Our focus areas
India has steadily been establishing itself as a world economic power, with a national average growth rate in the past decade of 9% (WDI, 2007). However, despite this strong economic growth, India’s needs are far surpassing what she can provide. As the population increases, more than a third of India’s population of 1.1 billion live below the poverty line, comprising a massive one third of the world’s poor.
AFP aims to reduce India’s poverty by contributing to the economic and social development of the country. We do this by engaging the Asian population that lives outside of India i.e. diaspora. Our education, livelihoods, participation and governance work targets long-lasting solutions to ongoing problems affecting the poor in India, to get them out of the poverty trap. All our work aims to contribute to sustainable development.
AFP directly supports organisations active in the following thematic areas:
Education
About 1/3 of all children in India leave before finishing primary school (UNICEF, 2009).
Around 42 million children aged 6-10 are not attending school. (UNICEF)
AFP works towards the improvement of literacy rates and retention of students, in particular girls. While enrolment rates in India have increased significantly, dropout rates remain high due to the poor quality of services. Education is central to development, and is key to attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Therefore, we are supporting our partner organisations to deliver more effective lessons leading to the improvement in the quality and diversity of education.
Livelihoods
About 350 million Indian live on less than 1 USD a day (Gov of India)
49% of women in India are poor (UNDP, 2009)
The proportion of Indians living under 1$ a day has been decreasing, but not fast enough. AFP hence aims to increase the access and opportunities for long-lasting income and employment of especially women, youth and people with disabilities. These groups unfortunately often have fewer opportunities in life simply for being female, young or disable. We aim to give them equal rights and roles. We provide skills to support our partners in developing income generation projects.
Participation and Governance
AFP works with more than 10 partner organizations who offer holistic services, supports over 60 projects, and has sent out more than 60 volunteers.
We are supporting our partners in developing their organisational capacity as well as their infrastructure.
AFP works in participation with grassroots organizations to improve their capacity to better deliver their services (such as disability rights, domestic violence and child protection). We also support our partner organizations to build their governance, which aims at increasing their accountability and making them self sufficient to the point where they do not require any external assistance or support.
By initiating change in above interconnected thematic areas, AFP directly addresses the following MDGs:
• MDG 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• MDG 2: Achieve universal primary education
• MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empowerment
• MDG 8: Building a global partnership for development
What are the MDGs?
At the Millennium Summit in September 2000, 189 countries of the world, including India and the UK, agreed on a set of goals that would reduce global poverty and improve the lives of the poor.
The MDGs are eight goals that should be achieved by the year 2015 are as follows:
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8..Develop a global partnership for development
The Millennium Summit was largely about forming partnerships between developed and developing countries in fighting global poverty. Within this context, AFP’s work is about building a partnership between the British Asians in the UK and grassroots charities in India working in key focus areas of development.
What is development?
Development is about offering equal opportunities to less advantaged people in the society. It means reducing poverty, reaching an acceptable standard of living for all, and making sure that people have the basic necessities to survive such as access to clean drinking water, food, shelter and money. AFP believes that sustainable development is about offering people the opportunity to improve their long-term living situation and their quality of life, reducing their reliance on external factors. AFP aligns all its development work to the Millennium Development Goals.
