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Charity and Voluntary Sector
DWP: Over £1m has now been awarded as part of a programme to help bolster small grassroots disability organisations, the Minister for Disabled People, Esther McVey announces last week. The programme is now set to be extended to Northern Ireland so that other organisations can benefit from the £3m fund which was launched last summer.
The Disabled Peoples User Led Organisations (DPULO) programme is making a significant difference to grassroots organisations and their local communities through awards from the Facilitation Fund to organisations such as the Communication for Blind and Disabled People. Any organisations wishing to bid for money for specific projects and help shape the future provision for disabled people can do so by visiting the website.
BHF: A new map showing death rates from heart & circulatory disease among older people has highlighted a growing gap between our richest & poorest communities. BHF's Hearty Lives programme is helping to tackle inequalities across the UK through local partnership working & tailored projects for those who need them the most.
VSO: A new health policy protecting the rights of community caregivers will help tens of thousands of women caring for people with HIV, Zimbabwe’s Deputy Prime Minister Ms Thokozani Khupe said at a conference hosted by VSO last week in Pretoria, South Africa.
The Ministry of Health in Zimbabwe plans to implement the policy from the beginning of 2013 by training carers, providing them with health kits and recognising their right to remuneration. They will also be working with NGOs & community organisations to mobilise men to care for the sick, reducing the burden on women.
VSO Regional AIDS Initiative of Southern Africa (VSO RAISA) has called for this policy since 2010. The organisation is campaigning across southern Africa and hopes that similar policies could be introduced in Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa. A conference on 21 November 2012 will bring together the health ministers & parliamentarians from the 6 countries to encourage them to develop similar policies to Zimbabwe.
BIG: A global children’s charity has received close to £500,000 from the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) to protect girls at risk of forced marriage & female genital mutilation in Sierra Leone. Plan UK is among 6 projects sharing over £2.6m funding from Big Lottery Fund’s International Communities programme, which supports projects tackling the causes of poverty and deprivation and the impact they have on people’s lives.
