The Altor Foundation is pleased to support We See Hope, a charity that supports women and children in Southern and Eastern Africa. They support children acutely impacted by lack of opportunity, isolation and exploitation by giving them and their mothers financial opportunities to support themselves. They are currently working in 147 communities across Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

During Covid they have been focussed on:

1. Teaching new income generating skills such as making face masks and soap, as well as continuing their existing programmes such as food gardens.
2. Strengthening child protection structures through their community volunteer network to make sure that ‘at risk’ children such as those who have dropped out of school are identified and supported.
3. Advancing their Village Investors Programme (VIP), which sets-up self-funded and regulated savings and loans groups. It also provides training in financial and business skills.

It is fair to say that we love the VIP scheme as it helps some of the poorest people in the world to develop the skills they need to financially support themselves and their families. It fits well with the financial education part of our supporting business Altor Wealth Management llp and meets one of our charitable objectives of supporting the poor to support themselves.

To put the Altor Foundation’s support into context, £3,000 is enough for 100 parents to be part of VIP. Based on data from VIP, we know that on average every member cares for three children, meaning your gift is enough to support at least 300 children at a time when building economic security in households is more critical than ever – thank you so much.

WeSeeHope Head of Fundraising – Katherine Chelsom-Pill.

In Bolivia with average earnings of just £500 per month and high cost of living comparative to the UK, many individuals struggle to make ends meet. According to the individuals that we support in country, many live day to day, harvesting enough food each day to sell. The proceeds are then needed to buy food that day for the family.

Covid19 has disrupted this pattern as the Bolivian government has had to impose severe lockdowns to protect their health system.

As incredible as it seems in 2021 many Bolivians are lacking the daily basic essentials of bread to eat. That is why the Peart family have pivoted to baking bread every day to distribute to their local community.

The Foundation has supported this family in the work before and continues to do so now their work is even more crucial.

One of the clients of Altor Wealth, Stuart Shepherd has committed to an extraordinary feat of endurance – rowing 3000 miles across the atlantic with three friends. They are raising money for two charities; RNIB and Severn Hospice. There is a fantastic video about the team here.

We are pleased to say that we have donated £1,000 to each of these causes to support the Wrekin Rowers in their efforts.

You can find out more about the team and the challenge here.

Bolivia is a country of 11 million and the second poorest in South America. It has been particularly hard hit by Corona Virus as many Bolivians live day to day, selling enough goods in a day to feed their family for the following day but saving nothing. Due to a lack of a functioning health service families are in lockdown with only one member allowed out, once a week to shop for food. This has hit the people very hard financially.

As a foundation we support Bolivia via CMS who have a family called The Pearts living and working ‘in country’. As well as their social mission in the country they are also using their business background to seed fund and mentor people to set up more substantial micro-businesses. This should provide a more sustainable income for families.

We are grateful for Altor Foundation’s support, which has allowed us to continue and grow our missional work with Bolivian families through Parilis, our economic empowerment and microenterprise program focusing on sustainable employment and business mentorship.

The families and communities which benefit from these new opportunities are testimony to the Altor Foundation in reaching out to make a difference in our world. Thank you for blessing us and the communities that we are part of.

The Peart Family, Santa Cruz, Bolivia