The following organisations are supported by British Airways and receive complimentary tickets, cargo and excess baggage.
Advantage Africa supports people living in poverty and those stigmatised by disability or HIV/AIDS. In Uganda, the charity particularly works among families headed by single parents or children, usually as a result of AIDS. The project helps these families to access education, improve their health and generate income through small-scale enterprises such as poultry keeping.
Visit www.advantageafrica.org
African Revival runs education and livelihood projects in rural communities in Northern Uganda. The focal-schools programme in Uganda works with schools that have been operating without proper facilities in refugee camps, a problem caused by the twenty-year civil war. The programme builds new school infrastructure and facilities such as teacher housing and student dormitories so that the community can move out of the refugee camps and back to their original villages and the children and teachers do not have to travel large distances to their schools. African Revival also provides resources to the schools and pays for extra teachers to bring down the teacher student ratio of 1:70 which is the government average.
African revival also runs a bee-keeping programme in Uganda so that people can farm and sell honey to earn a living. This is cheap to set up and sustainable and means that people who are trying to re-build their lives in post-war Uganda can learn new skills and support their families back in the community.
Visit www.africanrevival.org
Amigos aims to make a positive difference in the lives of widows, orphans and underprivileged people in sub-saharan Africa. It has a child sponsorship programme which contributes in a targeted way to the cost of primary and secondary education. Amigos also runs Kira Farm Training Centre which offers hands-on skills and a variety of practical training for young people.
Visit www.amigos.org.uk
British Airways supports BGCI's conservation projects all over the world working to enhance the work of botanic gardens for plant diversity conservation, human well-being, environmental education and the threat to plants of climate change. Of the estimated 400,000 plant species in existence today, over 100,000 plant species are currently threatened with extinction and this is expected to increase as global temperatures continue to rise.
In Uganda, information on taxonomy, biodiversity status and sustainable use is being compiled to set priorities for conservation action in East Africa.
The work will prioritise plant species and areas for conservation action and will then demonstrate successful integrated conservation solutions at a local scale. The prioritisation of species will be on the basis of threat and utility, for nutritional and medicinal purposes.
Visit www.bgci.org
Founded in 1999 the charity COME(UK)’s primary purpose is to support the indigenous NGO COME(Uganda) which was established in 1980 and is based in Gulu.
Working in the war torn area of northern Uganda COME (UK) and COME (Uganda) work to create hope and opportunity amongst some of the poorest and most needy people of today’s world. This is done through; safe water provision, health, agriculture, adult literacy, education and small business projects amongst the rural poor and in the Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) camps.
Urban youth work is promoted through the use of sports, music, dance, drama and educational opportunity and support for the disabled is given, particularly to the blind.
Visit www.come.org.uk
The aim of Friends of Mirembe Children's Village is to support the local community in the Wakiso district north of Kampala. The focal point for this is Yurie Yoshimi Primary School founded in 2000 by polio victim Kalyango Kasenene. It is an inclusive school caring for children with disabilities, H.I.V. and orphans in a rural area one hour north of the capital Kampala. The strategic plan for the future is based on sustainability, with a small poultry and dairy farm on the school site as an income-generating project.
Kabubbu Community Library Service was established in 2003 to empower rural Ugandans to move themselves beyond poverty.
The Library contains resources vital for Community Development many supplied by British Airways, which is the major supporter.
Literacy and numeracy classes have made a huge impact on the self-esteem and skills of many illiterates, who now feel able to seek meaningful employment with the help of the Employment Skill Development Clubs affiliated to the Library. Children who are not attending school are offered basic skills education and enrichment activities through the Library Service.
Regular events and competitions organised by the Library stimulate creativity, promote cultural expression and celebrate new skills obtained. This is a Library that has transformed a Community and filled it with hope born from educational opportunities.
As an international charity that supports disabled people in developing countries, Motivation has been working in northern Uganda to support disabled people who have been internally displaced due to civil conflict.
Northern Uganda has recently emerged from one of Africa's longest running conflicts, which has left as many as 1.7 million people displaced and living in internally displaced people's (refugee) camps. While national policy exists to protect disabled people, and while an array of organisations are active in the camps, disabled people's rights are not upheld and as a result they are marginalised, excluded and living in extreme poverty.
Motivation is working to build the capacity of local organisations to include people with mobility disabilities in the many programmes to meet the needs of internally displaced people (refugees) in northern Uganda. To improve the quality of life of people with a spinal cord injury, this project will also provide lifesaving healthcare equipment as well as peer group training where wheelchair users teach other wheelchair users essential independent living and healthcare skills.
Visit www.motivation.org.uk
Quicken Trust is focused on showing love in action to the community in Kabubbu, Uganda. Many in the community live in extended destitute families and have orphaned children.
The Quicken Trust aims to demonstrate love through the provision of the resources they lack and to assist the community in training and acquiring the knowledge and skills they need. They also work to enable the Kabubbu community to sustain the projects commenced through the Quicken Trust including a School for orphaned children, a community health centre, clean water supply, a library and adult literacy centre and community housing for the destitute, material and spiritual resources and a tourism project.
Visit www.quickentrust.com
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.org
The Tag Rugby Development Trust is a rugby-based charity that was formed in 2002. It exists to help improve the lives of children in some of the poorest regions of the world. It currently works with orphanages and government schools in India, Zambia, Uganda and Kenya using the game of Tag Rugby as its vehicle.
Tag Rugby Development Trust’s values revolve around respect, teamwork, creating friendships, breaking down social and geographical barriers, tolerance and co-operation between different communities.
Visit www.trdt.co.uk
The Bethany Children's Trust (BCT) is a charity that acts and speaks with and on behalf of children at risk, and encourages others to do so.
BCT partners with projects working with orphans, street children and children affected by disease, war, disability, poverty and abuse. BCT’s current project partners are in Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Togo and Zambia.
It supports these projects with consultancy in project development, finance and information resources. BCT also trains overseas churches in HIV/AIDS awareness, care, prevention and orphan care.
Visit www.bethanychildrenstrust.org.uk
The Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund (MGCF) is dedicated to the conservation and protection of the highly endangered mountain gorillas in Africa, their habitat and working with the people around the National Parks.
In 1987, only 248 Mountain Gorillas lived in the wild. Because of projects coordinated by the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund, there are now about 720 living in the wild.
The Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund is dedicated to ensuring the future of the Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. By providing a partnership of business, wildlife conservation, and community development, MGCF addresses the single biggest challenge facing preservation of these animals today; how to help communities in developing areas grow and prosper without destroying precious habitat or the Mountain Gorillas, who call it home.
Visit www.saveagorilla.org
Tools with a Mission provides tools to people in poorer areas of the world which allow them to work and generate income to support themselves and their families.
T.W.A.M. works with local vocational training centres that offer life-skills, education and instruction in various trades. At the completion of training each student is given a tradesman’s tool kit. The ability to become self-sufficient increases the feeling of self-worth and creates confidence for a better future.
Tools with a Mission also provides the construction facilities for local communities to build their own rainwater harvesting tanks in Uganda.
Visit www.twam.co.uk
Uganda Development Services supports its Ugandan partners to improve education and livelihoods in rural communities. It works through a Multipurpose Community Telecentre in Kamuli, Eastern Uganda, from where it operates a library, study area, cyber café and I.T. training suite. It promotes a reading culture in schools through its Book Box scheme, giving secondary schools the possibility of a "micro" library of text and reference books. Uganda Development Services provides training and mentoring to farmers (90% of the population), which has resulted in increased crop yields and has also purchased water-harvesting tanks. It also carries out monitoring and evaluation.
Visit www.ugandadev.org.uk