Hertfordshire charity wins government grant to help carers in Bangladesh

Carers Worldwide, which transforms the lives of carers in low and middle-income countries, has been awarded a £50,000 UK government grant.

The money is expected to transform the lives of carers and their family members in Bangladesh, the British High Commission says.

The grant comes from the Department for International Development’s Small Charities Challenge Fun, which makes it easier for small UK charities to access UK aid funds and make a difference globally.

Carers Worldwide is a charity based in Welwyn Garden City. The government grant will support the charity’s new project in Dhaka.

This project aims to change the lives of 500 carers and their family members by providing funding to help them:

>> Receive improved medical services and counselling.

>> Access new opportunities to boost their chances of getting work, or receive financial support from their local government.

>> Join a support group where they can meet other carers, receive emotional support and talk about the issues they face.

Carers Worldwide was founded by a married couple, Ruth and Anil Patil, in 2012 to fuel their passion to transform the lives of unpaid family carers in low and middle-income countries where there is little or no support for them.

They were inspired by their own experiences from working in the health and social care sector in India, where they came into contact with lots of carers, whom they were unable to support.

They were also motivated by their youngest daughter who has Down’s Syndrome. Their own experience of caring for their daughter made them consider what it must be like to care for a child with a disability without any support.

Working from their home in Welwyn Garden City, they have already helped 35,000 carers and their families deal with illness, disability and mental health challenges across India and Nepal. This grant from the Small Charities Challenge Fund is now enabling them to expand their work into Bangladesh.

“We are delighted with the funding from the Government’s Small Charities Challenge Fund which will enable us to fund our new project in Bangladesh,” Ruth Patil, co-founder of Carers Worldwide, said.

“This work is really important because in Bangladesh there are no organisations that work specifically with carers to improve their lives.

“We are looking forward to working with the team from the Department for International Development as we transform the lives of carers and their families.”

Carers Worldwide wants to highlight how the majority of carers are women and how they are often excluded from other aid programmes because of their caring responsibilities. This project will draw attention to the physical and emotional burdens that carers face.

“Helping others in need is at the heart of our culture, and this is epitomised by the work of small charities up and down the country,” International Development Secretary, Penny Mordaunt said:

“The Small Charities Challenge Fund is a great way of providing support to charities here in the UK that do an amazing job helping people in some of the poorest parts of the world.

“This project is no different, and I am happy that we are able to help Carers Worldwide expand their work into Bangladesh. This is a win for the UK and a win for the developing world.”

The Small Charities Challenge fund, set up in 2017, has awarded 16 British charities, including Carers Worldwide, grants totalling over £750,000 in its first round of funding. Each charity can apply for a grant of up to £50,000.

Further grants will be handed out in the coming two years, out of a total pot of £4 million.

The fund was set up after a DFID Civil Society review found it was hard for small UK charities to access DFID funding because of the length and complexity of the application process.

There is only one stage in the process for applying for SCCF funding: simply filling out an application form.