Conferences & Fundraising: In Memory of Richard Garnett

After the summer break, September hit with a bang here at Five Talents UK.

Co-CEO Rachel Lindley attended events hosted by Liberal Democrats in International Development (LDID). Rachel reflected:

'I am very grateful for the invitation from Myles Wickstead to the LDID fringe events at their party conference in Brighton in September.? The panel events were fascinating, and I was particularly struck by the discussions around food shortages, malnutrition and conflict in the session run by United Against Malnutrition and Hunger and chaired by Jonathan Oates . The contributions from the panellists were powerful and brought to mind a conversation I had with a Five Talents partner trainer when I was in South Sudan recently. He said, 'people who are running cannot be farming.' It is so important we highlight the connection between conflict and malnutrition, and also the work to support refugees and internally displaced people as they seek to re-build their lives and find anchor points , such as savings groups, which can bring economic resilience and stability.'

Tour de Talents Success

We raised ￡10,000 for projects in South Sudan this year, a huge testament to all of you who signed up and logged your miles over the Bank Holiday Weekend. You can read a full round up on the Five Talents site, and please sign up to our newsletter for future events to get involved in.

Programme Visits

Looking forward to the end of the year, teams are busy taking trips to Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda to check in with programme partners and further learn how we can fundraise for what is most needed in their programmes.?

Soon, we’ll launch our 2024 Big Give Christmas Appeal, which will support our partnership programme in Morogoro, Tanzania.

In Memoriam: Richard Garnett

Rachel says of Richard, "Richard was the most generous, faith-full and lovely human. He genuinely loved empowering women entrepreneurs in eastern Africa through community-led Savings Groups, and hearing their stories gave him such joy. He also supported us through his time and talents. Richard always had the right words at the right moment, whether asking great questions, recounting a relevant story or offering encouragement when we needed it. We will miss him so much." Our thoughts are with Richard's family as we remember such a wonderful man, and friend of Five Talents.