How does FOAG work?

 

Sometimes, at talks and displays, people say to us, ‘We know that you are involved with several projects in Uganda but how does FOAG actually work – what are your main principles ?’
Well.........

1) We don’t run any project in Uganda. We help Ugandans to run their projects – mainly by giving what financial help we can.

2) This means visiting every project regularly. It’s vitally important to see the relevance of the project for yourself. Is it genuine? Does it benefit a community?Hasitgotastructure? Arethereother donors involved?

3) We want to know who we’re supporting and workingwith. Buildingrelationshipsandtrust. Meet. Talk. Listen. Look back over past progress. Look forward to future possibilities.

4) FOAG goes direct. We avoid bureaucracy and go straight to a project and its people. There are no tiers of decision or management. There are no intermediate processes. We can act very fast if we need to.

5) We will stay in for the long haul if necessary. We don’t jump in and out of projects lightly. We believe in continuity. An example is Masindi Centre for the Handicapped which we have supported since 1988.

6) Itallmeansthat,likeitornot,therehastobea sound structure here in UK. ......registering as a legal charity, proper accounting, a committee, accurate record keeping, regular liaison with our 500 associate members etc.

7) FOAG’scommitteeof14pridesitselfonbeing amateur and yet having a professional approach – gained through 30 years of working in Uganda. Apart from 8 paid hours of administration per week by Mo Murphy we all have day jobs and other lives.

8) We also take pride from the fact that we are very ‘lean’ in our running costs. Less than 8% of our income (which is around £100,000 per annum) goes in administration expenses.

9) Above all – we enjoy what we do. We have tried to avoid the temptation of going too big too quickly, of being top-heavy with bureaucracy, of burning out caused by trying to do too much. We are aware that voluntary work can be highly demanding, tiring and expensive.

10) Althoughtimeshavechangedsince1981 when FOAG was born we still derive much pleasure from looking back at so many Ugandan lives that have changed for the better – thanks to a little bit of TLC from Worcestershire and further afield – all of it due to you, our strong and generous Associate Members.

 

 

Facts about FOAG?

 

• FOAG was started in 1981 and has been working in Uganda since January, 1984.
• It is supporting 13 small projects, solely in Uganda,  today (see below)
• Its committee, based in Worcestershire, is 16 strong
• It now has a London committee which is 5 strong
• It has an Associate Membership of 600 individuals/families + 100 corporate members
• It raises around £100,000 per annum through its supporters
• At least 2 committee members visit every project at least once a year
• It has one paid administrator who logs 8 hours per week
• It works directly with each project in Uganda i.e. via no other agency/organisation

 

 

FOAG: A potted history?

 

In September 1981 a group of 6 Worcestershire farmers met at the home of David & Di Harper.

 

As friends they shared a concern at the dreadful news which was being televised night after night from Ethiopia where drought and political instability had combined to produce starvation, suffering and death on a catastrophic scale.

 

As farmers they were also all too aware that, here in Europe, plans were afoot to scale back food production because of over-supply.   These plans were put in to effect 10 years later and British farmers became obligated to withdraw 10% of their arable land from cereal production annually.

 

In the light of this paradox where, on the one hand, a dearth of basic cereals in one part of the world was in contrast to an excess in another part,  the Farmers Overseas Action Group of Worcestershire was formed (FOAG).   The group quickly expanded to 12 or so like-minded families and began meeting once every two months.  Various speakers from different aid agencies were invited to these meetings with the aim of enlarging our awareness of agricultural need beyond our own local horizons. 

 

In early 1983 we hosted a Ugandan speaker who was temporarily living and studying in London. He talked of how Uganda had suffered under the Amin years and how conditions had worsened following the restoration of Milton Obote to power in 1981.  He concluded his talk with a challenge to the group to consider visiting Uganda to see the desperate need for themselves.

