Community Relations - Zimbabwe
The following organisations are supported by British Airways and receive complimentary tickets, cargo and excess baggage.
The Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED)
The Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) fights poverty and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa by educating rural girls.
CAMFED, which began in 1993 in Zimbabwe and has expanded to Zambia, Ghana and Tanzania, last year reached over 427,000 people through its education, micro-finance and health programmes.
CAMFED targets areas of extreme poverty, high incidence of HIV/AIDS and large numbers of vulnerable children, especially orphans. It enables girls to attend their local schools and works hand in hand with them after they complete school to create jobs and opportunities in their local communities.
Visit www.camfed.orgHwange Conservation Society
Established in 1992, Hwange Conservation Society is a UK registered charity dedicated to helping Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, the country’s largest National Park covering some 5½ thousand square miles and home to many endangered species.
For many years now, Zimbabwe’s wildlife has been ‘living on the brink’, Hwange Conservation Society’s principal aims are to provide funding and equipment to bring direct benefit to the Park and its wildlife; this includes the provision of funds for equipping and maintaining anti-poaching patrols and the renovation and improvement of game water supplies as well as donations of much-needed equipment such as dart rifle and range finder, immobilising drugs, GPS collars and tracking receivers and much more.
Staffed solely by volunteers operating from their own homes with no overheads, means that every penny raised goes directly to help the Park and its wildlife.
Visit www.hwangecons.org.ukWildlife Conservation Research Unit (WILDCRU)
In a little more than fifteen years, the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) at Oxford University has grown from being one person (the first University Research Fellow in Conservation in Britain), to being amongst the most active, practical and influential wildlife conservation research units in Europe. Wildcru is entirely funded by third party donations and grants.
WildCRU's unique research approach bridges the divide between the application of practical solutions and straightforward academic theory.
The Unit has earned a first class global reputation and now has around 50 personnel, working almost entirely in the field. WildCRU produces its own publications, and manages its own website, set-up and run by part time staff.
Today, WildCRU's projects in the United Kingdom relate to mammals, habitat restoration, waterside conservation, organic farming and related biodiversity.
WildCRU has been key to saving the water vole, at the heart of the recently completed Chichester Coastal Plain Project and a continuing element on their new, similar but larger (28,000 ha), biodiversity initiative in the Upper Thames Valley.
Projects also exist in Africa (the major being in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe), the Galapagos Islands and Latin America.
Visit www.wildcru.orgZimbiala Trust
Zimbiala Trust, formerly Zimbabwe Trust, was established as a UK registered charity in 1980 upon Zimbabwe’s political independence to assist with the relief of poverty, reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation. The objects of the Trust, amended through a Charity Commission Scheme early in 2003 to reflect the needs of the current crisis in Zimbabwe, are to assist victims of institutionalised violence and civil conflict in Zimbabwe, including refugees, displaced persons, orphans, the disabled, and to assist in the reconstruction of educational and health facilities.
The work of the Trust is in the form of direct support to Zimbabwean civil society organisations and groups through the provision of small grants, larger grants secured from donor organisations, planning, management and technical advice and capacity building.