name: Ockenden International
text: In 1951 three schoolteachers, Joyce Pearce, Margaret Dixon and Ruth Hicks, brought a small group of Latvian and Polish girls from displaced persons camps (which had sprung up in central Europe after the Second World War) for education at Ockenden, a country house on the outskirts of Woking in England.
  
  Encouraged by the success of this pilot project, they tried to extend similar aid to other children. The Ockenden Venture was born in 1955, created as a charitable trust under the War Charities Act of 1940.
  
  Over the years that followed, we extended our knowledge and expertise, bringing displaced people to the UK for education, training and settlement, and building up a network of centres around the country.
  
  By 1963 the Venture had a total of 16 such reception centres, and was to go on to be one of the main organisations in the resettlement of Vietnamese 'boat people' (allowed entry into the UK between 1979 â€“ 1988).
  
  Ockenden International continues to operate offices in 6 provinces in Afghanistan, in support of a variety of programmes, including: 
  
  * An integrated rural development program in Bala Murghab district of Badghis province in the remote northwestern part of the country. This is a consolidation phase of a previous, 3-year program funded by the EC. 
  * A shelter-focused relief program in the western province of Farah, providing shelter to 350 vulnerable returnees. This project, funded by ECHO, aims to provide not only shelter for people but also includes a health and hygiene component to teach beneficiaries the benefits of improved hygiene practices. 
  * A major government-sponsored program known as the National Solidarity Program (NSP) in the southern province of Nimroz. The program is a multi-year effort to mobilise communities on a democratic basis, apply for block grants based on village-level priorities and also aims to increase womenâ€™s participation. 
  * A cross-border program in cooperation with Ockenden Internationalâ€™s Pakistan office that aims to create the conditions for a sustainable return for Afghan refugees. Ockenden International is building 240 shelters, reconstructing 4 schools, digging 60 wells and has created 50 home-based schools for children unable to access more formal education. There have been several cross-border visits between the Ockenden International staff to better understand the challenges facing Afghans and their difficult decision whether or not to return.
  
  The Afghanistan office is currently set to expand its NSP program to an additional two provinces, commencing 1 March. Furthermore, they anticipate funding for an additional two projects in the western provinces that will focus on the basic needs of returnees.
  
  http://www.ockenden.org.uk/