 

In January 1984 David Harper and Malcolm Rankin responded to that challenge with a visit to Uganda where they discovered overwhelming need in every area.  It became obvious that mere ‘awareness’ was not enough – action was needed if FOAG was going to live up to its name.  And so began a gradual process of raising funds to support small-scale projects in Uganda – at first purely agricultural and, later, medical and educational.   

 

We quickly established one important principle and that was to decide that at least two of the FOAG group would visit each project in Uganda each year. Through the experience of seeing so much aid go astray because of lack of oversight and blind trust we became convinced that the best aid a group like FOAG can give is to first of all purchase a couple of air tickets and turn up on site.That principle has been adhered to through the years and, since 1984, not a single year has passed without at least one FOAG visit to each involvement there. 

 

Today, in 2010, FOAG is financially assisting 13 projects in Uganda.  We prefer to link with a project and stay with it as long as necessary rather than hop about spreading ourselves so thinly that no lasting impact is made. Our average income is around £100,000 per annum of which approximately 25% comes from ‘corporate’ supporters, Rotary Clubs, churches etc. etc., and the rest from our Associate Membership who now number over 600 across the UK.  Every supporter receives a newsletter twice a year with up-to-date news of each project.

 

 

THE FOAG COMMITTEE

 

FOAG Worcester

Christopher Sturdy (Chairman)

Christopher (a former VSO) has been involved with FOAG for 30 years. Christopher runs a commercial farm in Gloucestershire with his wife Jane who is also a committee member. Christopher was the FOAG treasurer for ten years

 

Jan and Mike McConville (Treasurer)  

Jan is a retired Business sector Bank Manager and is involved with several projects as their Treasurer.   Mike is a Chartered Electronic Engineer and retired College Principal. They first started to work with FOAG in 1997 and joined the Committee in 2003.   Initially Mike was the Project Co-ordinator for Mengo & Guluddene and the in 2009 became Treasurer assisted by Jan.   They have regularly travelled to Uganda and have visited all of the Projects as part of the Project Monitoring Teams.   Jan is the joint Project Co-ordinater for Masindi School for the Handicapped. Their daughter Sue and her husband Philip farm in East Devon

 

Malcolm Rankin (Membership Secretary)

It is a privilege to have been involved with FOAG's work in Uganda for 28 years. I am proud of the fact that FOAG remains an 'Action Group' .......it doesn't just talk, it does...often very quickly and with very little red-tape !   It's direct, it's hands-on, it's consistent  and it's experience has been honed by 25 years of regular visitation and face-to-face liaison with every project with which it is linked.  It is a delight to have built up many trusted and deep friendships in Uganda over the years. It is also very rewarding to not only be able to look forward and respond practically to a call for help from a small project but to also be able to look back and actually see lives and living conditions that have changed, and are changing, for the better thanks to a little bit of encouragement and support.  Uganda is a fascinating country and it has become a way of life for me. I cherish the 3 months a year that I am able to spend there.

 

Jane Sturdy

Along with husband Christopher, Jane has been a committee members of FOAG for thirty years. She became involved in FOAG because they were interested in overseas development as former VSOs (Voluntary Service Overseas).  She regularly visit the projects in Uganda on the Project Monitoring Visits. Jane is the project co-ordinator for Butiru Rehabilitation Cheshire Home. 

 

Mo Murphy (Administrator)

I had listened for some years to friends who were involved in FOAG talking about their trips to Uganda and decided that I would like to go and see the projects I had heard so much about.  So in 2004 I went on FOAG’s trip. I had spent the last 15 years of my career working for a national educational charity for children with special educational needs.  When Budaka needed a project co-ordinator I felt this was an area that was of interest to me.I became FOAG’s Administrator when the position became vacant.

  

Betty Hudson

A retired farmers wife, Betty has been working with FOAG since its inception in 1981. She project co-ordinates St Frances Rehabilitation Centre at Pamba, Soroti with Sister Sophie Akim.

