The Fig Tree Round Table

The Roundtable participants are registered non-governmental organizations active in aid work, who have been invited to and have agreed to participate in the FTF vision.

The FTF has a formal interdependent relationship with RT members, who maintain decision-making independence within their organizations. The FTF provides clear and unambiguous guidelines regarding its responsibilities to its own donor and end user community. The FTF role within the RT is to facilitate cooperative ventures between NGO groups operating from Canada, and act as an incubator for innovation and idea sharing between the groups, rather than as an administrative or supervisory role.

The current Roundtable participants are:

MBAs Without Borders (MWB) is an international organization that empowers local entrepreneurs with experienced MBAs to bring innovative market-based solutions to developing countries. Why? We believe in a world where every local entrepreneur has the means to succeed and bring their communities out of poverty. Businesses can do amazing things and when channeled in the appropriate way, it can have an incredible lasting impact on communities in developing countries.

For more information visit: www.mbaswithoutborders.org

The Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST) is a Canadian humanitarian organization that provides subsidized engineering services – training, education and technical consulting in water and sanitation to organizations working with the poor in developing countries. CAWST’s main strategies are to:

• Make knowledge about water common knowledge by developing and freely distributing training programs in water and sanitation;
• Build the capacity of local public sector organizations (NGOs and government);
• Promote household water treatment as the place to start the sustainable delivery of water and sanitation services;
• Lead with the education and training, which is the catalyst for action; and
• Identify barriers to implementation and help our clients overcome them.

As of June 2007, CAWST has provided training and ongoing technical consulting to 2,443 people representing 371 client organizations in 49 countries. This has been the catalyst for 172 organizations to start independent water and sanitation projects with the support of 1,102 community based organizations. This network has impacted 1,125,000 people with improved water and sanitation and a better quality of life.

For more information on CAWST, please visit  www.cawst.org

Light Up The World (LUTW) is the pioneer and world leader in utilizing Solid State Lighting (SSL) technologies to improve the quality of life of the poor and disadvantaged in the developing world. We supply affordable, high-efficiency, durable, and near permanent White Light Emitting Diodes (WLED) lighting solutions powered by renewable energy in ecologically sensitive and remote rural areas. This technology is having a positive impact on the lives of marginalized people throughout the world through wealth creation, opportunities for better education, improving economic productivity, better health and safety in addition to the benefits for the environment. To support the work of LUTW, visit our website at  www.lutw.org and donate to help light a home in the developing world.

The Jack Neufeld Family Charitable Foundation is an international charitable organization designing and developing sustainable communities, guided by strong Christian principles and values. Leading higher learning institutions provide education support and state of the art technologies are transferred where local citizens are encouraged to participate in economic enhancements. At the heart of the community is a Life Center, where world class entities participate in imparting life skills and other social development skills to advance the local population.

www.neufeldfoundation.com

The Canadian Association for Participatory Development (CAPD) was formed in 2001 to facilitate societal inclusion of people with disabilities in Latin America by strengthening their organizations and their connections with the community. We build long-term relationships of trust and respect with our community partners through a process of accompaniment in which there is reciprocal learning and understanding. We use participatory methods to accomplish our goals mindful that we play a supportive and not a leadership role in the process of community development. CAPD currently has two community partners in Colombia and one in Belize.

www.globalsteps.org

Hydrogeologists Without Borders (HWB) is a group of hydrogeologists, water well technicians, groundwater specialists and groundwater organizations who share a concern about the very high importance of groundwater in developing countries. HWB places a particular emphasis on potable water supply to the most impoverished areas of the world and seeks build hydro geologic capacity to apply local solutions to the development, use, management and long-term protection of groundwater resources in developing countries.

www.hydrogeologistswithoutborders.org

Teachers Without Borders - Canada (TWB) is a non-profit, non-denominational organization incorporated in 2007, devoted to closing the education divide through teacher professional development and community education. TWB is supported entirely by individual donors and corporate/foundation grants. We work primarily, but not exclusively, in developing countries, to build self-reliance, health, and capacity. We seek to empower by developing and implementing seminars and workshops that are consistent with best educational practices and sensitive to the host country’s curricula. With the help of technology, TWB will also create a network of Canadian teachers and their peers from various countries to collaborate on lessons that would allow their students to work together on topics of global importance and relevance. Not only do we reach out to enhance education in developing areas, but we seek to create sustainable relationships that will enhance our own classrooms by infusing our curriculum with global experiences and cultures through joint student projects.

