Forums Forums Local News RNLI and Foreign Aid !

Was quite surprised to read about the funding the RNLI is giving to foreign charities. I can understand the 'good cause' but I think they really should have thought it through.
Royal National Lifeboat Institution, would not seem to fit with ' International.' and they have probably done themselves more harm than good.
An article in The Times raised the subject . Here is the response from the RNLI and I'm not sure their reasoning is justifiable.


https://www.thenational.ae/world/eu...ck-at-burkini-funding-criticism-1.910708

Britain’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution has hit out at reports highlighting its funding of burkinis for Muslim women in Africa while staff in the UK are being laid off.

The charity was increasing its budget for overseas programmes while at the same time preparing to cut 135 jobs in Britain, The Sunday Times reported.

One project that benefited from the more than 10 per cent increase in funding in the past year was the Panje Project in Tanzania, which provided women and girls with burkinis while teaching them to swim, the paper reported.

“We currently spend less than 2 per cent of the RNLI’s total annual expenditure on our international drowning prevention activity and we actively seek donations specifically for this work,” the lifeboat institution said.

The RNLI said providing burkinis was a “way of enabling girls in strict Muslim countries to get into the water without compromising their cultural and religious beliefs”.

“The RNLI has been involved in the Panje Project, with the majority of the RNLI’s involvement funded by a donor who specifically wanted the money to go towards this project,” the UK charity said.

The UK charity, which has reportedly increased its foreign expenditure from £1.1 million (Dh5m) to £3.3m over the past five years with a further increase of £400,000 this year, was also criticised for funding creches in Bangladesh

Andrew Bridgen, a Conservative MP, urged the charity to rethink its priorities.

“At a time when income is down and demand is increasing in the British Isles, it should be sticking to its core priorities or it could have a detrimental effect on UK giving,” Mr Bridgen said.

In response, the RNLI pointed out the profound effect of its work overseas.

The creche places, for example, reduce a child’s risk of drowning by 82 per cent.

“We do not consider this political correctness," the institute said.

"We are a charity that our volunteers, supporters and those we rescue can trust to do the right thing, whether that’s rescuing those in peril, keeping our volunteers safe or making sure anyone who is part of the RNLI feels welcome and valued."

First knee jerk reaction is that it is wrong but of course that is down to the way the media put it over.

If the RNLI only receives donations from the UK then that knee jerk reaction could be justified to a point but of course they receive donations from non-UK citizens and businesses as well.

The aims of the RNLI are:-



The areas it operates are:-



But it also funds (as opposed to operates) some projects in other Countries like Ghana.

This is yet another case of cheap journalistic page filler which can be highly damaging to the defenceless charity targetted by them.

The article doesn't mention the flood training given to Bangladesh Lifeguards who went on to save 100 lives in a village flood.

The article acknowledge that some of the funds received are restricted to use to certain foreign projects sometimes foreign, that is the option of the donor. There are 700 of these restricted funds, including a £5.5m one to be "used in Ireland".

This foreign involvement is something of which I wasn't aware. As a supporter I'm interested to learn about the RNLI's outreach beyond our shores, so thanks granny. I'm also aware, as diggingdeeper points out, that some newspapers have their own agenda and often only give the aspect of the story that supports their position. It doesn't take much to whip up xenophobia or Islamophobia these days, sadly, and the media certainly plays a part in that.

I wonder if the RNLI is like the Wallasey RSPCA in that donations given locally at events etc support the local centre, whilst donations given through general publicity and collections (those lilttle boat boxes for example) go to the central hq?