Search Nonprofits

From Articles of Incorporation "Ikirwa School Project is a non-partisan, non-profit organization committed but not limited to the establishment, operation, and expansion of the Ikirwa English Medium School located in the rural village of Midawe near the town of Arusha, Republic of Tanzania. Activities included but not limited to the following: fund-raising and donation acceptance, recruitment of paid and volunteer labor, capital planning and expenditures, marketing, and maintenance for the benefit of the Ikirwa school." About Ikirwa School: The idea for this project was born during a camp-fire conversation between a Tanzanian guide and a Russian-American tourist. Gasper had a dream to build a school in his home village of Midawe to give local children access to English-language education and significantly improve their future academic and employment opportunities. After spending close to a decade managing World Bank capital, Masha was looking for a way to make a tangible contribution to development. Finally, America Educates, our NGO partner and fiscal sponsor, was looking for an education project in Africa. And so Ikirwa School Project was born. We are taking a multi-phase approach to building and establishing this school, starting with kindergarten classes and organically growing the school into a single-stream education program for up to 300 students. Tanzanian students are taught in Swahili and learn English as a second language. However, English has become a language of both commerce and higher learning, limiting the prospects of government school graduates, especially those who are unable to afford remedial language instruction, which is often needed to become proficient in English. Our project's goal is to provide the option of English language instruction to the children of Midawe and nearby villages. We will leverage resources offered by many volunteer organizations and the NGOs in both providing instruction and education materials to offer world-class quality academic instruction to the students as well as career development opportunities for the teachers. Our goal is to ensure that all our students score in the top quartile of the TOEFL test at the time of graduation and the Tanzanian instructors within 2 years of joining the staff. The seed funds for the project are coming from its founders, with Gasper contributing a plot of family land for school construction and Masha financing Phase I of construction. Students will be charged tuition and boarding fees and those funds are expected to eventually cover the majority of the operating budget. Up to 20% of spots will be allocated for underprivileged children of Midawe. The architectural plan calls for construction of 13 classrooms, 4 dormitories, offices, staff quarters, dining hall and kitchen, library and assembly hall in four phases. We have completed Phase I of the project, consisting of 4 classrooms and 2 offices. On January 7, 2013 Ikirwa School open its doors to 38 kindergarten and 1st grade students and has successfully completed its first semester on March 27th. Based on the feedback we have recevied during Parent's Day, the families are thrilled to have their children in our program and are impressed by the progress they are seeing. Our vision is to build a small school that makes a big difference and stands on its own without depending on outside donors for day to day operations. We intend to grow organically and pragmatically, building a track record and using our success to attract donor funds for capital improvements.

Perched atop the buried pre-classic Maya city of Chocola, the village of Chocola on the back slopes of the volcanoes that form Lake Atitlan, is poverty stricken yet poised to become a model of cultural celebration and self-sufficiency. What it needs most is leadership training and technical support to develop its potential for diversified agriculture, archeological-tourism, health care for its families and education for its children. In its simplest terms, the mission of Seeds for a Future is to help this impoverished community plan and achieve prosperity based on balanced development principles that protect cultural tradition, the natural environment and preserve the Mayan and post-colonial history of the town. Seeds for a Future traces its roots to the period from 2003 through 2006 when many Earthwatch Institute volunteers came to Chocola to work on the archaeological site, which was then being excavated under license from the Guatemalan government. The volunteers embraced being associated with an important archaeological endeavor and learned about the vast pre-Classic Maya city that may hold keys to the early development of Mayan language, system of time and other fundamental cultural practices. At the same time, many of us fell in love with the community, its families and children and the fabulous, healthy mountain environment. As a result, groups of volunteers organized to help a community struggling with terrible poverty and deprivation to find a way to prosperity without destroying their way of life or the delicate balance of their natural environment. A vision emerged among a core of volunteers, Guatemalan visionaries and local leaders in which Chocola is seen as lifting itself into a more healthy and prosperous community based on its historic farming skills, adding value to its coffee, vegetable and cacao producers and through community cooperative action. In the future, there is great promise for the development of Chocola as a tourist destination based on archaeo-tourism; conservation of the natural resources in which the community is embedded and conservation of one of the first and greatest coffee processing plants (beneficios) established during the 1890s. But we also discovered in the early years that before Chocola could begin to realize its potential, the people needed training in identifying their own vision for the future, learning to work together and acquiring the technical skills needed for success. Overcoming 500 years of economic and social servitude is not easily done, but real progress is being made and our program has been recognized as ground-breaking, by the Guatemalan Ministry of Culture and others. Four operating principles guide the work we do: We provide information and technical assistance to the people of Chocola to help them evaluate new opportunities and to plan. We provide direct funding and other forms of support for community requests for assistance on specific projects. These requests must come through Chocola leadership and must demonstrate sustainability and a willingness and capability of the community to provide part of the needed resources. All programs must aim at achieving self-sufficiency. We will help with programs that governmental agencies believe may be of value, provided that they too meet the same test as is noted for the community above. All such requests must be consistent with our mission to help the people and do no harm to either the Maya archaeological site or to the 1890 Coffee Finca site. In all of our programs we try to ensure that the participants become more engaged in the social and civil fabric, that they gain self confidence in their ability to change their own future for the better, and that we provide knowledge and coaching for a sufficient period of time that their activities and new ideas become self-sustaining in the community.

