About The International Childcare Trust

ICT exists for the purpose of relieving poverty, relieving sickness and advancing the education of children and young persons anywhere in the world who are in a condition of need, hardship or distress.

ICT believes that all children, regardless of there socio-economic background, have the right to enjoy their childhood and to reach their potential.  We partner with local grassroots NGOs in Africa and Asia that protect children’s rights; such as their right to education and to a healthy, happy childhood. 

ICT supports local organisations in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Sri Lanka, India and Cambodia, which take an integrated approach to child development, combining the delivery of practical assistance with capacity building and advocacy initiatives.  

Some of the activities that we support are:

§          children’s support centres,

§          night shelters,

§          primary education,

§          income generation schemes

§          vocational training in marketable skills.

§          primary healthcare,

§          psychosocial support and

§          family reintegration

ICTs partners are all registered as local NGOs, autonomous from ICT, and all conduct internal fundraising and have their own donor bases. Nevertheless, it is important ICT helps its partners to establish even more financial independence.

ICT makes it a priority to build the capacity and independence of its partners, so that together they can continue to act as valuable resources to still more organisations, communities and the world's poorest and most vulnerable children.

Our history

International Childcare Trust (ICT) was founded in 1982 by David Lamont, who had worked as a teacher at the grassroots level in the UK, Asia and Africa, and was dissatisfied with how organisations worked with vulnerable children.

David and a handful of his colleagues felt children were not being properly consulted and actively involved in their own development. ICT was therefore founded on the concept of child-centred, active participation.

In 1983, ICT began working to protect the rights of poor refugee families (Somalian, Vietnamese, Bangladeshi and Turkish Kurds) in the UK. Work began in Sri Lanka with war-affected children in 1984. 

By 1986, ICT had established a programme Zambia; by 1988, a programme in India; and by 1992, a programme in Kenya. 

Our work has expanded substantially over the years and ICT along with our long-term strategic partners have begun to work with new partners and within new networks, to reach out to ever increasing numbers of displaced, marginalized and socially isolated children and young people, their families and their communities.