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DEVELOPING WORLD GROUP (DWG)

Contents (last updated 31/10/16) Latest news

Role

Objectives

Projects

History

Finance (including Gift Aid Declaration & Banking Order Forms, and Green Box scheme)

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

Latest news

28/29 January 2017 – Green Boxes (for collecting money for the DWG) to be handed in so that the contents can be counted up and used for new projects

October 2016 – DWG agrees to fund £3,650 project at the Moyo Babies’ Home

5 November 2016 - Parish quiz night in Lourdes Hall

September - £4,200 sent by DWG for operating table, paediatric ward, South Sudan

22 July - Parish Golf Day held, raising £1,293 for DWG

3 July - £500 received from the parish Strawberry Social organized by the Catholic Ladies Group

June to August - £7,500 donated by DWG to fund clean water project in Uganda

18 June - Plant Sale raised £1,372

April - £3,000 sent by DWG to Sri Lanka project

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

Role

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The DWG currently comprises 15 members, who meet roughly quarterly at one of their homes. New members are always welcome (see final page). Members propose and identify projects which fit in with the group’s stated goals. Once projects have been agreed, they are funded by 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).

Objectives

The group’s aims are:

- To give financial support to projects in the poorer – especially the poorest – regions or communities in developing countries. These projects are (i) identifiable and trackable within a partner or partner organisation’s wider programme of activity; and (ii) small-scale, with budgets normally up to £15,000 per project, so that DWG can fund all or a large part of each one, and donors can see their contribution making a big impact.

- 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.

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

Projects

This section describes two projects which are about to begin and three others which were agreed and completed in 2017.

Moyo

Moyo Babies’ Home provides a safe and loving environment for up to 66 orphaned or at risk babies and children under the age of five to grow up in – see https://www.irt.org.uk/projects/moyo-babies-home/ and photo below; it currently has 31 babies and children. They come mainly from Uganda, but also from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Many are victims of the conflicts in northern Uganda and South Sudan, which have led to the forced displacement of local communities. At the age of five, children are either resettled in their communities or if this fails, transferred to the Redeemer Children’s Home. Both the Moyo Babies Home and the Redeemer Children’s Home are fun by the native Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The International Refugee Trust (IRT) - a charity with which we often work (see section below) – has asked if we could help with one Moyo refurbishment project for which funds are needed quickly. In October 2016, the DWG agreed to fund it.

The 'Stage 1 House' for the very youngest children at the Babies' Home is in urgent need of refurbishment (see second photo below). The walls have developed a number of cracks, which can be breeding grounds for mosquitoes, thereby exacerbating the threat of malaria. An estimated £3,650 is required to provide wood cladding and weatherproofing varnish/paint to restore the walls

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to a good condition, providing a much cleaner and healthier environment for the children. The DWG has committed to donating the necessary funds, if possible by end-November.

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Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka

Earlier this year, the DWG agreed to donate to a project in Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka to help local women. We await additional specified information on plans, costs etc before going further with the project and will report on progress in due course.

Operating table in South Sudan

The DWG donated £4,200 to pay for a stainless steel operating table for a 66 bed paediatric ward in Nzara hospital - run by the Comboni Missionary Sisters - in South Sudan. It was delivered in October 2016 (see photo below). The money was given via the IRT. Two thirds of the 5,500 children treated each year as in patients in the hospital are under five. NB South Sudan has one of

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the highest child mortality rates in the world with nearly 10% of children dying before five.

Clean water in Uganda (photo on next page)

The DWG funded the cost - £7,500 - of one borehole and the protection of three natural springs, which, together, serve 5 villages in the Lira District of Northern Uganda. This area is one where there are a large number of returnees, who were originally displaced by the Lord's Resistance Army.

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The project, overseen by the IRT, provided clean water access to around 3,800 people directly.

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 (of whom, there are more than 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

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to buy more bandages/ medicines, provide emergency care (including formula baby milk) to expectant mothers and perform vital surgery.

History of the DWG

The group was started as the ‘Third World Group’ in the 1970s by Ian McGregor and Terry Lane. It was inspired in part by a CTS booklet, ‘One Parish - One World’ – published in 1974 about the experience 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 society’.

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 more beneficial for 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.

