2. For any enquiries contact our Supporter Services Team on 01753 313 539
3. or for general information visit our website www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk
At Habitat for Humanity, we are
committed to helping more people
improve their housing situations
because we believe that adequate and
affordable housing is a foundation for
building a pathway out of poverty.
I get excited when we develop
strategies that will transform entire
communities and make life better for millions of people.
The part of my job that I love the most, however, is when I get to talk with those whose lives
have been changed in so many ways because of a new or improved house.
For homeowner Soy Lorng in Cambodia, having a roof over her head is a great blessing.
She told me recently about the difficult night she spent before taking possession of her new
home. Her family previously lived in a makeshift shelter near a dumpsite. She had only a
tarp to protect all of the family’s belongings and she spent the night standing up, trying to
keep the rain out during a storm.
The next day, when we all gathered inside her new concrete-block home, the pounding
rain started again. Soy Lorng examined the ceiling with such relief that not a drop of water
seeped in. Having four walls and a real roof means she can sleep in peace.
Recently we passed an important milestone: since Habitat’s founding in 1976, we have
helped more than 1 million families improve their housing situations. One of our long-term
goals at Habitat is to build impact so that millions more people will be lifted out of poverty.
For families around the world, so many positive changes are taking place — because of a
house.
However, millions of people still require a safe and clean home around the world.
I hope you will help us transform more lives in the years to come.
Sincerely,
“
”
1
Message from CEO...................... 1
Global Housing Crisis............. 2–3
The Importance of a Home......... 4
Our Work................................. 5–7
Our Work in Great Britain.......... 8
A Life Changed............................ 9
How You Can Support......... 10–12
Contact Us................................. 13
A message from the CEO
Contents
Jonathan T.M. Reckford CEO, Habitat for Humanity International
4. For any enquiries contact our Supporter Services Team on 01753 313 539
The Global Housing Crisis
LACK OF ACCESS TO CLEAN
WATER AND SANITATION
KILLS CHILDREN AT A RATE
EQUIVALENT TO A JUMBO JET
CRASHING EVERY FOUR HOURS6
827.6MILLIONPEOPLE LIVE IN URBAN SLUMS 1
1.6BILLION
people wake up in appalling poverty each
day. This is the equivalent of everyone
living in China and the USA combined.
With every war or natural disaster the
number of individuals who are forced into
homelessness or substandard housing grows.
MORETHAN3.4MILLION
people die each year from water, sanitation and
hygiene-related causes. Nearly all deaths, 99%,
occur in the developing world5
BY 2020,IT IS ESTIMATED THAT THE WORLD
SLUM POPULATION WILL REACH
ALMOST 1 BILLION
CHILDREN UNDER 5 IN MALAWI LIVING IN
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY HOUSES HAVE
44% LESS MALARIA, RESPIRATORY
OR GASTROINTESTINAL DISEASES
COMPARED TO CHILDREN LIVING
IN TRADITIONAL HOUSES3
1
UN-Habitat, State of the World’s Cities 2010/2011, March, 2010.
2
United Nations General Assembly, report of
the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the
right to an adequate standard of living and on the right to
non-discrimination, August, 2012.
3
Christopher G. Wolff, et al.,The Effect of Improved Housing on
Illness in Children under Five Years Old in Northern Malawi: Cross-
Sectional Study, BMJ vol. 322, 2001.
4
World Health Organization.
5
World Health Organization (WHO). (2008). Safer Water,
Better Health: Costs, benefits, and sustainability of
interventions to protect and promote health; Updated Table 1:
WSH deaths by region, 2004.
6
Estimated with data from Diarrhoea: Why children are still
dying and what can be done. UNICEF, WHO 2009.
