Our mission
Working in partnership with other charitable organisations, our mission is to provide financial resources to grassroots projects that make a tangible and lasting improvement to the lives of people suffering acute hardship in the UK and regions of Africa and Asia.
What we do
Working in partnership with other charitable organisations, we fund grassroots projects that make a tangible and lasting improvement to the lives of people suffering acute hardship in the UK and regions of Africa and Asia.
A fairer future
We work towards a world where:
- All people have the means to care for themselves and their families
- Vulnerable people are supported to lead healthy and fulfilling lives
- Women are given equal respect and opportunities as men
We do this by supporting projects that:
- Improve access to education, healthcare and safe water by developing local community infrastructure
- Increase household food, health and income security by supporting livelihood development
- Bringing sustainable, transformative change to communities (not emergency aid)
Our values
Care: We care about people in need who are rooted in poverty and lack opportunity to change their lives.
Empowerment: We work to enable people to help themselves, focusing on grassroots projects.
Trust: We always deliver on our commitments.
Equality: We believe in the right of all people to fair and equal treatment. We use transparent processes and only work with partners with similar values.
Sustainability: We offer more than short-term financial assistance to alleviate poverty. Our projects enable beneficiaries to provide for themselves over the longer term.
Our approach
The following ways of working underpin our values:
- Valuing partnership: We recognise that we can achieve more when we work together and often work in partnership with other organisations.
- Act with integrity: We act with integrity and scrutinise organisations we work with to ensure they do the same.
- Respect the dignity of others: We respect and value the dignity of those we work with.
- Creativity: Our experience shows that thinking and working creatively often leads to the most productive outcomes.
- The engineering mindset: Embracing our engineering heritage, we value a disciplined and project orientated mindset and we look to apply this rigour and way of thinking to all of our work.
We focus on helping individuals and communities in selected areas of Africa, Asia and the UK where need is most evident and where we can ensure good governance of our projects through our network of project sponsors and partners.
Who we help
We support people and communities that are suffering acute poverty and hardship. The causes of these are many and varied. They include lack of legal rights (compounded by corruption), lack of education and healthcare, and lack of opportunities to maintain household food security and achieve a reasonable income.
We recognise the depth and breadth of such problems throughout the world and believe that we should focus our efforts and resources on where we can make a real difference to people’s lives.
Our projects therefore focus on:
- Support that enables and empowers people to transform their lives by removing constraints and opening up opportunities that were previously unreachable.
- Those communities where the foundation has the support of local organisations that are well placed to understand the needs of the people and deliver appropriate solutions.
How we work
We understand the power of partnership and this is key to the way we work. We look to team up with funding partners, including other charities and organisations with like-minded beliefs.
We have two types of project funding:
- Halcrow Foundation projects – where we engage directly through our project sponsors with local charities to implement projects in line with our current practices.
- Funding partner projects – where we team up with other like-minded organisations and charities to deliver projects that meet our funding criteria.
We bring together the best people and organisations to improve lives sustainably and for the better. We support organisations to work at grassroots level and we recognise the assets in a community.[/pullquote]
Delivery partners
Local delivery partners implement our projects on the ground, providing employment and opportunity for local people. These are local organisations or people who share our values and who have established track records for delivering projects within the areas we operate. Normally, the responsibility for design and delivery will lie fully with the delivery partner.
All projects have a project sponsor, who acts as the principal supervisor of an individual project. The project sponsor is someone with a close relationship with the delivery partner, and who can ensure the effectiveness of the project design to meet beneficiary needs.
Our network of experienced project sponsors are known locally for their passionate commitment to help those in need. They are respected for their transparency and accountability, and trusted by the communities in which they work.
They have a track record of developing and enabling the delivery of projects on the ground, using their local knowledge, expertise and contacts. They are trusted people from around the world who share our vision and are experienced in charitable work.
They:
- Have a recognised and respected voluntary role within the foundation
- Are responsible for identifying, developing and supervising local projects
- Are responsible for identifying delivery partners and undertaking due diligence