Ian McGregor’s memories of the ‘Third World Group’s’ early days (October 2016)

‘I took a car load of people up to Birmingham and we met the priest featured in the booklet.  Thereafter we decided to do something similar, although maybe not competing with what Birmingham were doing. They were not just raising money – they were directing their funds to very specific projects which met their ideas.   They had even got to the stage of collecting out of date drugs from surgeries and sending them to wherever.   In fact, we were able in fact to gather drugs together from a local chemist and sent them to the Birmingham parish. Someone in the parish built a smart looking box [PS which is still in use!] and stood it on long metal legs. It sat at the back of church and people put in whatever without being asked. But where would we direct our funds?  It had to be for some specific project and not just given to some big charity. One member of our group, Dan Carlin, was in the SVP which had some contact with SVP in Kerala.    There was a village there which was in need of fishing nets, so that seemed a first step.   The ladies in the village wanted sewing machines, and we sent money for that too. We even sent money to the village to buy a fishing boat.’

Ian subsequently moved out of the parish, but the group he helped found remains active as the renamed DWG.

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£3,800 to support Sister Joan Yates’ – a nun from our diocese - work in Kanyike, Uganda by funding 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 towards 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 Children’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 Children’s Home in Uganda.

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

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 £7,500 to clean water project in Lira, Uganda £4,200 for operating table in paediatric ward, South Sudan£3,650 to Moyo Babies’ Home

International Refugee Trust (IRT)

In the case of many, though not all of these projects, the group provided financial support via the International Refugee Trust, a registered charity. IRT is a small charity, with five 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 specific projects it supports, but also obtain direct feedback from the IRT and thus ensure that all funds are used to directly benefit those for whom they are intended. 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

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November 2014, IRT’s then chief executive Adrian Hatch spoke at each weekend mass to explain how the church’s donations were being 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. Most running expenses such as stationery, the cost of 200 ‘Green Boxes’ (see below) etc are paid for by DWG members.

Receipts are reported through the year in the Parish Newsletter. Quarterly financial reports are discussed at each DWG meeting.

The DWG 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. 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, with donations into them going to DWG projects (see below for more on Green Boxes).

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 print off and then complete the blank form below, before handing it to the Church office, addressed to the DWG 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 like the Gift Aid form is also available from the DWG Chair and Treasurer.

Green Boxes

Green Boxes for collecting money for the DWG were provided to those parishioners who wanted one in their home, in January 2016. These Boxes will be called in for their contents to be counted and paid to the DWG on 28/29 January 2017 (as well as on 7/8 October 2017.); but Box holders can hand them in earlier if they are already full. Over a hundred boxes have been taken up. If you would like one, or would like the contents of yours to be counted and paid in early, please contact Julia Roche or Emanuela Coy whose contact details are on the DWG notice-board.

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Westminster Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust (WRCDT)

Registered Charity No. 233699

GIFT AID DECLARATIONOfficial use only

Parish Code: +HPTW GAD No.

Parish HARPENDEN PARISH THIRDWORLD PROJECT

Please complete using BLOCK

CAPITALS Title Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms (Please delete as

appropriate)

Surname . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Christian Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Home Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Post Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I would like the above Charity to treat all qualifying donations I have made since the 6th April 20 * , and all donations I will make in the future until I notify you otherwise as Gift Aid donations.

*PLEASE COMPLETE THE TAX YEAR.

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PLEASE NOTE

1. I am a UK taxpayer and understand that if I pay less Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax in the current tax year than the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all my donations it is my responsibility to pay any difference.

2. You can cancel this declaration at any time by notifying the Charity.

3. If in future your circumstances change and you no longer pay tax on your income and capital gains equal to the tax that the Charity reclaims, you must cancel your declaration.

4. As any tax refund received by the Charity will be made at the basic rate, higher rate tax payers will benefit through additional tax relief if they declare their Gift Aid Declaration on their Tax return.

5. This Declaration refers to all donations for which the Charity has record of receipt.

6. Please notify the Charity if you change your Name or Address

THIS DECLARATION MUST BE IN ONE NAME ONLY

Telephone/Mobile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

E-Mail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

Signature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .E

Edn. Dec. 2015

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Joining the DWG

If you are interested in finding out more about the group, including either joining it or helping in some other 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 also open to proposals for small projects globally which meet its criteria.