Setting standards for the aid industry

An interesting report on the importance and challenge of delivering aid to a high standard (of particular interest in the light of the recent re-affirmation by the Chancellor of Britain's commitment to give 0.7% of GDP away to support developing countries):

"The humanitarian community has gone through a period of soul searching in recent years, following the failure to protect victims of genocide in Rwanda, the chaotic lack of coordination after the 2004 Asian tsunami and the sex-for-food scandals in West Africa. Yet attempts to set universal standards and to certify aid agencies have been inconsistent and controversial....

... This week, practitioners are taking part in the Humanitarian Standards Forum in Geneva to assess the state of humanitarian accountability and to chart a path forward."

Read more: http://shar.es/xNtPz

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This week at Justice Matters

Thanks to all who came along to our gathering at the Bohemia this week - we had a great session hearing about Ann-Marie's trip to the UN, from our guest speaker Grace about the work of the Trussell Trust foodbank network and from Beth Stone about how to get involved with the recently launched Chipping Barnet foodbank.

Research shows that one in five UK mums have skipped meals in order to have enough food to feed their children. Since 2000, the Trussell Trust has helped local churches to establish over 330 foodbanks to support and serve people in urgent need, with three new centres opening every week to meet rising demand. Importantly, foodbanks do not only offer food, but also valuable signposting to information and services that might help clients get things back under control.

We had an interesting discussion about the positive fact that so many local churches have responded to the needs of their neighbours by setting up foodbanks, but lamented that such need exists so widely and reflected on the Trussell Trust's clear intention not to allow foodbanks to become another arm of the welfare state. If you're interesting in finding out more about the local foodbank - how to help, or how to refer someone for support - you can contact them via their website.

After that Victoria talked about Live Below the Line, an anti-poverty campaign in which participants sign up to feed themselves on just £1 a day for five days to raise awareness of the many people around the world living on less than $1 a day. Members of JM took part in this a couple of years ago (you can read about our experiences here) and we're going to be taking part again this year from 29 April to 3 May. We'll post some more information and tips shortly - we hope lots of you will be up for taking part.

That's more than enough from me for now - have a great week and see you on 1st May for another exciting session...

Chipping Barnet Foodbank

Chipping Barnet foodbank opened on the 10th November last year. Situated in the Salvation Army premises in Albert Road, New Barnet, they have fed more than 136 people (including children) in the area since opening.

The foodbank is part of the Trussell Trust, an organisation that pioneered foodbanks in this country.  The Trust has provided resources to facilitate the set up and operation of the local foodbank.

Chipping Barnet foodbank has been inundated with donations of food - more than 1,500 kg so far - and has had to find additional storage space away from the Salvation Army, expanding into a garage owned by the church of Mary Immaculate and St. Peter in New Barnet. Donations have been provided by individuals, churches and schools. Two food collection have also taken place at the Whetstone branch of Waitrose.

Donated food must be non-perishable (tins or packets) and have a long ‘sell by’ date on it. The foodbank is not allowed to hand out food that is out of date (nowadays even tins have ‘sell by’ dates on them). Every item is checked when it comes into the foodbank and food that has the nearest ‘sell by’ date to the current day is put into the parcels first (ie. food that has a date of April 2013 will be given out before items that have a date of July 2013). This is to ensure the health of recipients as well as provide some stock items for them.

The foodbank is currently open from 10 am – 12 noon on Saturdays and 12 noon - 2pm on Tuesdays. When a client comes into the foodbank, they can sit down and have a cup of coffee or tea and a chat with a volunteer while their parcel is being made up. We can also provide leaflets and information about charities and organisations that may be able to give help and guidance to people in difficult circumstances.

Clients must present a voucher for a parcel that has been issued by a professional (eg: social worker, doctor, community worker) who knows them and is familiar with their family circumstances.  Volunteers at the foodbank are not trained as counsellors or advisers, able to make judgements about individual circumstances and needs. Vouchers have been issued to 50 different local agencies so far, including the Children, Young People and Family Network, the Jobcentre, Barnet Homes, as well as various churches and doctor’s surgeries. The vouchers are numbered and must be signed by the professional to be valid. A record of signatories is kept in the foodbank for referral and vouchers are checked before food parcels are made up.  This system allows the ensure that the foodbank helps people in genuine need.