Autistic individuals are characterized by disorders of varying degrees of communication skills, social interactions and limited, stereotyped patterns of behavior. They are a "mosaic" of strengths, deficits and deviations. Sociocommunicative problematic is often combined with intellectual deficit, with delay in language development, with deficit of control on impulses and hyperactivity. Parents are also different resources (emotional, family, support systems) to cope with the social trauma inflicted on them. That's why we chose for ours: Mission: Especially important for people with developmental disabilities is, to have equal opportunities for development, equal chances for a dignified and independent life. Main goal: Bridging deficits through services, developing personal potential, consistent with the individual needs of everyone. A bit of our history: In 2011, parents of autistic individuals, friends and like-minded people, we established the Developmental Disabilities Foundation to improve the quality of life of individuals with developmental disabilities. Everything we do is to overcome the consequences of social trauma for persons with developmental problems and their relatives. By providing social services in the community, we aim to build self-reliance skills that promote social inclusion. We hold licenses for: therapy and rehabilitation; community work; training for the acquisition of work skills; support for the acquisition of work skills; informing and consulting; advocacy and mediation and day care. Each person is unique and has the right to happiness, equal opportunities to achieve it, equal chances for a dignified and independent life. That is why we created and are developing the Center for inclusive and non-formal education "Art and Jump". In the informal space of the Workshop, children and young people learn through experiences while working and having fun in the Wool and Textiles workshop, the Ceramics workshop and the Digital Competences workshop. We implement an innovative program of creative educational modules that develops cognitive skills, promotes personal development and increases motivation to face everyday challenges. As a team, we are clearly aware of social dignity and responsibility. Therefore, we strive for the formation of empathy, tolerance and acceptance of one's own and others' "differences" in the spirit of respect for human dignity and value in society. "Being different is a privilege" Autistic individuals need a variety of appropriate forms of support throughout their lives. Therefore, it is necessary to develop and implement individual projects for independent living for each of them. Our foundation pays the necessary attention to the group dynamics in order to build an interpersonal relationship and at the same time relationships in the social environment. We all know that in Bulgaria there is no network organization of services for people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) at all ages. Therefore, one of the guiding principles in the management of our organization is to ensure the continuity of services for children, youth and adults. We are currently working with the Autism - Education, Future and Opportunities Association. Combining ideas, resources and tools, we have found an appropriate solution to the problem of the "child with autism in secondary school" challenge. We support the Association in their activities for the introduction of the Competent Learner (CLM) model. In the House we will further develop and upgrade the model "Workshop for the development of cognitive skills and increase the capacity for autonomy", as well as Dance-Motor Therapy for Psychosomatic Development, which we are currently implementing under the Program of Sofia Municipality for Social Innovations. We will apply innovative management, continuously and long-term, so that we can simultaneously meet social needs and create new social relationships and cooperation. Working with parents and siblings is another key moment in our planned activities. The effect of therapies and rehabilitation for people with developmental problems is insufficient if it is not integrated with psycho-social interventions with the whole family. Another important goal of ours is the creation of supported employment, employment support, and social enterprise for our users. We already have a working creative studio in ceramics, Art and Jump Workshop. We plan to develop resilience and create work skills in the field of applied arts for young people with disabilities.

