Global Partners Programme :

The Global Partners Programme addresses the interest of Share and Care’s sponsors and potential partners around the world. Originating from an informal conversation between Share and Care’s director, Stephen, and a Swedish professor, the programme enables interested people to come and visit the programmes that Share and Care runs. In this way both partners’ concerns and villagers’ needs can be addressed.

The first Global Partners “camp” was held in 1987, when a group of Swedish students and teachers came to visit Nainarkuppam, a fishing village near Mamallapuram, where Share and Care has an education programme. With the help of translators the sponsors interacted with both the children and adults from the village, learning about their daily lives, and becoming more emotionally involved and invested. They grew to understand the people they had already been assisting, leading to increased commitment.

This initial programme was so successful that it continues today. Sponsors and partners from around the world are welcome to come and live and work with the villagers to better understand how they can be of help. Often these “camps” are planned out a year or more ahead of time, so that all concerned can utilize the time in Tamil Nadu to their best advantage. Translators are provided by Share and Care, which makes conversations flow more freely. Both sides benefit enormously. Partners return home with a new awareness of the people, their needs, and how Share and Care works. Their commitment skyrockets, and it is not unusual for some to return to help for longer periods of time. Villagers reap the benefits of having partners and sponsors who really understand what their lives are like.

They are often the beneficiaries of material goods like educational materials, school playground equipment, wells, latrines, and the like. More importantly, they have an opportunity to meet and interact with people from different parts of the world, and learn that westerners care and want to help in a genuine way. The Global Partners Programme is funded by the international sponsors themselves, and occasionally by an international development agency, such as Sida.