Normally, the people best placed to deliver relief & development work are local people yet they are usually the worst funded and least supported.
Therefore, we give help & support to those local charities/groups/NGO’s that can achieve the best overall results (but which are generally overlooked by major charities and funders).
The reason why these local charities/groups/NGO’s can achieve the best results much more effectively then any external charity (including REDAID) is because they have the infrastructure, the projects, the local knowledge and access to the best local resources already in place.
This gives them a valuable head-start, which enables them to carry out a large range of widely distributed charitable & social project work that are in alignment with our aims and objectives, quickly and in a more efficient and effective manner.
We often increase our involvement in high-profile relief work (which is delivered locally) in a more direct way and our ethos of providing long-term, sustainable support helps to benefit & regenerate local areas and provides opportunities for the local relief organisations to help local people pull their way up to a better life.
SERVICE DELIVERY METHODOLOGY
To deliver our work, we act as a resource body and an enabler, connecting donors & supporters with local charities/groups/NGO’s in specific parts of the world, which are then directly funded by the donors. This is conducted at many levels and throughout the world. Here is a basic operational process diagram of this:
The way it works:
1. Through our many contacts throughout the world, we identify a need in a particular part of the world and then identify which local charities/groups/NGO’s are already working in the area or specifically on the need and assess which of those are best placed to meet those needs and can deliver the required work better & faster.
2. We then present the projects to interested individual and corporate philanthropists (donors) for direct funding & support.
3. The relevant interested parties then carry out their own project assessments & due-diligence and directly fund & support the relevant local charities/groups/NGO’s and it specific projects directly themselves.
4. We then engage with the funded charity/group/NGO - providing technical and strategic help & support (this way, we achieve the objective in a more efficient & effective way).
5. The funded charity/group/NGO is encouraged to use local people to effect delivery of its projects – thus enabling indirect benefit to the local community.
The above process means that the ‘donated funds’ do not go through us and thus, we have no significant cash-flow going through our accounts.
INNOVATION AND UNIQUENESS
We operate in a unique way – which, we believe, adds to the success that has been achieved to date and for which we continue to strive.
Funding & fund raising:
* Donating money to REDAID is like donating money to many locally based charities/groups/NGO’s at the same time directly.
* These charities & groups do not usually have access to high-net worth or corporate donors and are therefore not supported very well financially. However, they are generally best placed to conduct relevant work quickly and effectively.
* If one gives money to a big charity then this money will most probably be used in "big name" projects and will probably not be effectively used to help local people directly (and may be used only in one area).
* However, if the same money is given to us, it is effectively distributed to many local charities & groups in many parts of the world, and to "high need" projects.
* Therefore, this funding delivers work in more places and gives help to more people - the right way (as we only give to those local charities & groups that actually deliver the required & relevant charitable & social work)
* The big charities work from top down - i.e. they implement projects planned by high level charity/NGO/government officials and use their own teams or use government or big NGO machinations to do their work.
* In many cases, this means that the wrong types of projects are implemented and the resources are not utilised in the most appropriate or the most efficient/successful way, because the local people who can conduct the best work are overlooked.
* This also leads to other problems such as the wrong & unnecessary type of work being carried out, work duplicated, money/resources wasted and/or in some cases, misused.
* We work from the bottom-up i.e. we support local people on the ground level – the grass roots – people who know best as to what they really need to improve their lives and who are best placed to conduct the most appropriate work, in the best way.
* We believe that it is better to help those who are in a position to conduct the work better & faster rather then reinventing the wheel and conducting it by ourselves from scratch or through other obvious – but less efficient means.
International Aid:
* Donors supporting causes through us can choose exactly where their money is spent (and results can be seen/demonstrated in real terms) as opposed to with agencies such as Oxfam whereby their donation goes into a central reserve to be spent on targets that the agency plans each year.
* REDAID donors are therefore more keen to contribute as they can select projects for which they might have more commitment and they can see the benefits derived from their donations.
* Through our local networks (we work directly with communities through local contacts to ensure that local people benefit at every stage) - we are able to identify and respond quickly to issues and needs identified e.g. transporting food directly to local areas without storage and transportation issues.
* Personal experience of supporters used to support real people to achieve real outcomes.
* Large support network – support base is well established and supporters contribute their personal finances to support programmes.
Work in the UK:
* This is an area into which we are progressing. Our trustees have personal involvement and add their individual skills/experience to ensure that programmes have most impact.
* The UK is a very wealthy country and we are a disaster relief/poverty alleviation charity – so why are we implementing projects here?
* We are based in the UK and most of our donors are from here also and it makes sense to give something back to the community where most of the help comes from. Besides, although it a very wealthy country, there are nevertheless many unfulfilled needs in the UK as well, which if served properly, will have positive outcome for us too.
* These outcomes range from raising our profile in the UK public domain (which will help us to raise funds in the future) to creating commercial Community Interest Companies (CIC’s - formerly known as ‘Social Enterprises’), which are trading companies that can generate profit – which are then channelled back-into REDAID. This will help to make us more self-sufficient, which is inline with our ethos of long-term sustainability.
Proactiveness:
* Rather than reacting to disasters and needs as they are identified around the world, we are moving towards a more proactive strategy are seeking out projects in which we could invest or deliver to achieve this aim.
All of the above makes REDAID a uniquely different type of charity.
