We are currently working with Initiativa Colibri, Sunshine English School, La Mariposa Spanish School, Senang Hati, Ayo Indonesia, and the Phoenix Centre. See below for more information about each of them.
Colibri Arte Infantil began by running youth theatre activities in the northern town of Esteli, aiming to develop young people’s self-confidence using theatre as the principal methodology. The popularity and success of this approach has led to them working with three age groups; each group progresses through different skills and all take part in a popular annual show. The organisation expanded to run craft and sewing workshops for women, to develop their self confidence and provide income generating opportunities. And most recently, they have established a small library in the barrio where the project began, which supports children from 5 to 12 years old.
In a deprived barrio of Esteli, an enterprising local teacher set up English classes for local youngsters. An interpreter and English teacher at a local university, she had learnt her English through a free volunteer-taught programme in Miraflor, a Nature Reserve in the mountains outside Esteli and she wanted others to have a similar opportunity. The classes are ‘free’ but the students participate in community activity, raising funds to deliver packages to those even more needy than themselves. Several of the students now earn a living using their English skills, working in call centres, and even teaching online courses.
La Mariposa is so much more than a Spanish School. It opened in 2005 with the aim of helping local communities through providing sustainable employment, with all profits feeding into activities that grow healthy local communities. Staff are from San Juan de Concepcion, food is local, classes only one part of the entire learning environment. There are and have been many projects and initiatives: establishing an organic garden, reforesting, supporting disabled children and their families, providing after school activities, sterilising local dogs and cats, all within the context of community and environmental justice.
Visit their website to appreciate their impact and the current range of activities, built up over nearly twenty years: www.mariposaspanishschool.com
Yayasan Senang Hati (the Happy Hearts Foundation) was founded by Putu and Ayu, two ladies badly affected by polio since childhood. The organisation now has over 150 disabled members who meet together to learn new skills and give each other mutual support. After several years of gradual progress, generous donations from a Dutch foundation and the New Zealand and Japanese consulates enabled them to build a new day centre and hostel but funding for day to day expenses is still needed and they use our small regular grant to pay the electricity, phone, food and water bills. Thanks to their initiative and energy their art and craft shop, lunch room and motorcycle sidecar tours are now firmly on the tourist trail. People who were once hidden away now have an active social program and several have started small businesses of their own.
Visit their Facebook page here.
The Ayo Indonesia Foundation works to improve basic health and general welfare in rural Manggarai, west Flores. Villagers provide the labour and local materials for projects while the Foundation provides training, organisational support, and imported materials and tools. Our first grant supported toilets and vegetable gardens in Lolang, Poncung and Rondong. We then funded a pilot project to improve coffee harvest volume and quality. This was so successful it has been copied in other villages with funding from a much bigger donor and support from the regional government.
Most recently we supported a programme to address stunting, a serious problem in the local region; almost 43% of under two year olds are stunted. Ayo Indonesia trains local people to travel out to the remote villages to deliver basic knowledge about stunting and the relevant skills for measuring the length/height of children under 2 years old, along with other important and relevant themes such as 1000 days in life, early breast feeding initiative, and the practical skill of soy milk production.
The Phoenix Centre transforms the lives of children with special needs through education, therapies and inclusive activities. They have a Day Centre and an Early Intervention and Rehabilitation Program. They’ve also begun taking in residents at Phoenix Home for the elderly – the fulfilment of another dream! Phoenix Pool and Aqua Centre – a beautiful warm-water swimming pool became fully operational on the 1st of November 2022. Services like these for the disabled and disadvantaged are slowly but surely being developed in Moldova, a country where, historically, these people were just shunted aside and kept out of sight with no hope, no life, no dreams. Their vision all along the way has been that Phoenix would be a model for similar centres throughout the country.
Since the charity was formed in 2007, we have worked with many projects who have become sustainable enough to no longer need our direct, regular, support. There are too many to list in detail here, but examples include:
Yayasan Kasih Peduli Anak
In Kuta, Bali, we helped fund a project giving street children meals, a safe place to sleep and school classes.
Social Change and Development (SCAD)
We supported two self-help groups of gypsy women in Tamil Nadu, India, to install a source of clean water and set up a co-operative.
Caritas Keuskupan Maumere
In the Maumere district of Flores, Indonesia, we provided loans to a small community so they could purchase fishing nets and weaving supplies.
Social Welfare Association of Nepal (SWAN)
We financially supported a women’s group in the village of Bhakunde, Nepal, to set up an income generation project (goat rearing).
Sustainability Partners is registered with the Charity Commission: SUSTAINABILITY PARTNERS – Charity 1119345
