A description of the organisation and its aims

The Future in Our Hands Education and Development Fund is an independent charity established in 1995. It exists to alleviate poverty and the causes of poverty in developing countries, in a sustainable way.

It does this by working in close partnership with poor people and local organisations in developing countries, providing support and sharing expertise on

· development, governance and capacity building of local community organisations
· project development
· fundraising and grants management

In particular, the Fund supports projects which:

· are initiated by poor people themselves, through their local organisations
· incorporate a strong element of education or vocational training
· enhance the status and involvement of women in the development process
· create ecological awareness
· facilitate networking and the sharing of information and experience of development issues

Staffing Details

Since its inception, FIOH has relied primarily on the volunteer work of highly skilled professional advisors and trustees to deliver its work. On this basis it has enjoyed a number of significant achievements - whilst keeping its own core costs down to an absolute minimum:

Achievements to date include:

· the lead role in establishing 11 autonomous, registered charities in 11 countries

· income generation in the UK (including three large lottery grants), to support a wide variety of poverty-alleviation and projects initiated by partners in developing countries (including income-generating environmental remediation projects).

· on-going practical support and mentoring, since 1993, for overseas partners, giving them confidence to start on the path to generating their own income

· a small amount of regular unrestricted income from a committed supporter base, to sustain its own essential costs