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Information:
HF is an international NGO which was founded in the UK in
1994 and began its humanitarian relief operations in 1995,
delivering charitable donations and development projects in
the fields of health, education
and emergency food and medical aid to the poor, disadvantaged,
refugees
and disaster victims.
 Humanity
First was founded as an NGO in Banjul, Gambia, in the year
2000 and since then has been engaged in a number of relief
operations and sustainable human development schemes with
the main aim of lifting communities out of poverty
and dependency.
Funding & Local Manpower:
• The charity's local activities are funded mainly through
public grants, companies' matching fund and private individuals
donations. Over
90% of donated money is spent solely on its aid projects.
• Most of its local efforts are from volunteers
such as health
workers and engineers, with discounted costs for products
as a result of worldwide sourcing and procurement.
Programmes:
• Skills
Training
Humanity First has created four IT institutions called the
Humanity First Training Centre in The Gambia's Banjul capital,
Latrikunda Sabiji (Kmc), Mansakonko (Lower River Region),
and Basse Santa Su (Upper River Region). Over the years more
than 5,000 pupils have obtained IT certificates and diplomas
that has increased their chances of fining employment in the
private and public sectors.
• Orphan
Assistance
It is currently running a small project for the long-term
care of orphaned babies and children.
• Food
Aid
Occasional donations of rationed food products such as bags
of rice and vegetable cooking oil are distributed to victims
of floods, droughts, storms and other natural disasters which
are often passed through the Disaster Management Committees
in the regions under the NDMA.
HF also has a programme where it supports a number of families
to receive food packages for a period of half a year, as well
as giving them related services to enhance their skills training
and health, thereby empowering them to become more self-reliant
from then on.
• Rural Water Supplies
HF - Gambia have a scheme of replacing and maintaining broken
hand water pumps in villages thereby increasing the available
access of local communities to clean, accessible water for
drinking, sanitation and washing.
• Medical Camps
Humanity First often holds one-day free medical treatments
and medications for communities in the various regions such
as the one held in the Upper Saloum District treating 300
patients in the Central River Region in summer of 2011.
• Education
Aside from its 4 computer training centres it constructed
the Masroor Senior Secondary School in Old Yundum which covers
an area of approximately 4 hectares, and began taking in pupils
in 2005.
The walled complex comprises of several buildings with a dozen
classrooms in two main blocks, agricultural projects area,
office block, a hall, an IT and science laboratory, storage
facility, the Lord Avebury Library, a borehole, WCs and an
athletics and soccer sports ground.
The school enrolls around a mix of around 700 boys and girls
with a teaching staff of 20. So far academic standards have
been good with the school coming near the top of Gambia's
school league in 2008.
Masroor SSS offers a wide core curriculum of various subjects
such as biology, chemistry, English language, history, geography,
PE, mathematics, economics, agricultural science, ICT etc.
Small Scale Projects:
• Desert Fridge Project
This was a trial held in 2008 in the Numukunda & Gunjur
villages in the North Bank Region. The evaporative cooling
units consist of two clay receptacles, one inside the other,
with water soaked sand placed in between. The idea was shown
to be able to keep vegetables and fruit relatively fresh and
edible for just over two and a half weeks.
Its aim is to help rural women and market fruit and vegetable
sellers who regularly suffer losses due to lack of access
to cold storage facilities. Humanity First is now expanding
the idea to other parts West Africa.
*Also called the zeer pot, Sudanese Fridge or pot-in-pot it
was first piloted in Sudan in 2001 by the an NGO called Practical
Action.
• Milling machines to villages
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