At least seven international NGOs have suspended aid, saying they cannot work without female staff
The acting head of the UN mission in Afghanistan met Taliban leaders on Monday in a bid to persuade them to withdraw their ban on all women working for aid agencies.
Ramiz Alakbarov met the Taliban’s economy minister, Din Mohammad Hanif, in Kabul, telling him that millions of Afghans need “humanitarian assistance and removing barriers is vital”.
Continue reading...Justin Welby says too many people face ‘real hardship and pain’ as temperatures fall and bills rise
A surge of Arctic air causing sub-zero temperatures across the UK is poised to send demand for warm spaces surging, and the archbishop of Canterbury has urged people not to despair in the face of “real hardship and pain”.
The weather system moving quickly south from Norway, nicknamed the Troll of Trondheim, will result in colder weather for at least a week, the Met Office has forecast, as a network of “warm hubs” said it had seen 80,000 people use its facilities in the last week.
Continue reading...Duke of Sussex records video to comfort youngsters at Scotty’s Little Soldiers, a charity for military children
The Duke of Sussex dressed up as Spider-Man in a surprise video message to try to comfort bereaved military children.
He donned the superhero outfit and only lifted his mask to reveal his true identity at the end of a specially recorded message for youngsters at Scotty’s Little Soldiers, a charity for bereaved British forces children and young people.
Continue reading...Citizens Advice in affluent Wokingham says requests for help have nearly doubled in a year
A growing number of people in one of the most affluent areas of the country are struggling financially because of a huge spike in energy bills and the soaring cost of living, according to the chief executive of Wokingham Citizens Advice.
Many people who have been “just about managing” are now slipping into poverty and debt in Berkshire, said Jake Morrison, making him fearful for poorer regions throughout the country.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Nearly 70% of providers say they may need to turn people away or shrink the size of emergency rations
Food banks across Britain have warned of a “completely unsustainable” surge in demand that will prevent them feeding the hungriest families this winter.
Organisations representing 169 food banks told the Guardian the number of people seeking emergency help had already grown “dramatically” and predicted “bleak and disturbing” weeks ahead.
Continue reading...Move to examine the Barrowman Foundation comes amid mounting scrutiny of Charles’s charity
The Charity Commission has opened a compliance case into one of the key donors to Prince Charles’s charity after it emerged it had been funded by unsecured loans.
The Barrowman Foundation, a platinum donor to the Prince’s Trust, has not recorded any donations in its published accounts since it was set up and is funded by borrowings from its founder, the businessman Doug Barrowman.
Continue reading...Rising prices have created greater demand for sanctuary and made it more difficult for people to leave
Refuges providing sanctuary to victims of domestic violence are facing severe strains as a result of the cost of living crisis, a charity has warned.
Rising prices are creating a greater demand for refuge spaces, as increased financial pressure acts as a trigger for abusive partners, while making it more costly for those already in refuge to leave, according to Hestia, a charity providing support to those fleeing domestic abuse in London and south-east England.
Continue reading...Money was passed immediately to one of the prince’s charities, says Clarence House
The Prince of Wales accepted bags containing millions of euros in cash during meetings with a senior Qatari politician, according to a report.
Prince Charles was said to have been given a total of €3m (£2.6m) during meetings with Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar.
Continue reading...Groups set up to help out neighbours in 2020 are now helping people cope with cost of living, say campaigners
Four in 10 of the mutual aid groups that were set up at the start of the pandemic to make it easier for neighbours to help each other are still active and many have become established charities helping local people cope with the cost of living crisis, analysis suggests.
When the pandemic began, an estimated 4,000 mutual aid groups sprang up to offer assistance to those in need with a range of essential activities, from food shopping to collecting prescriptions and providing Covid information.
Continue reading...Sellers could pass off elephant products as derivatives from unprotected mammals, Born Free Foundation says
Ivory peddlers may continue to sell elephant tusks after a new ban by disguising their products as walrus or narwhal derivatives, campaigners have warned.
From Monday, trade in elephant teeth and tusks is illegal in the UK, punishable by fines of up to £250,000 or up to five years in prison under the Ivory Act. Pre-1975 musical instruments and antique items of “outstanding importance” are exempted from the act, as well as ivory from non-elephant species.
Continue reading...Pilot scheme will see trained volunteers responding to ‘category three’ calls where extra help needed due to mobility problems
Volunteers could be responding to urgent 999 calls in London within weeks, as the capital’s ambulance service tries to tackle mounting delays.
