Welcome to the Winter/Spring 2011-12

Edition of SAMSON

Since its formation in 1969, SAFAD has placed

over 340 volunteers on projects in 37 countries.

Our new and enthusiastic committee for 2011-12

is working hard to ensure the on-going success of

SAFAD and to build upon its admirable reputation.

We currently have 4 volunteers in Kenya, Ethiopia,

Ghana and the Comoros Islands, working with

local partner organisations on projects ranging

from water supply and sanitation to ecological

farming. In this edition we take a closer look at the

work of our volunteers in Kenya and the Comoros

Islands.

We hope to fund up to 12 volunteer placements

for 2012-13, working with both our existing part-

ners and in newly established relationships with

other grassroot NGOs in Africa, Asia and Latin

America.

This year we will be hosting a range of exciting

fundraising and awareness events including

SAFAD Week from the 26th-30th March 2012.

We hope you can join us at our upcoming events

- for more information please see page 3 of this

newsletter or contact us at info@safad.org.uk.

And lastly, we would like to take this opportunity

to extend our gratitude to our donors, advisors

and members who have supported SAFAD over

the years and made our work possible, whilst

also extending a warm welcome to those of you

who are discovering SAFAD for the first time.

Sarah Matthews and Mario Goeb

Co-Presidents

Miguel Astudillo is volunteering

with an NGO called Engagement

Communautaire pour le Déve-

loppement Durable (ECDD) on

the Anjouan Island, Comoros

Archipelago.

On the island, deforestation is a

major problem and causes acute

problems to villagers, particular-

ly the loss of water resources.

The project is based in Moya

forest area which suffers from

poverty and few economic acti-

vities. The NGO offers agri-

cultural advice on techniques to

reduce soil erosion and augment

yields, reducing pressure on the

forest for land.

To improve water resources,

infrastructure rehabilitation is

financed by the project and

water committees are promo-

ted in each village to encourage

better water management.

Miguel is creating watershed

maps of the different island

water resources, to better un-

derstand which zones are a

priority for water supply

conservation. He is also in char-

ge of training the local team on

Geographical Information Sys-

tems (GIS) to better assist the

project.

Next steps for Miguel are to

advance the participatory pro-

cess to better understand the

different land use issues and tenu-

re of the remaining forest.

A word from Miguel: «Living

and working on a tropical

island is not as easy as it

might seem. However it is a

unique and meaningful expe-

rience both professionally and

personally ».

Editorial In this Issue

Landscape Mana-

gement, Comoros

1

Water & Sanita-

tion, Kenya

2

On-going Projects

2011/2012

2

SAFAD Week &

Upcoming Events

3

Thanks to the

Donors

4

Financial

Statements

4

Join SAFAD 4

Landscape Management in Comoros

SAMSON SAFAD Members’ Source Of News

ISSUE 87 W I N T E R / S P R I N G 2 0 1 2

Published by:

SAFAD, Building 53,

Cranfield University,

Cranfield, Bedfordshire,

MK43 0AL

info@safad.org.uk

Silsoe Aid for Appropriate

Development (SAFAD) is a

Registered Charity in

England and Wales.

Registered Charity

No. 289621

P A G E 2

« Map of the on-

going projects in

the Comoros

Islands, Ethiopia,

Ghana and

Kenya »

Projects 2011/2012

Water & Sanitation in Kenya Kate Heitz is working with the Interna-

tional Rescue Committee (IRC), Kenya.

This project contributes to the improved

health and socio-economic well-being of

the population of Turkana County through

improving access to safe drinking water,

sanitation and hygiene. IRC works closely

with the Ministry of Water and Irrigation,

Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation

and other local key stakeholders such as

the District Education Office, the Catholic

Diocese of Lodwar and Oxfam GB to en-

sure that local capacities are built and

there is community-driven demand for

adequate and sustainable safe drinking

water and sanitation services.

The project is expected to increase access

to sustainable water and sanitation services

in Turkana West, Turkana Central and

Loima Districts of Turkana County target-

ing 45,000 people, the majority who are

pastoralists, living in remote arid regions

often characterised by disease outbreaks,

famine and high poverty levels.

IRC Ethiopia

EU Water Facility: Promotion for the

Millennium Development Goals The project aims to combine

community ownership of new water

and sanitation infrastructure through

a Participatory Learning and Action

process resulting in the development

of community action plans incorporat-

ing Natural Resource Management

and Disaster Risk Reduction.

In addition to the two

projects mentioned

above, two other

SAFAD volunteers are

currently in the field:

Daniel Elster with IRC

Ethiopia and Kirsten

Harber with SWEET

Ghana.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in

Ghanaian Schools

The aim of the project is to work in

collaboration with communities

across Africa to assist them in pro-

viding clean/safe water and ade-

quate sanitation.

Ghana

Ethiopia

Kenya

Comoros Islands

P A G E 3 W I N T E R / S P R I N G 2 0 1 2

Upcoming Events

SAFAD Week 2012

31/01-29/03 Raffle Tickets Sales

21/02 Pancake Day Bake Sale

16/03 St Patrick’s Day Bake Sale

26-30/03 SAFAD Week 05/04 Easter Bake Sale

05/05 Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge

10/05 Annual General Meeting

14/05 Car Wash

26th to 30th March 2012

Tuesday 27th

Pub Quiz at the Social

Club

All week...

Ticket Sales for the Raffle

Draw

Throughout the week...

International Dinner,

Competitions,

Film Night, Guest

speakers and more...

Details to be announced soon!!!

« SAFAD

Week is one

of the greatest

ways to hear

more about

our projects

while having

fun! »

Thursday 29th - 20:00 - CSA

SAFAD NIGHT

Come and join us at this great night…

Competitions,

Open Mic

&

Raffle Draw

Join SAFAD Your contributions are essential to our work

I would like to become an associate member: £10 (students £5).

I would like to renew my associate membership: £10 (students £5).

I am already a member and I would like to make a donation.

I enclose a donation of £ _______________________________.

I am already a member and I would like to make a regular donation by

direct debit. I would like SAFAD to send me the relevant forms.

Email:

I declare that I am a taxpayer and would like any donation I make to SAFAD to be considered as gift aid.

Signed: _________________________________________ Date: __________________________

Join or renew your membership to

receive our

newsletter

with projects

updates.

SAFAD, Building 53,

Cranfield University, Cranfield,

Bedfordshire, MK43 0AL

Registered Charity No. 289621

Name:

Address:

Data Protection Act 1998

All information is held within the charity and will be treated confidentially and with sensitivity in accordance with the Data Protection Act1998. The data may

be used by the charity for a range of membership activities, including distributing publications (printed and electronic) and in our fundraising programmes. If

you object to the use of your details for any of these purposes, please let us know by contacting SAFAD at the address above.

Donations We would like to extend a big thank you to the following people and organisations for their kind donations:

Action Water, Agricola Trust, Alchemy Foundation, Beatrice Laing Trust, Bernard Butler Trust, Cumber Family Charitable Trust, De La

Rue Charitable Trust, H.B Allen Charitable Trust, Lorch Foundation, Russell and Mary Foreman Charitable Trust, Tadworth and Walton

Overseas Aid Trust.

Financial Statements Donations account for the majority of SAFAD’s

income and we are pleased to be able to use the

vast majority of this money to support our vol-

unteers overseas. As with many other charities,

the challenging economic climate has made fund-

ing increasingly difficult and we would like to

thank everyone who has previously donated

towards the work of SAFAD. If you feel that you

can contribute to our continuing work we would

be delighted to hear from you.