Funding for Edinburgh charities
Spotlight on Stockbridge
Edinburgh Larder events
Become a guide at Rosslyn Chapel
Superfast broadband
To help support some of the world’s most vulnerable communities, this week a share of over £450,000 was awarded to five international development organisations operating from Edinburgh and the Lothians.
The projects received funding from the 2015-2016 Scottish Government’s international small grants programme, announced by the Minister for International Development, Humza Yousaf.
The small grants programme is designed to help smaller Scottish organisations develop their scale, scope and long term ambitions. The funding supports smaller NGOs to make a big impact to help reduce poverty worldwide.
This Edinburgh projects are a mobile phone app by Big First Aid providing lifesaving advice to rural communities in Tanzania; a project by Youth Economic Justice who are investigating the potential of new income routes for the young women of the Madhya Pradesh region in India; funding for the Friends of Chitambo who are working to improve the links between rural health professional and a Zambian hospital; LUV + who are helping people with Leprosy in the same country and Yes Tanzania!
To mark the awards, Mr Yousaf met Yes! Tanzania based in Edinburgh. Their funding will be used to deliver a health programme using sports to reduce new cases of HIV.
Mr Yousaf said:
“Working with smaller agencies opens the door to new solutions. This is the power of the small grants programme, it helps organisations at home realise their ambitions it helps the Scottish Government fulfil its role as a good global citizen and, most importantly, it helps some of the world’s most vulnerable people. Today’s funding will help initial ideas become pilot projects and brings the total invested over the past two year close to one million pounds.
“As well as improving the prospects of people abroad, international development work helps people in Scotland as well. Volunteering is important to broadening people’s outlook on the world and many of the organisations supported by small grants will be creating new opportunities to support their international projects.”
Yes! Tanzania is one of the beneficiaries of the small grants programme. In 2014 they used a grant from the small grants programme to conduct a feasibility study on using their network of sporting facilities to educate young people about the transmission of HIV. This year’s funding will put the lessons from this study into practice to work with schools and community centres.
Ken Cambell of Yes Tanzania said:
“The Scottish Government’s Small international small grants programme has proved to be invaluable to YES! Tanzania. We were delighted last year to be awarded a 1-year grant which enabled us to carry out some much needed research into how health education through sport and can be used to help address the issues of HIV and AIDS which continues to have a significant impact on young people in Tanzania. We were also able to carry out a pilot programme to test the effectiveness of a peer leadership training course which we designed and delivered to students from the Umoja Centre, our local partner in Arusha, Tanzania, which provides educational opportunities for some of the poorest young people in the local community.”
“The success of the research and pilot programme provided us with the evidence and confidence to apply this year for funding for a 3-year project and we are delighted to hear that this has been successful. This will enable us to work with 3 local partners in Arusha, Tanzania to deliver sport and sexual health training to over 60 community sports coaches, teachers and peer leaders who will reach over 2,000 young people. We will also be able to measure the impact of the project and hopefully demonstrate that it has helped to reduce the number of young people contracting HIV.”
The International Devlopment Fund’s small grants programme provides funding for Scottish based international development organisations working in the Scottish Government’s seven priority countries: Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Indian States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa.
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Stockbridge is one of the little gems in Edinburgh where you can stroll along Raeburn Place or St Stephen Street admiring the individual shops. But the Stockbridge website warns that we need to support these businesses otherwise we will lose them.
Stockbridge explain what has happened there recently : “Over the last 18 months or so Stockbridge has lost: The Gramophone Emporium, Sarah Dallas, Cherubim, Karen’s Unicorn, Elements, Capital Cartridges, The Sizzler, Kiss the Fish, Chique & Unique, Stockbridge Appliance Centre, Café Fish, San Marco, The Proper Tea Shop, Spirited Wines, Mark Bryce Picture Framing, Lily’s Clothes Line, Artisan Bakehouse, Amy Christie Gallery, Rosie Mckenzie Art, Hibiscus Flower, Curves, Sitara Spice, Toys Galore, Ian Smith Design, Northwood Property and more from our community.”
So why not take a walk to Stockbridge today and see what is on offer? Where are your favourite independent shops? Why not put up a photo of yours here and tell us why it is your favourite?
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There are two Edinburgh Larders in Edinburgh, one is the Cafe and one is the Bistro. At the Cafe in March they are holding a Slow Food Edinburgh film night on 19 March 2015. More details of the tickets which cost £15 are here.
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There are permanent and seasonal jobs on offer at Rosslyn Chapel so if you are interested in history then apply here before Friday 6 March 2015.
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Mark Lazarowicz MP has called for action to tackle the households and businesses in Edinburgh bypassed by superfast broadband. He has urged any constituents affected to contact him.
The MP spoke out in Parliament this week after being contacted by a stream of constituents who don’t have access despite bland assurances and announcements hailing new roll-outs, often reheated, from Ministers and broadband providers.
Afterwards he commented:
“I am regularly contacted by constituents, whether in Central Edinburgh or new developments along the waterfront, who don’t have access to superfast broadband.
“It’s a vital part of basic infrastructure for businesses and the many people who work from home as well as for leisure as well – the failure to connect people living in or near Scotland’s capital city is damaging to our economy.
“The Culture Secretary hailed improvements but too many people here in Edinburgh haven’t seen them with fibre optic cable sometimes passing within a few feet of new flats left unconnected.
“My aim is not to allot blame but to get action that is long overdue – I am asking any constituents affected to contact me so I can pressure government and broadband providers to come together to act.”
Mark has raised access to superfast broadband with BT and also previously at Culture, Media and Sport questions in Parliament but the action promised hasn’t materialised.
He is asking people in Edinburgh North and Leith who have been unable to get access to superfast broadband to contact him at mark.lazarowicz.mp@parliament.uk or through his office at 5 Croall Place, EH7 4LT, Tel.: 0131 557 0577
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
