Help the Needy trust

Details

Published on Wednesday, 28 December 2011 20:23

Written by Noor Al-Nakib

Help the Needy is an international relief and development charity, established in 1992, which is primarily dedicated to helping the two most vulnerable groups in society; orphans and widows.

Our work endeavours to fulfil two important objectives. The first is humanitarian via aid, food and healthcare. The second is development, via sustainable projects such as education, training, female-led enterprises, women empowerment and providing permanent shelter.

Our experience in Iraq has now allowed us to expand our humanitarian relief and development work to include other poverty-stricken communities around the world. Help the Needy is currently working with vulnerable groups in Albania, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Iraq, Kosovo, Pakistan and Rwanda.

Empowering Women of Mesopotamia

According to the UN, the Iraqi Red Crescent and Oxfam, the number of widows in Iraq is approximately one million. For many years, Iraqi widows suffered economic downturn as a result of economic sanctions and continuous armed conflict which left them and their families vulnerable and fragile. Over the years widows sold their household possessions and used all their savings to survive the hard times, they are now left with very little or nothing to live on. Help the Needy with the Walk for Iraq are fundraising for a project to develop the existing skills and empower the widows with new skills through practical training so that the women can start working and earning for themselves and their families.

The project started in October 2011 and will continue throughout 2012. It will have four implementing phases. Widows will be selected according to Help the Needy’s selection criteria which can be found below.

Phase one of the project started with distributing/collecting applications, beneficiaries were selected and received kitchen appliances and sewing machines for their small businesses to develop and start training other widows selected by Help the Needy. In phase two Help The Needy will select widows who lack the basic skills providing them with the adequate training through specialised local capacity and skills development organisations. In phase three widows will be placed in practical business training to upgrade their skills to be able to start their own businesses. In phase four, widows with agricultural and farming background will be selected and provided with live stock and training in order to produce their own food and to sell the surplus to the local market and/or in neighbouring areas under the supervision and support of Help the Needy (marketing, awareness and technical assistance).

So far we have raised (17,000GBP); our aim is to reach (20,000GBP). The project will benefit (40) widows in its first year, we hope to continue developing and implementing the project for many years to come and to reach out to as many widows as possible in iraq cities, villages

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