Hello everyone!

My name is Flo, I'm 22 years old, just graduated with a first class honours in Social Anthropology at the LSE, and I am fundraising for VSO who I will be going to India with in January for three months.

The money you donate here will go straight into the hands of VSO, so please be generous and help them continue their work in fighting global poverty. It doesn't go toward my travel/expenses, they are all covered by DFID already. This isn't a fund for me, but goes towards the broader projects of VSO in places that are suffering from poverty, war and natural disasters. VSO establishes encourages partnerships and connections between volunteers from the UK and the developing world. What this means is that people from hugely different worlds, work together, to make the world a better place to be in!

If you need some more concrete examples, just take a look at some of the work they have done in the past, here. 

I am going to Jharkhand, in rural NE India in January thanks to funding from the Department for International Development, which will allow me to see how the money I raise for VSO which will be wonderful as it will guarantee the money you donate is going to go to the best possible use.  

In Jharkhand, I will be living in the local Rural Technology Park, and working with a grassroots Indian charity called NEEDS ( Network for Enterprise Enhancement & Development Support) within their three main programmes:

1) Developing Integrated Pest Management for Illiterate local farmers.

2) Women's leadership initiative, a film project. (This is one of the projects I am most excited about and convinced we could do something quite amazing. Would greatly appreciate any film expertise people can offer!)

3) Maternal health advocacy and campaign.

Some facts about India:
- Approximately 828 million people in India live under $2 a day. 
- More than 40% of the population are illiterate, in Jharkhand this is actually more like 67%.
- 36% of the world's poor are Indian.
- 217 million Indians are undernourished.

Christmas is upon us, which means it is definitely the season for generosity and giving. I would really appreciate any donations you can make to VSO on this page that will help me reach my target by the 11th January! 

xxx