Bees Abroad

Bees Abroad is one of those small unsung charities which does a great job on very modest funds. It really does change people's lives through beekeeping.

The aim of Bees Abroad is to provide education and technical advice in Beekeeping and suitable business skills. This is achieved by setting up and supporting field extension services, running training courses for local beekeepers and financing trainers. We are a non-profit making organisation giving help to beekeepers and families in developing countries. Bees Abroad projects are managed by designated project managers and run within a group structure. Funds from Bees Abroad are utilised for the relief of poverty, which means that projects are bound by Bees Abroad's legal, charitable requirement to reach the poorest sectors of society. We are particularly keen to ensure that projects are sustainable, so that they do not depend on constant financial input from outside of the area or one person’s input. Bees Abroad promotes the use of sustainable and affordable intermediate technology and cannot support projects that use inappropriate bee hive technology or unsuitable or imported species of honey bee.

They're particularly active in Africa, where they have run a number of hugely successful projects in countries like Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania. These are led by volunteer beekeepers from the UK. For many of the folk they've helped, beekeeping has been empowering in ways you might not imagine. The financial benefits of producing honey (and other products - cream, wax, soap, etc.) are obviously enormous, particularly as the projects are targetted at subsistence farmers, but beekeeping has also strengthened social ties generally and reinforced community groups. Although Bees Abroad are based here their work is overseas, so I can't help them through Habitat Aid. I decide to run the Bath Half Marathon a while ago though, and I thought it might be an idea to raise some sponsorship money for them. I've been working hard at it and hope to drag my complaining body around the 13 miles in under 2 hours. I'm not a natural long distance runner so this will represent a minor triumph. Click on the button below if you agree! Thank you for your support.