Iain Patton

Like the malaria he contracted while working in Kenya, Africa has got into Iains blood!  His passion is the need to find a better balance between social, economic and environmental pressures particularly as Africans are now finding themselves at the sharp end of climate change and resource depletion. In FOAG Iain is particularly interested in the agricultural, environmental and micro credit projects. His day job is running a national sustainability organisation for universities and colleges and he takes every opportunity to link institutions in the UK and Africa and Asia. 

 

Michael Bentley

Michael has been involved with FOAG since the early 90s, and has visited Uganda as part of the annual project monitoring visit many times.  His particular interest is  sustainable agriculture, having worked in India and Nigeria on rural development projects.  He is the coordinator for the MTCEA project (see Projects), a project which combines many of Michael’s concerns including improved agriculture, literacy through agriculture training and appropriate technology.  Michael, with his wife Chrissy, is kept more than busy running a fruit farm near Newent in Gloucestershire.
 

Christina Bentley
Christiana has supported FOAG since 1990 when she was farming in Worcestershire.  Her background is in education and womens groups in India and Nigeria and so the work of FOAG in partnering projects in Uganda which aim to improve education and development is of particular interest to her.  Chrissy works in The National Health Service and is also involved in the family’s fruit farm business.

Val and Mike Clark

In 2003 Val’s husband, Mike, was very involved in raising funds for FOAG through Rotary having had presentations from Malcolm Rankin and David Harper, two of FOAG’s founder members. A major Rotary project in getting mains electricity supplied and distributed to the Masindi Centre for the handicapped resulted in Val and Mike joining the FOAG Project Monitoring Team visit to Uganda in 2004 which was the beginning of a close association with the committee and the work in all the FOAG projects. Val now oversees the projects at Mengo and Guluddene, and jointly, with Jan McConville, at the Masindi Centre for the Handicapped. She has visited Uganda on four occasions with the PMTs. Val is a qualified teacher, and having dealt with the elderly infirm as well as young adults with special needs, has empathy with the teachers, parents and students in the Ugandan schools supported by FOAG.

The motivational pull of FOAG for Val is from the control the charity has over its funding and the clear determination members have in seeing that their effort and the generosity of the associates is not lost on bureaucracy and  corruption.

 

FOAG London

Alex Letts

Alex has worked in Africa for the past five years for both commercial and charitable organisations.   He is currently working on a project designed to increase private sector involvement in Africa's economic development.  Alex holds a degree in Sociology from Southampton University and a Masters in International Business and Finance.

Ro Ballard

Ro has worked in film production for 5 years working on films such as Mr Bean 2 and The Boat That Rocked. In December 2008 he set up Muddy Boots Foods a ready meal company that uses the Aberdeen Angus beef from the family Farm. He became involved with FOAG in 2000 when he made a Documentry about their works.  Roland holds a degree in Business Studies.

James Meysey - Thompson

James has worked as a fund manager at J M Finn & Co for the past five years, managing both retail and charitable funds. In conjunction with this James has helped to develop and fund a number of charitable projects in Africa, with a particular focus on Uganda since 2000. James’ father was born in Zimbabwe, helping James to develop lasting connections both with and in the continent. James holds a degree in Politics from Bristol and is studying for a Master in Environmental Economics at Imperial Collage. He is also a member of the Securities Institute. 

Jaime Blakeley-Glover

Jaime is a qualified Chartered Surveyor and works for the Sustainable Development Commission who act as the UK Government's watchdog on sustainability and sustainable development. Prior to this he worked as a development consultant for Atisreal and for the PGA European Golf Tour in their Event Staging Department on tournaments including the Ryder Cup, Volvo PGA Championship and European Open. Jaime holds a degree on Geography from Southampton University and an Masters in European Real Estate from Kingston University.

Will Surman

William is an agricultural journalist working for the Farmers Guardian newspaper and as a freelance writer. He first visited Uganda in 1999 when he worked as a school teacher for four months before attending University. Through FOAG he has maintained his strong interest in the country and now writes extensively about developing world agriculture, including Uganda. William is a history graduate from Leeds University.