I was first introduced to the Bread Tin’s pilot group when Grace, an old friend from school, collared me in the pub and said 'we need a numbers guy'. As she continued explaining the concept to me I realised this was more than just Excel and a really exciting method of getting involved in charity that no-one had really done before. I wanted to know more.
At our initial meetings the agenda was loose to say the least - we needed to come together and share ideas. We realised early on that one of the most difficult decisions to make was what project we were going to support - it is a rare charitable cause that can be looked at and cast aside as not being in need. We were going to have to use our heads as well as our hearts.
Eventually we settled on a set of four principles which really spoke to us and which any charity project being put up for consideration we considered would have to exhibit. These were, in no particular order: we wanted our project to happen at grassroots level, to be sustainable, be located abroad (so our money went further) and to alleviate socio-economic problems. The next step was to refine the generalities into something specific...
Fortunately amongst the group we had some expertise in the charity sector - Grace currently fundraises for an organisation with a presence in 78 countries. However the amount of expertise in the group is not always necessarily a help. Although we found a project we felt we could proceed with, an investigation initiated with less or no prior knowledge is by no means prohibited from achieving the same outcome - in fact you may even get there more quickly! Ultimately one of our members flagged up Bosnia as a possible location for our project following a trip she had made there. We all agreed that it could fit the themes we had identified: it was abroad but near enough to home to be accessible, as a war-devastated country it was clearly in need of aid and tends to be overlooked in the predominant charity campaigns of the day.
Having decided on Bosnia, we began our research. Once this was decided, the research phase commenced. We were looking for project ideas which fitted with our criteria, and which would make the most of the money we had to give away. Ideally, we had wanted to identify a partner charity with a presence in Bosnia, established enough to know the infrastructure yet flexible enough to accommodate an individual project.
It was through this research that we met Novi Most. They are a UK registered charity that works with young people in Bosnia to help them overcome the effects of the past. We were also extremely fortunate in that they had a director, Gill, who was willing to listen. We invited her to one of our meetings to draw on her considerable experience and discuss her perception of the most pressing problems she dealt with in Bosnian society. Gill’s response was immediate: the disillusionment of youth in the face of limited prospects and high unemployment.
After some debate, the idea of setting up a work experience scheme came to us. We had all done something similar during school and while it hadn’t necessarily led to employment for us, it had been a chance to gain experience, develop confidence and meet people who could help us. We thought that a work experience scheme for school leavers in Bosnia could maybe help alleviate some of the problems we had been talking about. Novi Most agreed, and indicated that they would be in a position to carry out something like this on the ground.
As a group, we next evaluated the work experience scheme against the other projects and charity partners we had identified. From what we had seen, we were keen to work with Novi Most, and believed that that our idea had the potential to change lives. So we decided to proceed to set it up!
Together with Novi Most we have designed a comprehensive feasibility study which they are now carrying out for us. The study involves approaching local employers with a view to giving young school leavers a chance to experience life in the workplace, and trying to evaluate interest among young people. Novi Most have links with local communities through their work on the ground, which mean they can carry out the study in a way that we never could.
The results are due very soon, and our group are all really excited.