Community Relations - India
The following organisations are supported by British Airways and receive complimentary tickets, cargo and excess baggage.
Action for Street Children
British Airways Action for Street Children is a volunteer programme for British Airways staff. The programme works with three UK based charities; Hope for Children, Task Brasil and The Railway Children.
Teams of British Airways staff volunteers use their annual leave time to visit these projects in India, Bulgaria, Zambia and Brazil. As well as spending time with the children and encouraging the careers, the team brings educational and sports equipment with them. Several tons of donated goods are also sent free of charge to the projects through the generosity of British Airways World Cargo.
Find out more about Action for Street ChildrenActs of Hope Charitable Trust
Acts of Hope is a UK and Indian registered Charity offering 'Hope and Opportunity' to children through education. Founded in 2000, Acts of Hope built its first school near Bangalore offering an education and health care to the poor and most underprivileged children from the surrounding slum and rural villages. It began with 3 teachers and 56 children and has grown to 15 local staff and almost 350 children. Acts of Hope are planning to purchase additional land and construct another primary school together with a new secondary school, to enable the children to have a secondary education. Thanks to a generous donation of computers, a new computer suite has just been opened at the school, giving the children a real hope of improving their futures.
Acts of Hope has begun to support a school in a remote rural village, Krishnaya Palem in Andhra Pradesh, which has 3 teachers, 50 children but no classrooms. Acts of Hope is planning to construct a school in this village in the next two years.
Visit www.actsofhope.org.ukAmber Communities Trust
Amber Communities Trust is a community-based organisation which aims to improve the quality of life for the people of Amber, Rajasthan, India through running an integrated holistic community development programme along Gandhian principles.
This unique approach focuses on bringing about a better quality of life for people in Amber. Projects in education, the environment, health and heritage are therefore linked together. Great care is taken to involve local people and the Government of Rajasthan.
The programme of community development is shaped in the following way. The main projects are grouped into four main topics - education, environment, health and heritage. There are three underlying themes to the work of the Amber Communities Trust: a focus on women and girls, economic uplift and the use of information technology.
Visit www.ambercommunitiestrust.org.ukMotivation
Motivation is an international disability charity working in developing countries to enhance the quality of life of people with mobility disabilities.
India has a population of over one billion people with an estimated proportion of 12 million having a mobility disability. The supply of good quality wheelchairs and the availability of professional services remains unchallenged.
Since 2005 Motivation has worked in partnership with two key disability organisations to upgrade their existing wheelchair services in order to meet the great need in this region. These organisations alone are unable to reach everyone in need of mobility products; therefore Motivation has established the Motivation India Regional Office in Bangalore. Motivation India’s key focus is to build upon the success of its existing partnerships and develop a wheelchair service network throughout India with a range of organisations. Another key aspect of Motivation India’s work is the production of tricycle models and supportive seating products for children with complex postural support needs, such as those experienced by children with cerebral palsy.
Visit www.motivation.org.ukORBIS
45 million people in the world are blind, but 80 percent don’t need to be. A cure is often simple and inexpensive, but in poor countries, help is often out of reach.
ORBIS is a global charity, dedicated to preserving and restoring the sight of the poorest people in the poorest communities across the world. Through its programmes and partnerships, ORBIS creates long-term, lasting solutions to prevent and cure blindness worldwide.
The charity places great emphasis on training local medical staff, strengthening in-country eye care institutions, expanding quality eye care services and preventing eye conditions where the need is greatest.
ORBIS is committed to bringing sight-saving care to the developing world.
Visit www.orbis.orgRailway Children
Railway Children supports children living alone and at risk on the streets, many of whom live on railway platforms. Children arrive alone at railway stations for many reasons; they may be escaping violence or abuse; they may be forced through extreme poverty or have been abandoned or orphaned.
From the moment they reach the platform the children are vulnerable and in grave danger of abuse. In addition to providing the shelter, food, clothing, education and healthcare that are all essential to the child's wellbeing, Railway Children’s ultimate goal is to intervene at the earliest opportunity before an abuser can.
Railway Children aims to stop a runaway child becoming a street child.
Visit www.railwaychildren.org.ukRainforest Concern
Rainforest Concern, established in 1993, focuses on protecting threatened rainforests and the vast biodiversity they contain, together with the indigenous people who still depend on them for their survival. The charity has 18 conservation projects in 12 countries: Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Suriname, Costa Rica, Panama, India, Sri Lanka, Romania and Uganda. British Airways has provided assistance to the charity for over ten years.
Visit www.rainforestconcern.orgSecond Sight
India still has more people unnecessarily blind from cataracts than any other country. The majority of these people live in the rural areas of the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa. Second Sight's experienced volunteer eye-surgeons work alongside local ophthalmic teams in these areas and restore sight to those blinded from cataracts.
Visit www.secondsight.org.ukThe Converging World
The Converging World is a UK based charity whose objectives are to tackle climate change whilst supporting the move towards sustainability. The Converging World model uses donations to create long-term revenue streams that will both reduce CO2 emissions and contribute to sustainable development.
The Converging World invests in renewable energy projects in the developing world and owns wind turbines in India. The turbines produce clean electricity and Gold Standard carbon credits. All of the profits from these investments provide long-term funding for vital health, education and environmental projects around the world.
The Converging World is committed to the provision of long-term development funding for the communities living near its turbines working with a local NGO called SCAD (Social Change and Development). The Converging World has been recognised as a premium project in the carbon market by Gold Standard for its outstanding level of community engagement and the provision of ongoing support.
Visit www.theconvergingworld.orgThe Friends of H.O.P.E
The Friends of H.O.P.E supports the work of The Earth Trust, which works with tribal groups which are often landless and jobless in the Nilgiri Hills, around 8 hours drive from Bangalore.
Many villages are in remote inaccessible locations, with many communities having no access to health care or an education. The communities are encouraged to work the land to adopt bio-diversity and organic farming, with eco-restoration, planting of shola trees, and protection of grassland and water holes.
The overall objective of the project is to create sustainable livelihoods, improve health-care and establish school eco-clubs. There are currently ten eco-clubs influencing their peers and five more eco-clubs are being implemented this year under the education programme.