The African people are strong, intelligent and resourceful, but many areas have fallen into poverty after being affected by years of natural phenomena such as famine, floods and disease, or by man-made issues, such as corruption and war. Sadly it is the ‘common people' that suffer most, especially the women and children. In many areas, women also have the added cultural issue of being seen as second class citizens and are treated badly.

LUCIA believes that the key to positive change is to help the African people, particularly women, to help themselves with long-term self-sustainable development projects. In turn, this reduces reliance on international aid. Instead of simply giving repeated hand-outs of food or money, LUCIA works towards empowering African communities and individuals so that they can become self sufficient and then go on to help others to do the same. LUCIA does occasionally use a small amount of its money to fund emergency relief work as we recognise that some communities will need this in order to reach the sustainable development phase.

The bulk of LUCIA's programmes are currently in Ethiopia. They include the formation of Women's Self Help Groups, the protection and schooling of young orphan girls and education against the spread of HIV/AIDS. LUCIA currently works with organisations based in Ethiopia to combat these and other issues, and has a formal partnership with a small Ethiopian NGO called the Siiqqee Women's Development Association (SWDA).

Working with African organisations means that the people there are helping each other rather than having outside agents dictate how they should live. Local workers are more sensitive to the cultural aspects of their society and understand the problems, wishes and needs of the local communities.

As a small charity, working this way is important. Not only is it better for the people we are trying to help, but it also means that we do not have to pay for LUCIA staff to travel, live and work in Africa on a permanent basis. Instead, all of our money can be invested into projects to help poor communities.

Of course, projects must be audited and LUCIA representatives visit our projects in Ethiopia to do this, entirely at their own personal expense. We also require regular status and financial reports from our partner organisations, which the charity monitors closely.