AWCH 2022 FAWCO Grants and Award
Development Grants
Education : AW Surrey Hope Through Education : $ 4,000
Recipient : “ I Will Learn !”— Keeping Tribal Children in School , three hamlets belonging to Hazarwadi , Sangamner Taluka , Ahemdnagar District , Maharashtra , India
By the age of 13 , more than half of the tribal children in rural Maharashtra have dropped out of school . They thus lack the education needed to improve their own status and that of their communities — home to the poorest of the poor , the marginalized and deprived . With parents largely illiterate and placing no value on education , the children do not speak the official school language and have poor learning habits and no digital experience . The grant funds will finance teaching materials , digital equipment , and tutoring staff for supplementary classes for 60 tribal children ( ages 7 – 15 ) for ten hours each week over one school year . Many classes will be held in a kindergarten building previously funded by a FAWCO Foundation DG . The children will learn the basic skills needed to keep them in school and continue their education , empowering them to break the poverty cycle and ensure socio-educational sustainability of their communities .
Environment : Trees Glorious Trees
Sponsored in part by AWC Amsterdam , AIWC Cologne , and Friends of the Environment
Recipient : Regreening Degraded Land in Rural India , Khoch village in Mokhada Taluka , Palghar District , Maharashtra , India
Desertified land in rural areas of Maharashtra , India , is home to many tribes who are among the poorest people in the world . Forced to migrate seasonally for work , they are deprived of healthcare , education , stability , and hope . Restoring life to their degraded land is the foundation needed to bring about change . The grant funds will finance 1,200 cashew trees for the Khoch tribal hamlet with 27 families ( around 145 people ) to plant on 110 acres under watershed development . The trees will prevent soil erosion and help “ catch the rain ” to regreen the land ( SDG 15.3 ). The trees will also provide a harvest for income , which will stop migration and greatly improve the lives of the tribal families ( SDG 3 ), whose women and men will participate equally in decision making , planning , and planting ( SDG 5.5 ). The final reward will be longlasting prosperity for the Khoch tribal people through ecologically and socio-economically sustainable changes .
Education Award
FAUSA Skills Enhancement Award $ 4,000
Recipient : Brooke Viertel , AWCH
As a licensed psychotherapist , she has both the ethical responsibility and the personal passion to continually expand and strengthen her clinical skills . She has found in the past years that many expat women have been challenged to find a qualified therapist offering treatment in English . She is planning to complete a certified training course in trauma therapy through the “ Zentrum für Psychotraumatologie-Hamburg ” and hopes to complete this comprehensive certification program which includes all aspects of clinical work with traumatized patients by October 2024 . She is a member of AWC Hamburg .
Complete list of awardees : fawcofoundation . org / programs / development-grants / 2022-development-grant-recipients