Teen-Turn addresses the numbers of third level qualifications, particularly those related to STEM, attained by women from disadvantaged and underrepresented communities. Teen-Turn achieves this by providing--from when participants are teenagers--ongoing hands-on experiences, exposure to consistent, invested role model mentors and long-term support through alumnae career development opportunities. ***** Teen-Turn aims to influence course decision-making processes, inform participants on education and career options, and combat stereotypes by strategically changing how girls from disadvantaged and underrepresented communities identify with STEM career environments through mentored summer work placements, after school activities and alumnae opportunities. Programming begins with a work placement in the summer after Junior Cert, during which participants are exposed to projects, introduced to role models and begin to blog about their time so that we can evaluate the effect of the experiences. From there, the girls have the option to join after school activities which include science projects for BTYSE/SciFest, the creation of a social enterprise and app development for Technovation, homework/grinds clubs, or related events like learning camps and incubators with company partners. Once participants have completed secondary school, they enter into our alumnae network--which offers numerous events to meet with fellow Teen-Turn participants, mentors who are women working in STEM roles, and career advisors all there to help with qualification completion and to build a professional network. What we do is empower our participants-to identify a STEM interest, to be supported in the pursuit of mastering skills and gaining qualifications related to that interest, and then provided the connections and social capital and ongoing reinforcement to develop a STEM career from that interest. We call it our 'Junior Cert to Job' commitment. ***** Our proposition is that more girls acquiring in-demand STEM skills will result in more women employed in STEM careers, addressing skills shortage, gender ratio and social inclusion challenges. This is done by initially introducing STEM careers through work experience, followed by after school STEM activities including science projects and app development, then bolstered by STEM club involvement and ongoing STEM learning, exam support, discussion and debate events and career workshops. NOTE: All activities, other than work placements, were successfully brought online during COVID-19 restrictions and can again if the need arises. Core Project Elements Summer Work Experience: girls in the summer after Junior Cert (aged 15) are introduced to STEM career environments at companies located near their homes; during this experience they are introduced to female role models, work on an actual project, learn to visualize themselves in a STEM workplace, and gain an understanding of the companies flourishing in their neighborhood thereby crossing what is often a corporate/community divide. After School Activities: (1) Project Squad, 13 weeks in autumn, participants learn about the scientific method, research methodology, experimentation, data collection, results reporting and visual presentations while mentored on projects of their own design by industry and academic women-in-STEM; (2) Technovation, 13 weeks in spring, participants learn how to build a business plan and develop a mobile app that addresses a community problem, including design thinking, scrum/lean methodology, market research, pitch and demo presentations, and computer programming principles such as loops, conditionals, variables, and databases again while mentored on projects of their own design by industry and academic women-in-STEM. Clubs: (1) Grinds, year round, senior cycle and exam support is provided on a fortnightly basis by university students imparting techniques for studying and improving habits and following NCCA curriculum materials; (2) Groundwork, year round, participants engage in ongoing person centered planning activities through monthly sessions conducted online by trained mentors who work with beneficiaries to develop plans that establish individual goals and what is needed in terms of support to achieve them with additional quarterly personal development workshops-this activity is particularly effective with those from our cohort who have disabilities. Term Break Camps (1) Incubators, during autumn and winter mid-term breaks, teams from our afterschool who produce work that could go into production/to market or, at the very least, be developed into a minimal viable product learn about and work on a strategy for commercializing their inventions or apps; (2) Devising Week, during Easter break, 'devising' for participants means to plan or invent for a four day period when learning skills, mentoring and career experience are combined to deliver instruction in using technologies to problem solve in ways that are relevant to and currently being done in industry. Alumnae Opportunities: girls who have completed secondary school can participate in offerings that are designed to be social and enable the building of support and professional networks including debate and discussion events, scholarship information and application workshops, CV, job hunt and interview training, study habits bootcamps, and "give-back" mentoring days. Teen-Turn works with school representatives, including school completion officers and guidance counselors, to identify girls with promise who lack the confidence or are challenged by home circumstances, learning difficulties, or other obstacles (including ASD) that prevent them from performing in school as well as they potentially can. Conscious that these at-risk girls have high attrition and low post-secondary education progression rates, our approach is both immersive and followed up with reinforcement along what we call the 'Junior Cert to Job' route. An important component to this intervention is that each girl interacts regularly with women-in-STEM mentors as learning in the presence of female role models has been shown to impact girls' self-image and confidence, encouraging them to see themselves in new ways and stimulate new interests. We also provide recurring skill training and personal development opportunities. ***** Teen-Turn seeks impact over impression, distinguishing itself by committing to support participants through multiple stages--secondary school, third level, and career--to combat the high drop-out rate which affects our beneficiary group. Teen-Turn focuses on long-term results through its 'Junior Cert to job' support system. We are on track to increase the number of disadvantaged girls entering third level/acquiring jobs by 1,000 by 2021 and expect to continue at a rate of at least 300 per year. Within five years we will have provided a significant number of disadvantaged girls in Ireland the social capital and skills experience necessary to acquire STEM qualifications and career opportunities. The impact is this development of a local talent pool of skilled women who can thrive in a STEM career environment from whom companies can hire. Resultant, too, is the knock on effect of their presence as role models to girls from their own communities. Our Theory of Change envisages this impact as reaching even further than broadening inclusion in STEM. In addition to the likelihood of participants finding meaningful employment in STEM, changing their own and possibly their families' standard of living, there are other possibilities. Because of the enterprise programming to which the participants are exposed and the frequent feedback reiterating an interest in starting a business, some Teen-Turn beneficiaries will start their own companies, becoming employers themselves. The qualifications attained combined with the professional network developed should position these individuals to succeed. Also, as a factor of a skills shortage is staff turnover, employee retention will be improved by there being a talent pool from which to draw who has ties to the neighboring communities. Lastly, studies indicate that when those from disadvantage are empowered to become active citizens, they also become powerful self advocates. It is our expectation that future policy makers and community lobbyists will emerge from our cohort, already evident on a few of the girls' blogs.

