The Southampton Rotary Club is a member of the Rotary Hand Up Group which is a collaborative partnership between over 40 individual Rotary Clubs in Canada and the United States, 5 Rotary Clubs in Cameroon, 5 Cameroon registered non-government organizations (NGOs) and many community groups, schools and organizations.We work together to develop and fund international projects. We pool our resources so that we have sufficient funds to qualify for grants from organizations such as the Rotary International Foundation and the Canadian Government.
In the past 25 years, Hand Up has invested over $2 Million of funds from local Rotarians, Rotary Clubs, The Rotary Foundation and the Canadian Government into humanitarian projects in Cameroon. Projects have included Education, Maternal Health, Entrepreneurship, Water and Sanitation and Nutrition as well as many others.
The Hand Up Group has provided the necessary funding, to augment local sweat equity, to construct community water systems in over thirty villages. These spring fed, gravity flow systems provide a convenient and safe source of potable water in each village and the 250,000 people living there. This has all been done at an average cash costs to Rotary of $2.80 per beneficiary.
An example of how this Group produces “more than the sum of its part” was the Kumbo Water Project, each of the participating clubs contributed less than $2,000.00 CND which we were able to leverage into a $85,000.00 water project. The total cost of the project was $68,180.00 US. funded as follows:
Handup Clubs and Individuals $19,480,00 US (approx. $24,350.00 Cdn)
District 6330 (DDF) Grant $19,480.00 US (approx. $24,350.00 Cdn)
The Rotary Foundation $29,220.00 US (approx. $36,525.00 Cdn)
Total financing: $68,180.00 US (approx. $85,225.00 Cdn)
District 6330 (DDF) Grant $19,480.00 US (approx. $24,350.00 Cdn)
The Rotary Foundation $29,220.00 US (approx. $36,525.00 Cdn)
Total financing: $68,180.00 US (approx. $85,225.00 Cdn)
One of our most recent projects provided equipment, drugs and training to two local Maternity Hospitals so that unnecessary fatalities of mother or child during birth can be greatly reduced.Details of our many projects can be found on our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/rotaryhandup/