OVER10,000CHILDREN DIE EVERY DAY BECAUSE
THEY LIVE IN POOR HOUSING4
2
2
5. or for general information visit our website www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk
WHAT WE DID IN 2014
313,274 FAMILIES SERVED FY2014
1.6MILLIONPEOPLE HELPED DIRECTLY BY
CONSTRUCTION & OTHER
SERVICES
3.2MILLION+
LIVES TOUCHED BY HABITAT
IN FY2014
1.6MILLION+
PEOPLE REACHED BY
TRAINING, EDUCATION &
ADVOCACY
2MILLION+
VOLUNTEERS LENDING THEIR
HEARTS AND HANDS
OVER1MILLION
FAMILIES
LIVING BETTER LIVES IN BETTER
HOUSING SINCE 1976
The Global Housing Crisis
3
6. For any enquiries contact our Supporter Services Team on 01753 313 539
SENSE OF
DIGNITY AND
PRIDE
SENSE OF
DIGNITY AND
PRIDE
HEALTH,
PHYSICAL
SAFETY AND
SECURITY
HEALTH,
PHYSICAL
SAFETY AND
SECURITY
INCREASE OF
EDUCATIONAL
AND JOB
PROSPECTS
INCREASE OF
EDUCATIONAL
AND JOB
PROSPECTS
STABILITY FOR
FAMILIES AND
CHILDREN
STABILITY FOR
FAMILIES AND
CHILDREN
MORE THAN
FOUR WALLS
AND A ROOF
A home is vital in transforming lives. It is the starting point to a better life for a whole family.
Clean, safe housing means children can go to school and parents can earn a living.
Improved water and sanitation, stoves and secure housing improve health.
This positive cycle is shown below:
The Importance of a Home
4
7. or for general information visit our website www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk
Disaster Response
We provide an end to end solution, starting with emergency aid and shelter
kits but moving to long term sustainable solutions.
We call it Pathways to Permanence.
Habitat for Humanity works in 70 countries globally including the UK, with the aim
of ensuring every human being has access to their basic human right of a safe,
decent place to live.
Our Work
Habitat assisted more than 250,000 people following the Haiti Earthquake in
2010. In response to Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 we helped more than 18,000 with
our unique and proven disaster response solution. In 2014, the typhoon-resilient
homes we built in the Philippines in the wake of the previous year’s disaster were
used as emergency evacuation shelters during Typhoon Hagupit.
This is testment to what we can achieve with your support.
Boy in transitional shelter, Haiti, following the 2010 earthquake
5
8. For any enquiries contact our Supporter Services Team on 01753 313 539
Our Work
67% of all people worldwide infected with HIV/AIDS live in sub
Saharan Africa. Sadly, this includes 14 million AIDS orphans.
Providing shelter for orphans and vulnerable children is one of
Habitat for Humanity’s leading programmes in Africa, now covering
Mozambique, Uganda, Zambia and Lesotho.
Over 84,000 orphans and vulnerable children and their caregivers
have been assisted through HFH programmes.
Our programmes include:
• Training in inheritance rights so that the children will be protected by
their community from others taking their property from them.
• Providing clean, safe and secure housing.
• Health education, including education about HIV/AIDS.
We work with other NGOs that provide food aid, education and skills
training, healthcare and psychosocial support.
Orphans and Vulnerable Groups (OVG)
Nearly half of the world’s population (3 billion) live on less than £1.60 a
day and lack access to the formal financial sector for credit, savings and
mortgages.
What we know:
• Building a house in the developing world is a process.
• Families build their homes bit by bit as needs change and resources
become available. This method is called “incremental” or “progressive
building” and accounts for up to 90% of residential construction in the
developing world.
• Recognising the need for greater access to housing finance among
low-income people, Habitat pioneered the innovation and scalability
of housing microfinance; we call it MICROBUILD.
Microfinance
6
9. or for general information visit our website www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk
Habitat for Humanity has
shown that building homes
does more than put a roof
over someone’s head. In clean,
decent, stable housing:
• families can provide stability
for their children;
• a family’s sense of dignity
and pride grow;
• health, physical safety and
security improve;
• education and job prospects
increase.
House building, repairs, renovations and sustainability
Water and Sanitation. We work with
communities to add clean water supplies
and provide sanitary toilets. However, the
provision of toilets and water by themselves
is often not enough to bring about health
changes such as a reduction in diarrhoea;
another element is needed.
A change of behaviour is also needed so that
good hygienic practices become embedded
into normal, everyday behaviour. We call
this Water, Sanitation and Hygiene training
or WaSH training for short.
Improvements in health from clean drinking
water, improved sanitation and WaSH training
also link to economic benefits for those living
in poverty.
Poor ventilation. From indoor cooking
fires causes the spread of tuberculosis and
pneumonia in cramped conditions and
mainly affects women and children.
By improving cooking facilities with
clean cook stoves we reduce the levels of
respiratory illness.
Mosquito nets. We provide treated
Mosquito nets, which can dramatically
reduce the level of malaria infection.