We strive to build & strengthen the capacity of the communities and empower the people particularly poor, marginalized and excluded to address their development needs through integration and coordination at local, provincial and national level. Objectives: 1. Conflict Resolution and Promotion of Peace & tolerance in the society 2. Empower deprived segments of society Women, Minorities, Children, Laborer and peasants to secure their basic rights. 3. To advocate for provision/Improvement of Education, Health, clean drinking water and sanitation facilities. 4. To work for promotion of human rights specifically of women, minorities, labor and peasants rights 5. To promote the democratic values and political education and struggle for Empowered Local Governments 6. To work for Climate Resilient society Approach: A participatory approach is followed towards socio- economic and political development of communities. Local knowledge and wisdom is on priority basis and sense of ownership is promoted among the target communities. STRATEGIES: SDA has implemented integrated strategy for the development and empowerment of deprived communities. Following strategies have been adopted for the intervening: Committees of SDA on Thematic Areas to analyze the issues, plan and implement program. Social Mobilization Capacity building Technical and financial support Research and knowledge building Advocacy and Networking Targeting poor and most deprived communities Focusing specially on women, children and farmer's development and empowerment Networking and Cooperation Strengthening local groups and other CSOs through providing capacity building opportunities VALUES: Following values are kept as belief at the centre in all our decisions and functions: Religious and cultural freedom Equal Learning's opportunities for all Peace, tolerance and democracy Gender equality and equity Participatory decision making Transparency and accountability Thematic Focus: Our all programs are scrutinized with the lens of Gender and environment which are the cross cutting theme in all the activities. Organization works in the following thematic area; 1. Democracy, Governance & Social Services 2. Human Rights 3. Peace & Tolerance 4. Environment Protection

Feed The World's mission is to empower poor smallholder farm families to feed themselves and provide for the future through sustainable farming. Guiding Principles - Seeds of Dignity and Hope are planted in the hearts of our smallholder farm families as they work together to provide for themselves and build a better future. Transparency & Accountability means that we will do exactly what we promise to do in the communities we serve and that we will be open and honest with our donors in communicating how funds are being used. Lasting Self Reliance is achieved as families obtain sufficient knowledge and education, manage resources wisely, and prepare for the future so that they will continue to thrive after our support ends. Sustainable Farming is practiced by smallholder farm families as they plan, plant, and harvest food for themselves and their livestock, while building human capacity to recognize and enhance the efficient use of their natural resources. Nutrition & Income are the core benefits to smallholder farm families as they grow and produce foodstuffs that provide for a nutritionally balanced diet on an economically sustainable basis. Scientifically Proven Methodology guides the implementation of agricultural best practices with our smallholder farm families and on our demonstration farms. We also support further scientific research through partnerships with universities, governments, and other non-governmental organizations (NGO's). Mutual Respect is the goal of our in-country agronomists, nutritionists, and animal scientists as they interact with smallholder farm families, seeking to understand the "why" behind traditional practices, and always exploring new possibilities. Training & Education in sustainable farming, nutrition, food preparation, and hygiene are key to ensuring that lasting self reliance is achieved by smallholder farm families. Honoring Culture means that our programs work within the local cultural framework to empower and educate smallholder farm families without imposing an outside culture on them. Family Focus involves both women and men in all aspects of decision making, training, and education; and keeps children and parents united and working together on their land. Feeding the Spirit means that while Feed the World does not identify itself with one particular religion or belief system, we honor the spirituality of all human beings and serve all program participants irrespective of their beliefs or social station. Pay It Forward means that we expect our smallholder farm families to pass on their seeds, stock, and knowledge to other families in need once they have successfully provided for themselves.

Odibu Foundation mission seeks to provide mobile healthcare to address the problem of poor health access in Nigeria at no cost to patients. We seek to provide care for transmissible diseases such as HIV, as well as conditions like diabetes and hypertension. We are also concerned with providing specialized care for family planning. This would include access to free birth control, as well as pre-natal and post-natal care and care for infants. The social problem to be addressed: The communities in Northern Cross River State, due to lack of knowledge, information and orientation in health and hygiene the grass root level villagers cannot understand the need of immunization, importance of growth monitoring, technique of low cost nutritious food preparation, different methods of birth control, spacing between two children, importance using sanitary or pit type latrine, preparation of safe drinking water, maintenance of personal hygiene and disposal of waste products from the home and practices to maintain good health. In fact sound health deteriorates here with the increase of superstition and wrong method of treatment. So the incidence of maternal mortality, child mortality, morbidity, dehydration and malnutrition rate and other infectious diseases are quite high as per our community diagnosis. The existing Dai are not qualified so they cannot diagnosis in the case of high-risk pregnancies properly. The quacks are not trained. They depend on limited indigenous knowledge. The diversity and multiplicity of the problem can be decreased with some comprehensive program in this matter. At the time of feeling pain, they have to take to distant primary health center but on the way the pregnant women face great problem. Sometime the pregnant women are compelled to give birth their children under the open sky. So most of the patients have to go to town but some of them die in the street. Health care in Nigeria is not accessible, affordable, or high+quality as the residents of Nigeria deserve. Nigeria has one of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the world.16% of children die before their fifth birthday from complete preventable diseases like malaria and diarrhea. When treatment is many miles away, it is expensive to get to it, and many Nigerians simply cannot afford to get to a hospital or do not have transportation. Our foundation is dedicated to relieving the suffering and uncertainty of Nigeria children and underprivileged people. These individuals become victim to the shackle of poverty where the simplest necessities of life such as food, healthcare, shelter, clean water, sanitation and hygiene are often not within their reach.

