Paul Miller

Paul was already involved in campaigning on issues of poverty, human rights and the environment with the student campaigning group People and Planet (formerly Third World First), when he heard about the opportunity to visit Bangladesh with GP in 1998, in a programme co-ordinated with Christian Aid. The visit provided him with invaluable first-hand experience overseas and, coinciding with the devastating monsoon floods in Bangladesh that year, meant that Paul was able to give an eye-witness account of the situation on regional television on his return.

He continues to be very effective in his involvement with the social and environmental justice movement, recently running workshops and debates at the People and Planet national conference and taking a leading role in Jubilee 2000 activities. He is currently taking part in the Forum for the Future Scholarship Programme with a view to long-term involvement in this field.

Liz Hendry

Jubilee 2000 Scotland Coordinator, found that a GP Bangladesh visit, run together withChristian Aid, gave her unique insights which have given invaluable help in her subsequent work on the debt issue. It was the first time she had witnessed such extreme poverty, and yet what stays with her is the resilience of the Bangladesh people.

The experience underlined for her the need to address the structural causes of poverty, such as debt, something which she has since been able to communicate to a huge audience through her work.

Christian Aid

As one of the most important British International Development NGOs, Christian Aid supports a large programme in Kenya. A major partner organisation of Christian Aid is the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) and ACK's local partner Christian Community Services (CCS): See below.

Ali Kirkby

visited Kenya with GP for 5 weeks in 1999, experiencing the work of Christian Community Services, a Christian Aid partner. A particular interest for her was their use of drama for communicating messages about development, human rights and so on.

Now back in the UK, she is visiting Scottish churches with the Christian Aid Communications Officer, doing presentations and leading workshops in drama. She was very involved in One World Week events and helped support the profile of such issues by encouraging others to attend Jubilee 2000 events.

Ali has followed up her interest through her studies in 'Drama for Development' involving her in dissertation work and leading seminars. She has done presentations, aimed at raising awareness of development, at local churches, her College Chapel and Christian Union, as well as some volunteer work at her local Development Education Centre.

Kakamega

Christian Community Services (CCS)

Christian Community Services started in 1994, and its aim is to train and empower the people who form the grass roots, educating them to highlight and tackle development problems in the area. The focus therefore is very much on community development and empowerment, using participatory techniques.

Since its establishment, CCS has developed activities in four different areas of the country: Mountain, Sugar, Lake and Eastern areas, and is supporting a wide range of activities such as: agricultural production, income generating projects, small rotating credit schemes, community health care, and environmental conservation.

Safieh Habibi

went to Kenya with GP for five weeks. She described her stay as 'the most fantastic experience of my life'.

Prior to her trip to Kenya, Safieh was actively involved in working at a hostel for the homeless. She was keen to gain a greater understanding of the different types of poverty that exist within the world and the underlying reasons for it.

Safieh witnessed projects with a range of activities such as gender awareness, HIV/AIDS prevention, and agricultural development. Some of these had recently been initiated, and others had been running for over six years. She took notice of the positive improvements of living standards that many families have experienced with the help of Christian Community Services (CCS). Through her trip to Kenya, Safieh believes that she encouraged people to believe in themselves which in turn motivated them to help themselves.

In the UK, she is looking forward to raising awareness about development and poverty issues in various organisations, for example the local rotary club. At the same time, she wants to use her experiences to help motivate those in the hostel where she works.

Work-Based Learning Activities 

Visiting various rural development programmes and support their work (eg. involvement in classes, agricultural work, small-scale local industries, health work). Being involved in drama/theatre sessions in a community awareness raising project.

Gaynor Marsden

Gaynor visited Kenya with Global Perspective in 1997 in a programme developed in collaboration with Christian Aid. For years she had taken an interest in these issues, but felt that she needed the first-hand experience which would enable her to understand the reality and pass that on.

She spent 3 weeks visiting a variety of projects focused on development, health and strengthening the poorest in society. On return she worked voluntarily in Christian Aid's North-West (of England) office, and then as a schools volunteer for Christian Aid, running lessons on 'Global Citizenship' based on her experiences.

Now re-trained and qualified as an RE teacher, she continues to communicate those same important messages to her pupils. She finds it a real challenge to keep on getting the message across, but is very glad she decided to make that initial visit to Kenya with GP...

San José-COSTA RICA

COOCAFE

COOCAFE is the Coffee Growers Co-operatives Consortium from Guanacaste and Montes de Oro and operates as a second level co-operative. COOCAFE works to provide integrated solutions to business and development challenges for its nine cooperative members. COOCAFE was founded in 1988 with support of the German government. COOCAFE works to directly benefit 3500 coffee growers in the nine co-operatives, located in rural areas of Costa Rica. The average farm is 1.3 hectares. Indirectly, daily activity and special projects benefit to 15.500 people.

The overall goal of COOCAFE is to create sustainable development for its members, combining the resources and products of the nine co-operatives.

The objectives are:

• Develop and consolidate the products and resources of its members in stable markets and with fair prices
• Achieve financial self sufficiency within each member co-operative and of COOCAFE as a whole
• Establish a modern and efficient management system which permits the optimum allocation of human and financial resources to enhance benefits for the members, strengthening them to cope with external changes.

