Edinburgh Global Partnerships

History

EGP was founded as a society at the University of Edinburgh by student Benjamin Carey in 1990 and subsequently achieved charity status later that year. EGP was originally called H.E.L.P. (Scotland) standing for Humanitarian Education & Long-term Projects.

EGP's four main aims are:

In March 2012, the charity was awarded a "Global Society Star" Award by Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA) in recognition of their contribution to the "global experience on campus, in the local community, and abroad".

Committee

EGP is managed by eleven committee members who are responsible for the overall running of the charity.

Project selection process

EGP accepts project proposals from NGOs which are assessed according to criteria set by EGP. The aim of EGP is "to get involved with local people in communities in the developing world, helping them financially and physically to realise projects that they believe are of most importance to their communities." The Project Researcher and Developer works with NGOs during the selection process to clarify questions pertaining to the proposal before the committee meet to select successful projects.

Successful projects are carried out in the Summer with fundraising taking place during the academic year.

Past EGP Projects have included the construction of the New Vision School in Tanzania in 2006, a grinding mill and a house in Zambia in 2005 and the construction of a conventional dairy goat breeding unit in Kisumu, Kenya in 2011. EGP has also been involved in projects addressing the " widespread problem" of "exploitative sexual relations between teachers and student" in Uganda.

In 2012, EGP volunteers participated in the Meadows Marathon. Volunteer fundraising activities were featured in STV Magazine in February 2012.

Current projects

EGP has five current projects in 2016/17. These projects were selected at EGP's project selection meeting in October 2016.

Tutulane, Malawi

In summer 2017, EGP volunteers will be working with Tutulane in the Rumphi district of Malawi on the construction of a soap-making centre. Tutulane currently supports 60 women involved in soap-making who sell around 48,000 bars of soap per month. By constructing the centre, EGP will enable Tutulane to help over 100 women and increase production to 500,000 bars of soap per month. The construction of the centre will allow the women to produce the soap on a large scale and receive extra training on how to improve their activities. It will also provide somewhere for them to sell their soap. Furthermore, the groups involved in soap-making need a permanent building to register as a cooperative which will enable them to attract more support to expand their business.

CSM, Tanzania

After previously working with Community Support Mission in 2015, EGP will be working with them in 2017 on the construction of a pen in which cows will be bred and raised. Grown cows will be distributed to low income families, who will be able to utilise the cows as a source of revenue. Recipients will be able to both sell the high-quality milk and take advantage of the manure (which can be used in crop rearing as well as in the production of electricity). This project is based in the Mkuranga region in eastern Tanzania.

Recnowa, Ghana

EGP volunteers will work with Recnowa in a rural community in Ghana to construct a 10-seater micro-flush toilet facility built using plastic bottles. The plastic bottles which are collected off of the streets are then filled with sand and used as bricks for the structure. In addition to this innovative component the toilets only require one cup of water to be flushed and so will save around one million litres of water per year. The project is based in a village called Kantinkyiren where currently half of the households do not have access to toilet facilities, nor do the 600 children who attend the school. As well as providing them with access to water and sanitation the project has an educational component which aims to increase awareness about recycling.

Mitraniketan, India

In Kerala, India, EGP volunteers will work with Mitraniketan to provide rural families with goats to supply them with a supplementary income. Many of the beneficiaries of this project are older women, who have fewer employment opportunities and thus have to rely on husbands or family members for the money to survive. Goat rearing is well suited for the rural women, as it requires only their spare time to look after the animal; this enables them to create their own source of income, and thus increase their independence financially. Mitraniketan aims to provide two goats and a pen for each household; volunteers will visit each family, construct the pens, and provide the goats.

CCCYD, Zambia

EGP will be working with Charity Centre for Children and Youth Development (CCCYD) in the Solwezi district of Zambia. The project is the construction of two classrooms, which will be utilised for training vulnerable people in the community. The training sessions that will take place are in a range of areas such as tailoring, knitting, computer skills and carpentry. In addition the centre will provide other social services such as education regarding HIV and AIDS, sexual health and empowering young people in the community and surrounding areas.

Edinburgh Links

During the academic year, EGP volunteers participate in Edinburgh Links projects which are located in and around Edinburgh.

UK partners

EGP is a member of the Network of International Development Organisations in Scotland (NIDOS). EGP was featured in the NIDOS March 2012 Newsletter.

EGP is part of the Student Volunteering Overseas Partnership (SVOP) which includes InterVol, Oxford Development Abroad (ODA), Student Volunteering Abroad (SVA) Glasgow and Bristol Volunteers for Development Abroad (BVDA). SVOP is"a partnership between UK based student-led international volunteering groups originally set up in Birmingham."