I - Enable the integral promotion of the human person, promoting education and cultural development through action and socio-community education, in activities inherent to the interest of agriculture, especially regarding the sustainable development and social elevation of the family farmer from the spiritual-ethical-ecological, intellectual, technical, health and economic point of view; II - Encourage, through education, entrepreneurial attitudes of rural youth, their families and communities, contributing to the access to the generation of work and income, as well as providing continuous formation processes of Alternation Educators / Monitors of Agricultural and Family Schools and several publics, with a view to contributing to mobilization of popular empowerment and emancipation in the complex sociocultural reality of the Brazilian countryside; III - Ensure that the formation and animation activities of the EFAs are articulated and integrated with the promotion and sustainable development projects in which they are inserted; IV - To promote, as its predominant activity, a contextualized and differentiated education, serving as a maintaining institution to regulate, manage, raise funds, represent and manage the operation of the Santa Cruz do Sul Family Farm School - EFASC, which may offer teaching courses High School and Vocational High School, as well as initial and continuing education, complementary and technical specializations of Rural Professional Learning, following the principles of the CEFFAs Network - Family Centers for Alternating Training in Brazil, with universality of service, scholarships and benefits related to school transportation, uniforms, teaching materials, housing and food; V - Providing, conducting, executing and encouraging initial and ongoing processes of training for Alternating Educators / Family School Teachers and EFA association members; VI - Promote a quality education, contextualized, differentiated and focused on the rural environment, in accordance with the foundations and principles of the CEFFAs Network, with a Pedagogy of Alternation methodology and appropriate to the Law of Guidelines and bases of National Education (LDB No. 9,394) / 1996) and the National Plan of Current Education (PNE), as well as Decree No. 7352, of November 4, 2010 and other normative instruments of field education and relevant legislation; VII - Recognize the knowledge of family farmers and the community, recognize their role as alternative educator, seek and promote the construction of theoretical / practical knowledge from the local reality of youth and the harmful and sustainable development in activities related to agriculture, currently the education and training of young people, families and the community; VIII - Encourage, carry out and promote the organization and mobilization of farmers and the youth of Family Farming in order to gain their rights and access to public policies; IX - Promote moral and ethical values, valuing the spirit of solidarity, respecting the environment, promoting gender equity and analysis, ethnicity and patterns of group types, valuing cultural diversity and any nature; X - Develop the attendance and evaluation of the beneficiaries of the Organic Law of Social Assistance - LAAS, their defense and guarantee of their rights. Promote social assistance - serving all stakeholders, including: children, adolescents, young people, adults, men, women, the elderly, people with disabilities and all minorities in society; XI - Educational institution service to create, integrate, regulate, accredit, administer, covenant, fundraise, use, organize, maintain and use education resources at any level, including higher education - both undergraduate and postgraduate - University graduate. It may be offered or in partnership or cooperation with other universities;

Our mission is to help ordinary people in crisis. Our experiences of visiting orphanages in Haiti convinced us that we could make a difference and at the very least we should try. Utilizing the wide range of skills of our volunteers in focused and efficient project delivery allows us to directly improve life for Haiti's vulnerable children. We are a non-denominational, non-governmental and non-political organisation. All the work carried out is on a voluntary basis, with the team giving freely of their time and expertise. Fundraising is channeled into project costs including materials, labour costs and equipment. All volunteers pay their own flight and accommodation costs. There are no salaries or administration costs and as a result, 100% of all donations go directly to our projects in Haiti. From August 2011 to Easter 2015 we had been working on an island off the south coast of Haiti called Ill A Vache at the l'Oeuvre St. Francois D'Assises Orphanage. The orphanage is home to 70 children, thirty of whom are severely disabled and upwards of twenty need daily physiotherapy treatment. During our time there, ESPWA planned and completed a number of different projects at the orphanage including an extension to the physiotherapy room, a medical room extension, a washroom, showers and toilets, wheelchair access paths and ramps, and general building works. We also shipped a restored tractor and trailer, plough, harrow and concrete mixer to the island and donated it to the orphanage. All of our projects employ local men and women to help with the work, with the intention of training and also creating employment and income for the local village and surrounding areas. Great friendships have been forged over the years, through broken English, Haitian