For more information, please visit their web-site: www.coocafe.com

Monteverde Institute, Costa Rica

The Monteverde Institute was established in 1986 by local residents and offers community-based educational courses. It aims to find solutions to local problems with educational programs and through the efforts of community volunteers. The Institute is surrounded by rich bio-diversity, found in areas such as the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, the Santa Elena Reserve and the Bosque Eterno de los Ninos (The Childrens Eternal Forest). Over one-third of Costa Rica's flora can be found in the Monteverde Zone, the Institute therefore offers excellent opportunities to gain appreciation and knowledge of the environment.

Since 1999, Global Perspective has been working in partnership with the Monteverde Institute. The established link has given student volunteers the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica to work in villages with local development programmes, creating cross-cultural relationships and breaking down stereotypes. This April, a group of ten students from Chester College participated for a month in a 'home stays' programme: living and working with local families. The programme enabled the students to become more environmentally aware and to explore issues such as sustainable development, eco-tourism and community-based resource management. For more information, please see www.mvinstitute.org

Matt Tomson

Matt went to Costa Rica for five weeks as part of his BEd course with GP. It was the geographical context of the country that initially sparked his interest, as Costa Rica is a country widely used in the primary school geography syllabus. Matt anticipated that his experience in Costa Rica would be invaluable to him within the classroom as he was well aware that nothing beats hands on experience.

Whilst in Costa Rica, he worked on a communal farm and got involved in weeding, sowing and a tree nursery. He also painted the local clinic and community centre. Apart from that, Matt also went on excursions to the cloud forest, the Arenal volcano and a wildlife reserve.

He plans to visit schools and churches in the autumn term to talk about his experiences. He also believes that his future pupils will benefit greatly from his experience as he can incorporate it into many areas of the syllabus. The volcano, for example, is an excellent example of a natural hazard and the farming methods used are real examples of sustainable agricultural development. Matt described how his trip to Costa Rica ‘was different from anything he’d experienced before’.

Work-Based Learning Activities 

(for year two students Chester College):

Being involved in environmental conservation activities (eg. tree planting, construction of wind breaks), helping out at the community farm (planting, harvesting of coffee and vegetables), visit various nature reserves in the Monteverde Region, and living with local residents

Moyabamba-PERU

Luke Society (Asociación San Lucas)

A large US-based organisation with one programme in Peru: Asociación San Lucas. They receive funds from Tearfund, UK. The motto of San Lucas is "health professionals in a transforming mission", the name is derived from St Luke who was a doctor. The objective of the Society, set up in 1986, is to "change people's lives by giving them the tools for self-change". Their main focus is on health both in the clinic and in the field, and in preventative rather than curative health. There are three areas of work: clinic, integrated health programme and pastoral health.

The clinic, which is the biggest, is an institutional based programme that focuses on women and children's health. The integrated health programme also focuses on these issues. To back up both of these programmes, there are a number of field-based, supplementary programmes:

• nutrition and gardening

• farming-plants, bees and chickens

• Aids prevention programme

• clean water programme (water and sewage)

• training/environmental awareness raising and nature conservation.

Becky Fairbairn

Becky went to Peru with GP. Before the trip, she had taken an active interest in development and poverty issues, and she was very interested in finding out what Peruvians' expectations of life were.

In Peru, Becky was involved with Asociación San Lucas in Moyobamba who are working with health projects in the surrounding rural areas. She also participated in a series of workshops in villages concerning water purification and conservation, and visited the Annie Soper School where she was involved in drama workshop.

Back in the UK, she is determined to follow a career in development, focusing on health aspects. Becky enjoyed her trip so much that she hopes to return to Moyobamba next summer to visit her friends at San Lucas. She learnt a great deal about the need for grass roots projects and respecting the needs of the community in relation to development. She will be working with GP as an assistant from September.

Work-Based Learning Activities (for year two students at Chester College):

Being involved in activities in the clinic and in the integrated health programme. Working on the environmental awareness raising programme, giving language classes.

Cajamarca

Special Needs School

The school is one of the few special needs schools in Peru and was set up around 40 years ago. The school receives financial and technical support from organisations in Germany.

The school is attended by around 300 special needs children (deaf, blind, learning difficulties, 'Downs syndrome'), providing their education and care. The school has also a farm, a carpentry workshop and various sewing projects for those children with disabilities who have graduated form the school. Another important part of the school is the orphanage for up to 40 children. Finally, there is a café and a shop to help fund the whole project, and to employ some mothers of the special needs children. The products being sold in the shop are made in the workshops.

Louise Swift

Louise went to the Special Needs School in Cajamarca in 2000. During her placement she was involved in the teaching of children with various disabilities. She also worked in the orphanage and participated in some field trips in the surroundings of Cajamarca. After her placement, Louise gave a detailed presentation and slide show to the members of the Chester Business Club, as she was chosen as the Business Club's Year 2000 Youth Ambassador. She is also planning to take up voluntary work at special needs schools in the Chester area to use her new skills and experiences.

Work-Based Learning Activities (for year two students at Chester College):

Being involved in the classes with the special needs children, helping out at the workshop, the café and the shop, giving language classes.