Secure housing. Improves health as vermin
cannot come through the floor spreading
disease and prevents rain coming through
the roof.
Our Work
7
Health
10. For any enquiries contact our Supporter Services Team on 01753 313 539
• New Build Projects – helping vulnerable
families achieve sustainable home ownership
and involving them in the construction of their
homes as a form of “sweat equity” builds a sense
of ownership and community.
51 affordable homes completed to date.
• Empty Homes Scheme – lease and repair
scheme to refurbish empty/disused properties,
based on the Government’s affordable
rent model. There are wide benefits to the
community simply by getting people housed
who need it (nominations coming from the
local council) and by dealing with the UK’s
empty property issue.
39 homes completed to date.
• Community/Charity Partnership Projects –
there are both refurbishment projects and new
build projects which we work in partnership
with other charities to complete. For example
our work with Veterans Aid on their flagship
hostel, Belvedere House.
These are funded using corporate sponsorship
and volunteering.
• 2015 Projects - The Triangle Playground, Oval,
London and Oasis Farm, Lambeth North,
London are just two of our many projects this
year.
Habitat for Humanity work in Great Britain
supporting homeless and vulnerable people such
as single mothers that have suffered domestic
abuse and need refuge, veterans from the armed
services and abandoned youths. Our solutions
for affordable housing and sustainability are:
Volunteer at The Soup Kitchen build in 2012. We built a warm and furnished soup
kitchen close to Tottenham Court Road.
Our Work in Great Britain
8
12. For any enquiries contact our Supporter Services Team on 01753 313 539
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Regular gifts
By supporting us by Direct Debit you can help
ensure we are able to plan our work and help
thousands of people around the world that need
our assistance.
Corporates, Foundations, Trusts and
Philanthropy
Supporting Habitat for Humanity through
your company, Trust, Foundation or personal
contribution can be tremendously rewarding. We
would love to work with you to create a mutually
beneficial partnership that allows you to see the
remarkable impact your support can have directly
to families across the world.
How You Can Support Habitat For Humanity
10
13. or for general information visit our website www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk
As a charity we are in a unique position to
be able to provide our supporters with real
opportunities to engage in the work that
we do first-hand. This could be working
alongside our home partners to create a
home for a vulnerable individual or family
living on the breadline in the UK, or perhaps
helping build community facilities on one
of our orphans and vulnerable children
programmes in a developing country.
Global Volunteering Programmes
Ever since our launch in Great Britain, Global
Volunteering has been one of the most exciting
opportunities for our supporters to work
alongside our ‘home partners’
(the beneficiaries of the houses YOU will be
building). Our 1-2 week build experiences not
only provide a tangible benefit of a completed
home that you will donate to a family at the
end of your trip but we can guarantee this will
be a life changing experience for you as an
individual.
Domestic Volunteering Programmes
Poverty is not just overseas. It is on our
doorsteps too. Habitat for Humanity has a
number of initiatives here in the UK to combat
the UK poverty housing crisis. For those of
you unable to dedicate as much time to one of
our overseas volunteering opportunities, there
are volunteering opportunities here in the UK.
VOLUNTEERING
How You Can Support Habitat For Humanity
11
14. For any enquiries contact our Supporter Services Team on 01753 313 539
EVENTS FUNDRAISING
Q: What happens when thousands of voices come
together for a common cause?
A: People notice and change occurs!
That’s Advocacy.
By collectively using our voices, we can advance
access to affordable housing. It can be as simple as:
Sharing on social media
Adding your name to a petition
Calling your local MP
Writing to your newspaper
RAISING AWARENESS AND ADVOCACY
You could choose to be part of our challenge events
team and run, walk, trek or ride to make housing
poverty a thing of the past. What about running an
event for Habitat for Humanity? We can support you
with advice and materials to ensure its success.
How You Can Support Habitat For Humanity
12
15. or for general information visit our website www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk
If you would like to get involved with Habitat for Humanity please contact us at
supporterservices@habitatforhumanity.org.uk or call us on 01753 313539.
Please follow, add, like, tag and keep in touch via our social media:
facebook.com/habitatforhumanitygb
@HabitatFHGB
instagram.com/habitatfhgb
youtube.com/Habitatgreatbritain
www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk
linkedin.com/company/habitat-for-humanity-great-britain
How you can support Habitat for Hummanity
Together we can turn this...
...into this
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