When you just have to trust us

Chris Beales
  Chris Beales
Director of Afghan Action
A wise old owl

 

I'VE SET UP SEVERAL CHARITIES and they’ve all gone through the same process: an exciting start followed by a longer-term struggle. Some survived. Others didn’t. I’ve learned a lot in the process.

My latest venture runs training for carpet weavers and a factory in Afghanistan producing carpets for sale in the UK. I have a great team.
“Strings-free cash lets us take the risks we need to take to succeed”
Most of our cash comes from a government agency. But it’s not a charitable grant – it’s money designed to set up a business. The agency understands the need for this and unlike most big funders and wealthy donors they’re not hung up on detailed plans and reports. They want to see a solid local business established in Kabul and they’re leaving us to get on with it. What better way to help people survive and prosper?

It’s a big contrast to the ghastly tick-box culture that comes with so much funding and which impales us with tasks and targets which may become irrelevant half-way through a project.

It’s the best kind of help for us and it’s as welcome from individuals as much as it is from governments. If a charity has experienced staff like ours, sometimes you just have to trust it with no-strings-attached donations. Then we will be free to react quickly to rapidly changing environments and take the risks that you have to take to succeed in difficult environments.



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