Our Partners
AidCamps International (ACI) delivers its extensive range of Group and Independent AidCamps in partnership with registered, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the countries in which we operate. These organisations are run by local people who understand the social and cultural issues facing their communities.
As part of our sustainable approach to international development, ACI has worked with several of these partners for many years. We believe that this builds a strong and successful collaborative approach to development aid that values and respects the needs of our partners and their communities, whilst also ensuring that the requirements of our volunteers are also met.
All of our partners are non-religious organisations that work with all sections of the community regardless of their gender, political persuasion, ethnic or cultural background. Each partner is unique in the way it operates and how it supports the communities it serves. In order to give you an insight into what each of our partners is trying to achieve and how it does this, we have briefly detailed below the names of the organisations with whom we work and what their main activities are:
CARD
Community Action for Rural Development (CARD) is based in Tamil Nadu, Southern India. CARD has been in existence for approximately 26 years and works to alleviate some of the many problems facing the rural poor of Tamil Nadu. They have an extensive range of projects from improving health, education and the rights of women to the construction of village housing, the formation of self-help co-operatives and the treatment of addiction.
RCDP
Rural Community Development Program (RCDP) was registered in 1998 and has developed considerable expertise in delivering community-based volunteering programmes.
It operates and supports two orphanages in Nepal's Kathmandu and Chitwan Valley areas and, together with ACI, has supported a number of underfunded schools in poor, rural communities. RCDP also operates an extensive conservation programme which aims to tackle the problems caused by the rapid deforestation which occurred as the country moved to improve its agricultural production.
SCAD
Social Change and Development (SCAD) was our first ever partner. This thriving NGO was established in 1985 and is committed to freeing some of India's poorest and most neglected people from a life of grinding poverty, debt and hopelessness.
Their initial vision was to provide education in remote rural communities so that people could become economically self-sufficient and inspired to help themselves. Having begun in one tiny village, SCAD now supports 350,000 people in 414 villages, through projects that cover five key areas of development:education, health, community, agriculture and animal husbandry.
ACI has been proud to work with SCAD on the provision of a large school for the children of gypsy families as well as a number of projects constructing classrooms for children with learning difficulties and physical impairments at SCAD's residential campus.
SERVE
Socio-economical,Ecological, Religious, Virtuous Empowerment was launched in1999. It aims to protect some of the most vulnerable children in Sri Lanka from exploitation and assist them in their struggle to escape poverty.
SERVE has six strands to its activities: school social work; home away from home children's resource centres; empowerment for otherwise able (deaf) children; Lamun (a project tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation); guidance and support for social work students, and supporting families and children affected by the Tsunami.
ACI has been integral to the physical development of SERVE's resource centres through our Group AidCamps and has supplied numerous Independent volunteers to assist with SERVE's support and teaching programmes.
SHUMAS
Strategic Humanitarian Services (SHUMAS) was registered in 1997 and is based in Cameroon.
SHUMAS is involved in a variety of development projects in the areas of education,agriculture, environment, social welfare and health issues. It has worked extensively with ACI on the construction of much-needed rural schools in the remote parts of Cameroon's North West Provence. SHUMAS also has a thriving organic farm training and demonstration centre which educates and trains the children of subsistence farmers in the latest organic farming techniques. This has become a popular placement with our Independent volunteers.
THE LANDIRANI TRUST
Our newest partner; The Landirani Trust supports orphans and vulnerable people in Malawi. It is registered as a UK charity (Reg. number 1113786) and has an office in the UK as well as Malawi. It was established in 2005.
Landirani means 'please receive' in Chichewa, the local language of the area in which the charity operates. The organisation adopted this name to indicate that the it was there to facilitate a self-help culture in the villages in which they worked and not simply to dole out charity. The organisation's aim is to help build a healthy, educated and self-sufficient community in Malawi.
It has a wide range of projects underway in Malawi ranging from school building to reforestation and AidCamps hopes to work with it on the development of its Community Based Children's Centres (CBCCs) which offer a pre-school for 3-5 year olds, a feeding station for 3-5 year olds and a Children's Corner which offers support to orphans aged between 6 and 18 years of age.