Anyone who is interested in volunteering to help with the running of the foodbank can contact us through the website to obtain a volunteer application form.

Volunteering opportunity - Besom

Last year, several members of JM spent a Saturday painting the home of a single dad and his son with the help of the Besom in Barnet.

Now Besom are looking for volunteers to help deliver donated household items to those in need on Saturday mornings (approx 9:30-12:30). Why not join the a van team for some fun and (hopefully) sunshine filled Besom days this summer!

The Saturday summer van dates are:
April 13th and 27th
May 11th, and 25th
June 8th and 22nd
July 6th and 20th

Post a comment below if you're interested in helping out on one of those dates and we'll hook you up with the team. Remember, being part of JM isn't just about learning to do right, but also putting that learning into action, so do grab this opportunity to get involved...

"We act as a bridge between those who want to give and those in need in our community. We believe that by getting actively involved, our eyes and hearts are opened, and we understand more of God's heart for those in need."

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Raiding the aid budget to pay for defence?

An interesting comment on the potential ripple effects of passporting DFID resources from development to peacekeeping:

"Campaigners point out that using the aid budget to pay for peacekeeping leaves the Ministry of Defence with more to spend on war."

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/02/problem-camerons-plan-raid-aid-budget-pay-defence

What do you think?

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Festive cheer

Wow - we had a great evening on Wednesday - two dozen gifts donated, wrapped and labelled ready for the Bohemia's Christmas dinner for older people from local nursing homes.

Thanks to all who came, donated and made it such a success. We filled the front part of the pub, sparked some interesting conversations with other customers and will hopefully make a small but real difference in the lives of the old folks who get one of the presents.

Here's a few snaps from the evening...

   

 

Update

Just a quick post to remind you that we are partnering with the Bohemia pub in North Finchley to give presents to isolated older people this Christmas. Pick up a gift for a lady or gent (max spend £10 per gift) and bring it along to the Bohemia on Wednesday 5th December where we will wrap them together. Christmas jumpers and reindeer antlers optional...

This is a practical opportunity to bless our neighbours, support a local business and build community in our area so do make an effort to join us - why not invite your colleagues? Even if they can't came, they might still want to contribute a gift. All the information's on our website. Don't forget to say you're coming on Facebook too!

Plans are underway for our Christmas party - we'll circulate details as soon as they are confirmed.

See you on Wednesday!

Barnet PledgeBank

Another opportunity to make a practical difference to someone in the community this Christmas:

"Barnet Council will coordinate getting seasonal gifts to young carers, but only if 12 people will donate a gift."

http://pledgebank.barnet.gov.uk/donateagift2012

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JM Weekly Update

Hello friends

Its that time again - the third Wednesday in the month, which can only mean that it's time to get together for another cafe session. This will be our final session in the Rough Guide to being an Ordinary Radical season (though not the last session of term, don't worry! More on that below.) As trailed last week, this week we have Ash Chafe coming to speak on his experience of life as an ordinary radical living on Strawberry Vale - be sure to come along and hear what he has to say! 

That's 7:30pm this Wednesday at Coffee Republic in North Finchley. Come early, grab a coffee and a pasty and meet someone new.

Don't forget that we gave you two challenges last month - to adopt a new ordinary radical habit and to invite someone along to this session. We look forward to seeing how you've done! In all seriousness, we are eager to see JM grow further - we want to fill Coffee Republic with members (and Raj's till with enough takings that we can further reduce our room hire costs), so please do get out and spread the word!

Speaking of getting out, some of us spent yesterday out of our comfort zones at Brent Cross. Read more about what we were doing and why in the post below.

I'd also like to flag up another opportunity to do something practical - we are partnering with The Bohemia to provide gifts and Christmas dinners to some of the older people of Finchley. The idea is simple: buy a gift for an older lady or gent, bring it along to our next pub session (5th December) and we'll spend the evening wrapping them up. There are more details below. This is an excellent opportunity to support a local business, invest in our community and raise our visibility, not to mention to bring festive cheer to some senior citizens. We'd love for all of you to get involved with this, so get thinking about what you might give...