www.twbcanada.org

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) promotes human development through access to technology. We believe that technology, when appropriately incorporated into each community's social, cultural, economic and political context, can drive extraordinary change. This change is promoted in two ways, first by partnering with developing communities to help build local capacity and second, by raising awareness among Canadians about making decisions that positively impact communities overseas. In Calgary, the EWB Professional Chapter is creating a community of engaged professionals working to end extreme poverty.

www.calgary.ewb.ca

Lifeline Malawi Association , an independent Canadian humanitarian medical relief and development organization headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is dedicated to providing medical aid without discrimination to the peoples of developing countries. LM fulfills its vision of “Bringing life-transforming hope and healing to the nation of Malawi” through a community-based medical clinic delivery model, utilizing partnerships with other like-minded organizations. Our mission is accomplished by providing:

- A replicable Centre of Excellence that delivers rural based:

• Primary health care, such as disease prevention and treatment
• VCT programs which address the reality of HIV/AIDS
• Maternity programs

- Appropriate medicines, without cost, through pharmaceutical partnerships

- Trained healthcare professionals to provide quality assessment and care

- Leadership for community ownership and self sustainment by implementing community-based health education programs

- Partnerships with other organizations for hygiene, safe water and sanitation programs

- Means to generate revenue within the community (i.e. Maize mill)

www.lifelinemalawi.com

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) also know as Doctors without Borders was established in 1971 by a small group of French doctors who had worked in Biafra. Upon their return, they were determined to find a way to respond rapidly and effectively to public health emergencies, with complete independence from political, economic and religious influences.

Today, we are the world's leading independent international medical relief organization, with 5 operational centers in Europe and 14 national sections worldwide. In 1999, MSF was awarded the international Nobel Peace Prize "in recognition of the organization's pioneering humanitarian work on several continents." Our mandate concerns emergency relief, and the principles we honour while carrying out our work are contained in our Charter. We launch our operations in areas where there is no medical infrastructure or where the existing one cannot withstand the pressure to which it is subjected.

www.msf.ca

Opportunity International Canada

Opportunity International is a non-profit, international organization addressing the root cause of poverty through Microenterprise Development (MED). Microenterprise Development is the provision of small business loans, training and support to microentrepreneurs in the developing world. With a loan and training, a struggling entrepreneur can start or grow a business. With a business, no matter how small, they can make an income. With an income, they can feed their family, provide education for their children and improve their housing. In the process, the local economy is stimulated, dignity regained and hope restored.

Opportunity International Canada is the independent, maple-leafed arm of the Opportunity International worldwide Network. The Canadian wing is a relative newcomer, receiving legal status in July 1997.

www.opportunityinternational.ca

Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan is a volunteer not-for-profit organization founded in 1996 with 14 chapters and affiliated groups across Canada. The goals are to raise funds for health and education programs for women and girls in Afghanistan, and to raise awareness in Canada of the need to secure and protect human rights for Afghan women. Grants are provided to our Afghan partners for projects run by or for Afghan women. Thanks to Canadian donors, we have raised $2,000,000 in support of our goals and have been able to provide sustainable funding for our partner projects including an orphanage, community schools, books, stationery, heating bills for classrooms, library resources and shelving, transportation, medical supplies, skills development, and costs for staffing including guards, cooks and project administrators.

CW4WAfghan members were honoured with the YMCA Calgary Peace Award in the International category for their long-standing contribution to supporting peace and human rights for Afghan women and their families.

For more details on how you can be involved, please visit www.w4wafghan.ca

Africa Book Project

Africa Book Project is a volunteer-based charitable organization that aims to support education in Africa through the collection and distribution of books and educational materials. We work primarily with rural and community-based schools that receive little or no government funding and have very limited educational resources. Canadian school boards, libraries and individuals donate text and early reading books, which are sent to the schools and distributed. We have sent over 100,000 books to schools in Kenya and Tanzania.

www.africabookproject.org

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