OPERATIONAL TRACK RECORD
Recent examples of REDAID’s projects include the following:
1. On-going programme focusing on reducing child poverty and helping the elderly in SAARC & ASEAN countries
2. Relief work in partnership with several small, local charities working in several districts and areas affected by the recent cyclone in South East Asia
3. Helping to rebuild the businesses of fishermen affected by the Tsunami in Sri-Lanka, by helping them to repair (and buy) boats & equipments
4. Helping small traders who had their stock destroyed by floods, to buy stock - so that they could restart their livelihood in East Indonesia
5. Helping people to rebuild houses affected by the earthquake in Pakistan
6. Helping several local charities & groups setup rapid-reaction emergency relief operations in Sudan
7. Currently developing plans to help local charities & groups setup mobile medical units in Ethiopia and in other parts of Africa & Asia - specifically to give help to woman & children
8. Supporting conservation groups helping indigenous tribes in Bolivia
9. Providing sustainable support to small medical clinics and helping to setup mobile primary schools to provide basic education in poor, rural regions across Africa & Asia
10. Developing programmes to get people into jobs and away from begging on the streets in North India
REDAID is involved with many other projects & programmes throughout the world - where it helps local charities & groups to help the local people to recover and to lift themselves out from dire poverty
OPERATIONAL CASE STUDY
General Activity Case Study:
Project
The Nari Centre is a small NGO (non-government organisation) that runs a free female health clinic in a very poor, rural part of Bangladesh.
It was established more than 5 years ago by a group of local business people and its objectives are to offer free basic advice on female health matters and in some cases – to give primary (triage) treatment to them.
However, due to lack of funds – and the location of the clinic (it is 40 miles from the nearest town and is difficult to get to); the clinic was only able to open for 2 hours per week, once a week.
How it was identified
The trustees of the clinic asked a local philanthropist based in one of the main provincial towns nearby for help in making the clinic more functional & successful.
This person contacted a regional REDAID advisor and asked for help.
What was required from REDAID
The REDAID advisor carried out an audit of the project and determined that a commitment of £20,000 per annum would give the clinic the much needed financial security to increase its activities and to make a huge impact in the lives of the local females who visit the clinic.
How REDAID helped
REDAID presented the case to several philanthropic individuals in the UK who indicated an interest in funding such projects.
It proposed that rather than commit to giving the required money to the clinic every year, a certain fixed amount should be applied up-front to establish an income stream for the clinic.
A commitment of £50,000 was given by 5 individual philanthropers.
How the funds were applied
Transportation is a big problem in the area the clinic is based in – however a ‘green 3-wheeler baby taxi’ industry is booming in the area (there is a huge demand for these taxis and an acute shortage of them).
REDAID and the private funders determined to achieve the primary objective of providing the clinic with a secure, regular income and also at the same time, to help the local community/economy as well – by purchasing baby taxis and channelling the income to the clinic.
A private trust was formed to act as a ‘taxi company’ and to purchase a fleet of 20 baby taxis and the regional REDAID advisor was appointed as the trusts chairman & treasurer.
The funds were sent directly by each individual private funder to this trust as a long-term, interest-free loan – to be repaid if the trust sells its assets (i.e. the fleet of taxis).
Local people are hired to drive the taxis and in return, the drivers pay 500 Bangladesh Taka (just over £3) per day rental money to the trust. After deducting necessary operational costs – the trust channels all the money directly to the clinic.
The drivers are responsible for the upkeep, maintenance, tax, insurance, etc of the taxi’s and even after all costs, each driver takes home an average of 1000 Bangladesh Taka (just over £7) per day – which is a fairly good income for the area.
The trust hired 2 supervisors and 3 mechanics to manage and oversee the fleet.
For the clinic – this approach represents an average regular & steady monthly income of around 3 Lakh Bangladesh Taka (just over £2,200), which equates to around 36 Lakh Bangladesh Taka per annum.
This is just over £25,000 per annum and is more than what the audit suggested the clinic required each year.
The surplus is used by the trust for necessary operational costs and to increase its taxi fleet (so as to increase the payments to the clinic so that it can increase its functions).
Monitoring & assessment
A regular update is provided by the trustees of the clinic to the regional REDAID advisor (the chairman & treasurer of the ‘taxi company’ trust) – who also carries out periodic unannounced spot audits & inspections on the clinic and on the taxi fleet.
The advisor submits regular reports to REDAID and to the 5 individual private funders (who also carry out their own private monitoring & assessments) on the progress of the trust and that of the clinic.
One of the terms of the funding is that if the trust (taxi company) is not run properly or is mismanaged, the 5 funders would take direct control and the trust may be wound-up and the fleet sold-off.
This might result in the clinic’s income stream being reduced or even stopped. Also, if the clinic itself is not performing as expected or is mismanaged, its income stream may be reduced or stopped.
All of this acts as an incentive for the trustees of the clinic, the taxi drivers and the local people in general to make sure that the taxi company and the clinic is run properly and the income stream used for the functions of the clinic only.
Current status
The clinic is flourishing. The taxi company is running very well – providing productive employment to more than 25 local people and helping the local economy.
The new income stream has enabled the clinic to improve the facilities: refurbishing the building and adding much needed equipment and stocks of essential medicine.
3 nurses and a doctor has been a hired full time and it is now open every day for 10 hours and is planning to stay open for 24 hours.
It offers a haven of refuge and a life-line for a huge number of poor, illiterate females – who would otherwise not have access to the medical help, advice and support which the clinic now offers.
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
In many ways, REDAID is reactive to world events and identifies issues on an ongoing basis in which it can participate to pursue its mission.
REDAID plans to become more proactive and to significantly expand and develop its activities in the forthcoming years in order to fulfil its mission and to raise its profile and fundraising programmes in order to meet the funding requirements for these activities.
Please see About Us for more information.
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