Working in Partnership
ICT's current strategy is to work in partnership with local civil society
organisations Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia who build the self-esteem
of children and young people living at the margins of society. Although
our mandate is international, we currently support 4 small programmes
of work in Cambodia, Kenya, India
and Sri Lanka. ICT intends to build
the capacity of these current partners before developing new partnerships.
ICT supports partners who give some of the world's most vulnerable children
back their childhood:
- AIDS orphans
- street and working children (many who would be considered child labourers)
- children and young people displaced by extreme poverty, disease
or armed conflict
- children and young people who come from broken homes.
Typically
children living at the margins of society grow up too fast. ICT
believes that practical solutions such as education and vocational
training can prepare them for independent living and reintegration
back into society. Informal education is supported to prepare children
for school and/or training: sport, theatre, dance and the visual
arts make learning fun and help children build their confidence,
participate in activities with other children, and take the first
steps towards reintegrating themselves back into society.
ICT also works with its partners to tackle the root causes of poverty
and displacement by implementing integrated solutions. Although
many of the projects that ICT supports target urban slums and street
shanties, rural areas, where there is extreme poverty, are also
targeted, so that poor families at risk of migrating to urban slums
receive help in making their lands more productive and learning
how to start small businesses. Also, a global economy means that
the world is much more interconnected and that many of the products
that we buy in the developed world are partially developed by poor
people in the developing world; ICT is, therefore, very actively
involved in supporting programmes that teach children and young
people about their rights, so that they will not be exploited. Organisational
development is also supported, so that solutions are sustainable.
ICT
adds value to its partnerships through information sharing, training
opportunities, promoting partners' projects through raising their
international profiles, offering expert advice and helping to raise
much needed funds.
ICT's
partners are all registered as local non-profit civil society organisations,
which are autonomous from ICT. All of ICT's partners conduct internal
fundraising in country and have established their own donor bases.
A focal point of ICT's 5-Year strategy is for ICT to help its current
partners to establish even more financial independence, so that
ICT can reach out to more organisations and children in Africa and
Asia.
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