Creole and French. Since Easter 2015 ,our volunteers have travelled at least twice a year to another Orphanage in Kenscoff, high up in the mountains over Port au Prince, run by Gena Heraty, a Mayo native, and improved the infrastructure within by putting in place 100s of cubic metres of wheelchair access paths and ramps. There are over 300 children and young adults living in the orphanage with more than 40 children with severe disabilities. We have a huge programme of work ongoing for this orphanage and will have for years to come. As part of this programme , as of October 2022, we have sent 40 container loads of much needed humanitarian aid , medical supplies and a wide range of vital equipment to our friends in Haiti and when emptied the containers have been converted into a house, classroom, outreach centre, clinic and storage lockup. The total cost of buying , filling and transporting a container is approximately 10,000 and any help you can give us either as an individual ,employee matching scheme or Corporate support would be most appreciated. Please remember we are all Volunteers , we have no employees , Volunteers pay ALL of their own expenses such as flights and accommodation so every cent you donate goes to those who need it most. For more information on the work we do, and how YOU can help, please visit Facebook page : Project ESPWA (Haiti Orphanage Project Espwa )or www.projectespwa.ie (www.4haiti.ie)

Who We Are: The need for a grassroots organization that would galvanize communities across Africa to positively contribute towards sustainable management of natural resources was an idea born out of a discussion by a group of environment and natural resource management practitioners gathered in Arusha Tanzania in 2010. The idea was subsequently shared with other like-minded individuals and culminated in the formation and subsequent registration of Africa Nature Organization as Non-Governmental Organization on the World Wetlands Day 2nd February 2012 in Kenya. Our focus has been to promote sustainable environmental and natural resource management best practices among grassroots communities working closely with civil society organizations, private sector actors and Government. Our Vision: A well-managed environment and natural resource base benefiting People and Wildlife. Our Mission: To enhance sustainable management of environment and natural resources by empowering grassroots communities, supporting development of effective natural resource management instruments, promotion of green innovations and the advancement of wise-use practices. Programmes: Our work is organized around three themes. These are conservation, people's organizations and livelihoods. 1. Environmental Education and Awareness Sustained environmental education and awareness campaigns have been known to change the behavior and attitudes of stakeholders towards environment and natural resources. Africa Nature Organization environmental education and awareness campaigns target both the young and the old through targeted campaigns such as the Young People4Nature Initiative, environmental demonstrations, environmental days, cross-site visits, workshops and seminars are some of the activities in this category. 2. Conservation of Species and Habitats With the threat of species extinction and habitat loss aggravated by climate change, Africa Nature Organization has taken a special interest in the conservation of species and habitats through rehabilitation, restoration and protection. Afforestation on terrestrial areas, coral transplant in marine ecosystems, dyke construction, development of management plans, support for community guards to protect and monitor species and habitats are some of the activities undertaken to reduce species and habitat loss. 3. Enterprise-led Conservation (ECO) Communities for ages have depended on natural resources for their livelihoods. However, with dwindling natural resource base due to extraction of natural resources for commercial purposes, population increase and climate changes, communities have trapped in a vicious cycle of destroying environment and natural resources for survival. To stem this downward spiral, Africa Nature Organization works with grassroots communities to empower them with business skills and knowledge to initiate nature-friendly enterprises and link them with markets. 4. Research and Innovation for Conservation (RI-Conserve): Relevant information to undertake important decisions regarding natural resources has been an impediment to sustainable management of environment and natural resources. This has been more profound with grassroots communities and organizations, including government, working to empower them to sustainably manage environment and natural resources. To bridge the information gap, Africa Nature Organization undertakes research and develops innovative ways of overcoming environmental challenges facing communities, civil society organizations, private organizations and governments. Baseline surveys, environmental impact assessments, documentation of indigenous knowledge on biological resources, and innovative mobile technology for conservation are some of the activities undertaken in this category. 5. Conservation Communication (COCO): Communicating conservation information to relevant stakeholders is key in to their engagement and involvement in our conservation effort. Conservation Communication maintains stakeholder interest through: Newsletter, Development and distribution of environmental documentaries, Production of other education, information and communication materials.