That's all for now - have a great week, y'all!

Sam and Victoria, Elaine, Sara, Lizzie

Dressing up as a toilet at Brent Cross

Me and Victoria (sans toilet costume)

Yesterday, I did two things I've never done before. Ahead of World Toilet Day on the 19th November and encouraged by the Justice Matters spirit of getting involved, I went along to support Elaine and others raise awareness and funds for WaterAid.

I've never stood in a public place and collected for a good cause before (at least, not since my junior school days, when I once spent an afternoon helping to pack people's food shopping while dressed as a bear for Children in Need. There are no pictures, I'm afraid.) To push me further out of my comfort zone, I was dressed as a toilet. (Again, I'm sorry to say there are no photos of me thus attired).

Tina, Elaine (sporting the toilet costume)and Victoria

As we learned when WaterAid came to speak at JM last year, 2.5 billion people around the world live without access to clear water and sanitation. It's not exactly a glamorous subject, but imagine for a minute not having a toilet to use when you need it. This injustice results in the deaths of 2,000 children every day from water-borne diseases. In fact, more children in the developing world die from diarrhoea than measles, AIDS and malaria combined. It also causes health issues for women who hold on until after dark, so no one can see them go, only to face the threat of assault from being out alone at night.

I don't know how much we raised yet (I'll post an update when Elaine tells us), but I'm pleased to have had the opportunity to be involved in tackling the indignity suffered by too many of our neighbours. We will be finding more opportunities like this for members of Justice Matters to put their passion into action and live out  the lessons from our Rough Guide to being an Ordinary Radical. I hope that many more of you will join us next time we step out of our comfort zone to "seek justice [and] defend the oppressed".

Outside John Lewis - clearly popular with ethical shoppers!

Festive cheer

Justice Matters is excited to be partnering with Finchley's favourite new watering hole, The Bohemia, to provide gifts and a Christmas dinner for isolated older people in the Finchley area.

The idea is simple: buy a gift for an older lady or gent (recommended £10 max) and then bring it along to The Bohemia on the 5th December where we will gather from 8pm to wrap the gifts together. If you aren't able to buy a gift, you can pay for a meal ticket (£7 each). Simpls.

We are also waiting to hear back from Wandsworth Prison about the option of sending gifts to the children of prisoners through Prison Fellowship. We'll confirm this option and further details ASAP.

Wrap Up London 2012 | HandsOn London

If you have an old winter coat taking up wardrobe space then this would be a good thing to do with it...

"Hands On London's second annual coat collection campaign will take place from Monday 5 - Friday 9 November. We have set our targets high, and building on last year's success are aiming to collect and distribute 10,000 coats to London’s most vulnerable to over 80 different shelters and charities."

http://handsonlondon.org.uk/en/wrap-up-london-2012

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Bringing joy to dark places

While it is definitely too early to be thinking about Christmas (though Tesco and others don't seem to have got the memo), it could be worth thinking about getting behind this fantastic campaign already...

"Sadly, there will also be children in the UK who won’t enjoy the basic luxuries a cosy family home; they will be spending Christmas in a refuge, having escaped domestic abuse – often with few of their toys, games or clothes from the home they have fled. Which is why domestic violence charity Refuge – Red’s partners in the Speak Up Save A Life campaign – run an annual Christmas Present appeal.

Every year, Refuge try to ensure that every woman and child in their refuges receive a minimum of two to three presents each to unwrap on Christmas day. As Refuge say, 'The Christmas gift initiative is vital to ensure that refuges became places of joy on a day that has the potential to very bleak and hard.'

The charity have a gift list at John Lewis for the appeal so it could not be simpler. You can go as small as a counting block for £2.99, to as big as a pair of roller blades for £40. Whatever you pick, you will know that there’s a child in a refuge somewhere who will have a present to open on Christmas morning – thanks to you."

(Source: Red Online - John Lewis Refuge gift list)

In addition, the Prison Ministry at St Barnabas Church is also running the Angel Tree Project again this year - another opportunity to bring light and hope to dark places this winter. We'll share more details about this opportunity as and when we know more.