Causes
The world is a place of great need. The Entrust Foundation focuses our energy to help the poor, oppressed and forgotten people on this planet.
With over 30 years of experience, we have identified five major causes, which when addressed, will make the world a happier, safer and better place to live. We have chosen these causes because while there are many worthwhile projects we could support, we believe these five offer most hope of transformational development. Therefore in order to maximise our impact, we have focused our attention. Our causes are:
- Clean water & suitable sanitation
- Stopping human trafficking
- Education for the world’s poor
- Assisting communities achieve economic empowerment
- Emergency relief in times of disaster
Water & Sanitation
A lack of clean water and basic sanitation is responsible for 1.6 million preventable child deaths each year. Millions more children suffer from waterborne illnesses, such as typhoid, worms and diarrhoea.
More than 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation, and hygiene-related causes. Nearly all of these deaths (99 percent), occur in the developing world.
2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation; 1.1 billion still practice open defecation. Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing every four hours. In addition, 443 million school days are lost each year due to water-related illness.
Women and children bear the primary responsibility for water collection in the majority of households. This is time not spent working at an income-generating job, caring for family members, or attending school.
The opposite of these dreadful statics is the transformation to individuals and communities through the provision of water, appropriate sanitation and information on correct hygiene. Entrust works with local partners to provide these to oppressed communities throughout the developing world.
All statistics sourced from United Nations websites, primarily WHO, UNICEF and UNDP.
Stop Human Trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal movement of people, within national or across international borders, for the purposes of exploitation in the form of commercial sex, domestic service or manual labour. It is an illegal industry that generates an estimated 32 billion US dollars annually. Trafficking is the 2nd largest source of illegal income generation exceeded only by the drug trade. (Arms trafficking comes 3rd!)
Human trafficking is a crime against humanity and global issue. It is very difficult to get accurate statistics because of the secret nature of the crime and inherent difficulties in reporting at national and international levels. What we do know, given the profitability of the sector, is that the number of people trafficked is enormous, and each one of those souls then lives a terrible life deprived of freedom and treated as a commodity. Research suggests that 80% of those trafficked are women and girls and 50% of all victims are children.
At Entrust it is our goal to work with implementing partners who focus on prevention and also restoration. We work across Africa, India and Asia in the prevention of human trafficking and restoration of trafficking victims.
Statistics sourced from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Education
In 2012, 781 million adults were unable to read a book or sign their names and 58 million children were not enrolled in school. Lack of education is one of the chains tying people to poverty. Education allows an individual to direct their own life, and gives them and their communities the opportunity to influence their future well-being with regards to politics, economics, agriculture, health and much more.
Educated mothers have healthier children, allowing families to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. Entrust believes that providing children with an opportunity to access education, along with safe water and appropriate sanitation, will bring about transformational development.
The work of our implementing partners empowers children and their families and hands them keys to escape poverty and avoid exploitation. Our partners teach children about physical health, money management, and practical life skills, and in turn the children pass this on to their families.
The education we provide allows children to have a better future, allows families to access education in their communities, and in some cases gives them the ability to enter into Government schools down the track. Through your support for education projects,Entrust and our implementing partners are transforming lives now and in the future.
Statistics sourced from UNESCO and UN Millennium Development Goals website.
Economic Empowerment
Poverty has many expressions, the most obvious being a lack of access to financial services such as credit and savings facilities. Therefore one of the most effective means of combatting poverty is economic empowerment of individuals & communities through access to these services in ways and at rates they can afford, combined with skills development in managing money. If we only provide food and consumables amongst the poor that creates a cycle of dependence and keeps people poor.
The creation of local micro-enterprise initiatives is a business tool that promotes fair trade, income provision & economic empowerment. A lot of micro-enterprise occurs in the agricultural sector which makes a lot of sense when you consider the statistics.
One billion of the world’s poorest (living on less than US $1.25 a day) live in rural areas and are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. Most are smallholder farmers, usually only managing to grow enough food for themselves. 80% of the food eaten in the developing world comes from smallerholder farms. By improving their farming techniques, developing their business skills and providing them with access to the required finance, these farmers have a chance to grow and sell products surplus to their needs and from there start to improve their lives.
Our implementing partners are working across Africa and Asia in cutting edge projects to teach people basic business principles, mentor youth to learn new skills to gain meaningful employment, provide loans to start out small businesses, educate farmers in sustainable agricultural practices and improve the nutrition of families.
The work our partners do is sustainable, skilling up local communities so that they can take care of their own needs, and respecting them as people with resources and capacity to learn, survive and thrive.
All statistics from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) a UN agency.
Emergency
2016 MYANMAR FLOODS
In July Myanmar again experienced severe flooding. Entrust and a donor contributed $15,000 to one of our implementing partners to assist eight villages most impacted by the floods. Read here to read the results of that work.
EMERGENCY SUPPORT
When a crisis hits, the needs are immediate. By donating to Entrust’s Emergency Support Fund we will be able to get money to our known partners immediately and offer practical support to them during the flood, fire, drought or disaster facing them.
We only direct these Emergency Funds to people we know and trust, who are on the ground and can make wise decisions as to the best use of the funds.
In emergency situations we will also use our web site to raise extra support, but being able to give an immediate response from funds already on hand is vital if we are to save lives. Food, medical aid and shelter are the three primary needs in most emergency situations. You can help us be ready to help them.