s weakest, maternal mortality is one of the world’s highest and infrastructure is inadequate at best.