The HERD (Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation and Development) TRUST was established in 2021 following a 24-year journey in caring for elephants that have been displaced or orphaned due to human-elephant conflict. With the growing numbers of orphans and displaced elephant calves in recent years, due to rampant poaching of elephant mothers as well as human-elephant conflict, Adine Roode, HERD Founder, took the step to build an elephant orphanage in South Africa, to provide an adoptive family structure for calves in need. The HERD Orphanage was built in 2019 in response to a growing number of young orphaned elephant calves that need a place of rehabilitation and more importantly, an existing herd that will accept them unconditionally. The Jabulani Herd is now a family of 16 elephants, of which 11 are orphans and five that were born to the herd over 10 years ago. In 2004 the lodge, Jabulani, was built to sustain the herd, with proceeds from tourism assisting with the care and management of the rescued herd. In 2021 a decision was made to move the Jabulani herd and the HERD Homestead operations (formally known as the Jabulani stables) together with the HERD Orphanage, under the umbrella of the HERD Trust which is a registered PBO Number 930072153. This allows for public funding to ensure the well-being of all the elephants. The HERD Trust also commits to being active within our local communities through education and awareness, as well as our online communities, bringing a global audience together to educate a larger audience about the elephant species and the essential conservation efforts undertaken by various organisations around the world. It is our mission through HERD (Hoedspruit Elephant Rehabilitation and Development), South Africa's first and only dedicated elephant orphanage, to rehabilitate orphaned elephants from the traumatic or near-fatal challenges that have caused them to be abandoned. It is our mission to give them a second chance of life with a herd, as the social and complex nature of the species requires that they live within a herd for their own wellbeing. Our objectives are to provide a safe rehabilitation alternative for elephant orphans that prioritises the long-term well-being of the elephants. To establish a strategy and long-term plan for elephant rehabilitation through rewilding that includes ways to mitigate the long-term chronic stress of releasing elephants directly into the wild when, as orphans, they don't have a proper social structure. The focus is on building the orphans' ability to deal with a wild system independently, in such a way that allows them to develop that capacity at a reasonable pace, and within a stable and nurturing system. Thus, the rewilding of captive elephants that takes elephant biology and local context into account. Our principals underpinning the approach: a. Emphasis and focus on the rehabilitation and rewilding as both short and long-term objectives, that considers the social and sentient nature of elephants, their longevity, and the need for their learning and social development to take place in a protective, nurturing, and safe context and environment. b. Take into account the importance of social learning, bonding, and role building for orphans by creating a novel system of responsibly wilding or reintegrating elephants. c. It is unethical to simply release orphans into the wild without the opportunity for them to develop a robust social decision-making and behavioural system, within a structured support system, that people can, and have the obligation to, provide. d. Creating sustainable wellbeing for orphan elephants, responsible and transparent mechanisms to support direct costs attached to handraising and caring of elephants, and the herd into which they will be introduced, and which is engaged with broader society. e. Run an ethical, accredited, and credible operation, with a fully constituted ethics committee, and with an advisory committee with the appropriate expertise. f. Recognize the existence value of elephants for broader society, and to take on the custodianship role (all animals are under the custodianship of all people), on behalf of broader society, so that people know that animals are being protected and supported in an ethical way that gives people a sense of humaneness and humanity - this is one of our global values. g. Based on a long-term strategy for rewilding of orphan elephants that enhances wellbeing, and takes into consideration their longevity, and the long-term responsibility that we collectively have as a society to caring for orphaned elephants through their entire lifetime. h. Enhance and expand the contribution of elephants to human social and economic development, and human livelihoods and wellbeing, especially in the local region. i. Not causing unnecessary suffering or harm; j. There is no breeding of captive elephants. k. New orphans increase the wellbeing of the Jabulani elephant herd by improving the social structure of the herd, and providing the conditions for natural social interactions and processes. l. Introduction of calves can play a positive role in the emotional wellbeing and behaviour of the Jabulani herd, and the herd provides the most humane mechanism to reintegrate orphans into elephant society that is available. m. There is no promoting the removal of any babies from the wild. n. It is not the first choice to have captive elephants, and we understand the risks posed by the complex social nature of elephants. o. There are clear specific criteria for taking orphans for rehabilitation, such as when orphans are the direct consequence of human interference and human created problems, such as poaching. p. Elephants are only accepted as a results of confiscation, donation, or rescue and approved by, official government agencies. All orphans accepted are properly permitted. q. We do not promote, base, or drive the operation on creating a market for orphans. Orphans are accepted in the interests of the orphans, as such, and not to have any resale value. r. The Jabulani herd was rescued from a perilous situation, and are being provided with a protected and comfortable environment, that meets their biological and social requirements within the limitations of a previously tamed herd. s. The commitment to the Jabulani herd is to ensure their wellbeing for their natural lives.

