Thought I would share a couple of great organisations who have only popped up this year who are already on their way to doing great things by thinking outside the square and getting creative...

[co]design studio since forming in May this year have already 5 projects under their belt. The crux of this organisation is that they collaborate with architects and designers from the countries in which they work. What better way is there to engage communities than to build capacity of the local professionals and to exchange skills and learn from one another. Such inspiring work. You can follow their progress on Facebook, Twitter and the like. 

Another great concept is from the guys at turn me ON. The idea was to host worldwide design competition to generate discussion and ideas to address the current problem of accessing clean water in rural communities in Nepal. We are looking forward to seeing what the entrants have come up with! 

AIME high

At the Vanguard last night we not only listened to some great music (headliners Saving Grace ) but in the process raised money for what can only be described as an educational revelation!

Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) is one of those not-for-profit organisations that you can't help but be in awe of. The program partners university students with young indigenous students, from years 7-12. This unique, one-on-one education based mentoring program aims to improve year 10 and year 12 completion rates and university admission rates for all participating students.

Beginning in 2005 with just 20 students from Redfern, AIME is now looking to engage more than 1000 students and plan to expand into Victoria and Queensland in 2010. What a fantastic acheivement! Do take the time to check out their website, truly inspiring.

barefoot ball!

It is always encouraging to hear of others doing great work. Operating in Uganda, the United Future Foundation (UFF) focuses on making education and skills training available to youth living in poverty stricken areas.

UFF is hosting the Black Tie and Barefoot Ball (not bare football as I first read it to be... another fundraising idea perhaps?) on May 15th, at The Hilton, Sydney. We take our hat off to anyone who can get a function of this size up and running! So congratulations to both Annabelle and Dave and all the best guys for what is shaping up to be a fun-filled night, not to mention a worthy one!

You can find out more about UFF by visiting their website.

happy villages

Our dear friends in Kenya have started up this inspiring organisation. Happy Villages aims to tackle such issues as health, education, environment, poverty, gender, communications and all the barriers to sustainable development one community at a time. Their approach is based on the UN Millenium Development Goals.

Ever the "happy" blogger George has recently added this all too true post on the facebook group: Extreme poverty is the most severe state of poverty, where people cannot meet basic needs for survival, such as food, water, clothing, shelter, sanitation, education and health care. 1.1 billion people currently live under these conditions. Extreme poverty hurts."We work towards a world without extreme poverty" join us!

b+c is right behind the Happy Villages team and we look forward to visiting a Happy Villages happy village soon! We urge you all to follow their progress and support them now and in the future as big things can only come from such a warm, beautiful bunch of passionate people!

The Tools to End Poverty

We love sharing great organisations with you all and here is a fab one. Kickstart is a not for profit organisation that develops and markets new technologies in Africa. The low-cost technologies are bought by local entrepreneurs to create profitable small scale businesses.

We visited their offices when were in Kisumu to see how their MoneyMaker irrigation pumps worked.  As you can see we had to give it a test run! 

Over 60 000 people in Kenya, Tanzania and Mali are running profitable businesses using these pumps. This is a great video which features co-founder Martin Fisher, the Kickstart team and the MoneyMaker pump in action. 

Another great product that we were looking into was the stabilised soil block press. Affordable shelter will always be in demand and this press provides a solution. There are plenty of other technologies to check out on the website such as cooking oil technologies and lots more. 

p/hop

Pennies per hour per pleasure is an initiative being run by Medecins San Frontieres. A b+c friend is championing this unique knitting project. All money raised goes to MSF, an extremely worthwhile organisation. You can read about our friend, Lou who is featured this week knitting in Egypt by visiting the p/hop blog!

The idea of p/hop is to donate based on how many hours of pleasure you get from knitting your free pattern, which have been generously donated by designers. There is no set price to a pattern - you can give as much or as little as you like! 

We wish the p/hop team all the best in their attendance at their upcoming festivals. For those who are keen to jump on board do sign up - the world needs more knitters and MSF needs your support so they can continue to provide medical aid to those who need it most! 

customs house exhibition

We all attended the opening of the Emergency Architects + Global Studio Exhibition on Wednesday night. If you get a chance pop down to Customs House, Level 2 and take a look. It is a very informative exhibition of the work of Emergency Architects, a foundation that labours alongside people who have lost everything as a result of earthquake, flood and war. The teams work to restore people’s sense of security, find shelter for displaced populations and arrange children’s access to education.

The amazing work of The Global Studio (read more about here) was on display also, well worth a look see to learn more about the latest expeditions.

Both are such amazing organisations that provide not only much needed research and infrastructure to deserved communities but also provide bricks + cartwheels with constant inspiration due to the tireless work they do!

educate one woman, educate a nation...

...this is the philosophy of SSEG - South Sudan Educates Girls. We recently found out about this amazing organisation from a friend who is involved. It is so great to come across similar minded people who believe whole heartedly in the importance of educating women.

SSEG aims to provide increased educational access and opportunities for girls in Southern Sudan. To achieve this, SSEG is building a girls' highschool in the town of Aweil and aims to contribute to the rebuilding of Southern Sudan by increasing education levels in the country

This charity organisation was set up by Sudanese people living in Australia with the help of some Australian school teachers and community members. Members of the SSEG committee have been inspired by the story of Anna Dimo and her dream to enable women to be educated participants in the rebuilding of South Sudan.

Congratulations to the committee on all your hard work so far, we at bricks + cartwheels know what it takes to establish something at this scale. We look forward to following your progress.