A pilot scheme, revealed in London ambulance service (LAS) board papers at the end of March, will focus on people who fall into “category three”, where they require a response within two hours, and need extra help because of mobility problems.
Continue reading...Orlando Fraser to chair Charity Commission despite select committee calling him ‘slapdash and unimaginative choice’
The culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, has pressed ahead with the appointment of former Tory parliamentary candidate Orlando Fraser to chair the Charity Commission, despite his rejection by an MPs’ scrutiny committee.
The news that Dorries had ignored the cross-party group of MPs to appoint Fraser was slipped out in a brief statement by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) early on Friday evening.
Continue reading...Committee says it has reservations over selection process and lack of diversity in shortlist
A committee of MPs has rejected the government’s choice for the next chair of the Charity Commission, blaming ministers for a “slapdash and unimaginative choice” in selecting the one-time Conservative parliamentary candidate Orlando Fraser.
While the digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) committee said it had no grounds for concern about Fraser as an individual, it had serious reservations about the selection process, including the lack of diversity in the shortlist.
Continue reading...Second whistleblower suggests to committee that top civil servants lied to cover up episode
A second whistleblower has gone public to say it was “widespread knowledge” in government that Boris Johnson ordered the prioritisation of an animal charity based in Afghanistan for evacuation during the Taliban takeover last summer.
Josie Stewart, who worked in the Foreign Office for seven years, including a stint in the Kabul embassy, suggested senior civil servants in the department had lied to cover up the embarrassing episode.
Continue reading...Labour said seeking to appoint Orlando Fraser ignored due process and showed Tories ‘looking after their own’
The government has been accused of “looking after their own” after choosing a former Tory party candidate with links to a rightwing thinktank as its preferred candidate for the chair of the charities’ watchdog.
Labour said by seeking to appoint Orlando Fraser, a founding fellow of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), to the chair of the Charity Commission, ministers had ignored due process in favour of another Conservative supporter.
Continue reading...Foreign office’s ‘top-down’ approach failing people it is seeking to protect, says watchdog, with abuse cases still underreported
The British government has not listened to victims in its efforts to tackle abuse in the humanitarian sector after the “sex for aid” scandals, a UK watchdog has said.
The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (Icai) said the government was falling short because of a “top-down” approach and needed to listen and learn from recipients of aid who remained reluctant to report abuse allegations.
Continue reading...Queen’s Commonwealth Trust site contains glowing review of California-based BetterUp, which the prince joined last year
A leading Commonwealth charity which has the Queen as its patron is promoting the online coaching business that employs Prince Harry as its chief impact officer.
The coaching, by BetterUp, is described as “truly phenomenal” in testimony by one user on the website of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (QCT). Prince Harry was previously president of the trust.
Continue reading...Metropolitan police have launched investigation into allegations linked to Prince Charles charity
Scotland Yard has launched an investigation into cash-for-honours allegations linked to the Prince of Wales’s charity the Prince’s Foundation.
In a brief statement, the Metropolitan police said it had launched the investigation after media reports alleging offers of help were made to secure honours and citizenship for a Saudi national.
Continue reading...Marie Gracie helps families arriving from Afghanistan. The Guardian angel sends a party entertainer to help the children adjust to their first English winter
Marie Gracie never met the boy, but his fate changed her life. On 2 September 2015, three-year-old Alan Kurdi washed up, drowned, on a Turkish beach. His family were Syrian refugees, trying to reach Europe. Journalist Nilüfer Demir took a photo. Alan lies face down, in a T-shirt and shorts. His feet are so tiny. His hands are upturned, facing the sky.
“I’m a mother,” says Gracie, an artist from Milton Keynes. “Can you imagine anything worse than your child being in the news like that?” She reached out to her local chapter of Refugees Welcome, set up in the wake of the Syrian war.
Continue reading...The first time I worked in an office, I was the boss of a group of sceptical youngsters. They looked for my weak spots – then became my first full-sighted friends
My first experience of office life was daunting. You might expect one’s first experience of working in an office environment to be pretty gentle: making the tea, a bit of filing, running errands for the boss. Not a bit of it, in my case. Aged 20, with no experience of office life, I was the boss. And, just to add a little spice to the task, I was totally blind.
My job as a community service volunteer at Youth Action York was to persuade a sceptical group of teenagers to give a helping hand to local elderly or disabled people who were struggling – assisting them with their shopping, perhaps, or tidying up their garden. It felt like a challenge, and my teenage volunteers made sure it was.
Continue reading...