ENVIRO CRIME SOLUTIONS is primarily involved in the protection and conservation of Rhino in Africa. Our entire existence is based on saving rhino which is on the IUCN list of threatened species (White Rhino) and the IUCN Endangered species list (Black Rhino) RHINO POACHING FORENSICS The basic principles of a poaching scene is exactly the same as any other crime scene with the exception of course that the "victim" is a 2.5 ton animal. Enviro Crime Solutions specifically specializes in the gathering of forensic evidence on rhino poaching scenes. (although we often are involved in other poaching incidents such as pangolin and abalone poaching.) THE OBJECTIVES AND GOALS OF FORENSIC INVESTIGATIONS Processing the crime scene for evidence gathering. Gathering criminal evidence such as fingerprints and human DNA Determining the time & way the animal died Building criminal cases against individuals or possibly syndicates Gathering rhino DNA thru the RhODIS system. Linking cases to other investigations. (Intelligence Mapping) THE BASICS OF A FORENSIC INVESTIGATION The easiest way to describe a forensic investigation into poaching is to refer to the popular TV series CSI. With one or two rather big exceptions. When a rhino is poached the most common scenario happens as follows 1. Ranger patrols will find the carcass and in many cases give pursuit of the suspects. 2. Regardless of whether a suspect is arrested the forensic team will "process" the crime scene. 3. All forensic evidence and material will be categorized and handed to the investigating officer who will add it to the evidence as part of the case file (docket). 4. The rhino DNA will be taken and processed into the RhODIS rhino DNA database. PROJECT LOCATION The primary area of our work is the south Eastern Part of South Africa in and around the Kruger National Park which hosts 75% of the rhino population of the world. We do on occasion work in areas away from the park but this is dictated on needs basis where other law enforcement is not available. YOUTH CONSERVATION EDUCATION At ENVIRO CRIME SOLUTIONS we realize that the battle that we are in for the protection of rhino is a long term one. It is critical that a next generation of conservationists can continue the battle one day when we are not there anymore. With this in mind we devised an education structure by which we could target individual learners who have shown a previous disposition and hunger for natural sciences and conservation. The aims of our programs are not only to show these learners their natural heritage but to work with them in a long term relationship whereby they can have access to practical experience which in normal circumstances they would never have been able to experience. This means that we target fewer learners but the ones that we do assist gets assistance over an extended period of time and hopefully later on access to bursaries and education program where they can study conservation at a tertiary level. The entire aim of the program is holistic in nature and strives to assist learners up to the level where they are qualified to be good conservationists. OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY OF OUR EDUCATION PROGRAMS Targeted approach with a view to continuous support Exposing learner to opportunities that otherwise would have been impossible to get Target disadvantaged communities / learners Learners must be from communities around the parks Assist learners with possible scholarships or educational assistance We believe that our approach will make a difference to the lives of those that we try to help. We look for a passion in the students that we take into our care. It is that passion that drives us at Enviro Crime Solutions and we want to work with people that have the same passion. Conservation is not just a job. It is in your heart and we search for those that have that same passion. PROJECT LOCATION & BENEFICIARIES Our education programs focus specifically on the youth around the Kruger National Park. The area is specific problems in socio economic status and inequality with little or no access to tertiary education and/or opportunities to these. PROJECT RESULTS / IMPACT It is no secret that we are in the fight of our lives to safe rhino. The work that ENVIRO CRIME SOLUTIONS does is different in that it is almost exclusively reactive in nature. Although it is different from the traditional conservation methods and practice it still fulfills a critical role in the overall rhino protection plan. ENVIRO CRIME SOLUTIONS has attended to more than 400 poaching scenes. This equates to 400 + rhino DNA entered into the RhODIS DNA system and a host of successful convictions of poachers due to the evidence that was gathered by our staff. We have educated more than 2500 school children on rhino poaching and the value of having rhino and the natural heritage that they stand for. Our work is often reactive but nonetheless critical. For as long as there is poaching we will be continuing the fight against poaching. Our work never stops which and it is very hard to quantify our impact in terms of animals saved and the overall impact on rhino number. What we do know is that without our work the damage to rhino populations would be catastrophic. WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS It is no secret that we are in the fight of our lives to save rhino. The work that ENVIRO CRIME SOLUTIONS does is different in that it is almost exclusively reactive in nature. We know that our work is most likely never going to stop. This is not work that has a start and end date in the traditional conservation methodology. We are fully aware of the current situation and we believe that this is one of the aspects that sets us apart. WE WILL NEVER STOP. We are an incredibly dedicated people with willpower and tenacity like few others. Regardless of the incredible difficult and often disheartening situations that we find ourselves in we believe that we play a critical role in the fight against rhino poaching. Our lives are built around this and we sacrifice a tremendous amount to do what we do. We do all we can to do more and more. Having the support of others will enable us to do even more. COMMUNICATION & PUBLIC AWARENESS We visit schools as part of our education programs and ensure that there is ample publicity for our work. We actively visit companies and other institutions and raise awareness of our work and the plight of rhino (See example of letter of recommendation from WCEC) We host classes at Universities - Specifically Forensics, Nature Sciences and Tourism We host several corporate Initiatives where we show corporate entities how they can get involved in saving rhino