The following organisations are supported by British Airways and receive complimentary tickets, cargo and excess baggage.
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 Sofia, Lusaka and Rio de Janeiro. 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 Children
Build IT International works with local people, local builders and communities to deliver essential, low-cost buildings, training people in sustainable, environmentally friendly building skills.
Build IT International provides a practical and sustainable response to poverty where there is a need for essential buildings such as schools, clinics and low-cost houses in areas where there is a lack of jobs and where there is potential to promote sustainable building technologies that minimise damage to the environment.
Since 2006 Build IT International have completed seven major school building projects that have significantly expanded and improved facilities at five schools, directly benefitting 1250 people and indirectly a further 2250. Over 40 previously unskilled men and women have received training and now have certified qualifications in basic building skills, and a further 16 have received training in block and tile making, giving them a better chance to earn a living.
Visit www.builditinternational.org
Since 1993, Camfed has fought poverty and AIDS by educating girls and empowering young women. More than 1,065,710 children in impoverished areas of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana and Malawi have benefited from Camfed's innovative education programmes.
Camfed believes every child has the right to an education. It uses a community-based, holistic approach to bring about change in Africa. The girls who are supported are selected by the community as being the most in need. They are provided with books and school fees and helped throughout their development, from primary school years until adulthood. Camfed's package allows girls to get into school, do well academically, and maximize the value of their education after graduation.
Camfed is widely acknowledged as best practice in the field on girls’ education and international development. Its proven track record attracts support from exceptional donors and partners.
Visit www.camfed.org
Cecily's Fund makes it possible for Zambian orphans and other impoverished children, like Katy, to go to school. Like many thousands of other Zambian children, Katy (pictured here with the nephew she helps look after) lost her parents at a young age and is looked after by her elderly grandmother. They struggle to make a living selling bags of charcoal. Cecily's Fund provides Katy and her sister with shoes, uniforms, books, pens and help with fees, without which they simply could not go to school.
Without school they would risk getting trapped in a vicious circle of poverty and sickness, at school they get emotional support from teachers and friends, become more confident, learn about HIV prevention and learn skills so they can go to college and earn a living.
Visit www.cecilysfund.org
The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) works throughout Africa and Asia to save critically endangered mammals in the wild and benefit the local people who share their environment.
In Africa, DSWF supports projects in Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Zambia. Since 1991, DSWF has funded anti-poaching and intelligence operations in Zambia and, more recently, helped establish a rescue and release programme for orphaned elephants – the innocent victims of illegal poaching.
DSWF is currently working to develop a mobile rescue team and to set up a park protection and training programme for the long-term protection of Zambia’s wildlife.
Visit www.davidshepherd.org
Save the Rhino International (SRI) works to conserve viable populations of critically endangered rhinos in Africa and Asia. SRI funds field projects and education to deliver long-lasting and widespread benefits to rhinos and other endangered species, to ecosystems and to the people living in these same areas.
Save the Rhino International connects conservation and communities by working in partnership with 14 local NGOs in Africa and Asia.
Visit www.savetherhino.org
Self Help Africa works at grassroots level tackling poverty and improving lives in rural Africa.
With projects in nine countries, Self Help Africa's primary focus is assisting families and communities to grow enough food to feed themselves and to earn a sustainable living.
The organisation’s all-African staff and local partners help hundreds of thousands of people each year work their way out of poverty. It does this by bringing simple and effective innovations to farming and natural resource management and by helping people access basic services like clean water, healthcare and education.
Self Help Africa operates in Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Togo, Uganda and Zambia.
Visit www.selfhelpafrica.net
SOS Children has been providing a family for life for children who have lost their parents through conflict, famine, disease and poverty, since 1949. Over 78,000 orphaned or abandoned children are cared for by SOS mothers in clusters of family homes in more than 490 unique children's villages, in 124 countries around the world.
A further million benefit from SOS Children's outreach support which includes education, vocational training, medical care and community development programmes. SOS Children is currently constructing a new Children's Village in Chipata, Zambia.
Visit www.soschildren.orgThe Lothian-Zambia HIV - AIDS partnership seeks to link key health workers in Edinburgh with counterparts in two underdeveloped areas of Zambia which are ravaged by HIV/AIDS. This programme has been running for over two years.
A key part of the work in Zambia is supporting the WHO emergency roll out of antiretroviral treatment. Only a tiny proportion of the 28 million people living with HIV in sub-saharan Africa currently get treatment. The work of the Lothian - Zambia HIV - AIDS partnership is successful and making a small but significant difference, with the support offered by the NHS in Scotland, considered vital by colleagues in Zambia.
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.
TWAM 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.
Visit www.twam.co.uk