The Obligation to Prevent Poverty

Johnanna de Burca is the Co-Founder of Just Peoples, a social enterprise creating an impact on poverty around the world. Leading micro-projects across Asia and Africa, Just Peoples are making a tangible difference to poverty in local communities. Jo explains how her life experiences drove her to tackle the issue of global poverty.

 

Could you please tell us about what Just Peoples is and how it began?

Christey and I founded Just Peoples in 2015, after spending much of our twenties working and travelling overseas, visiting some of the poorest communities in the world. We realised after many cultural gaffes and language barriers that local people were usually much better placed to address poverty in their own communities than we were! But we also wanted to be able to accelerate the change they were able to make by supporting them with funding. We now support over 20 incredible local project leaders across Africa and Asia by connecting them with people in Australia and New Zealand who are inspired to donate or fundraise to support their projects.

 

Why are you involved?

I co-founded Just Peoples because I am outraged by inequality and wanted to create an easy way for everyday Australians and Kiwis to join the fight against global poverty. The fact that 1.4 billion people around the world live in poverty can be really overwhelming for people so we wanted to help break it down and give people an option to make a real tangible difference in the lives of a few people.

What are some of the current campaigns Just Peoples is actioning around the world to tackle global poverty?

Just Peoples offer people a number of different projects for people to donate to or fundraise for that address poverty across Africa and Asia. These are all grassroots initiatives led by local people who know what needs to be done in their communities. Just Peoples projects change lives in a number of different ways including delivering education, clean water, job training or health care.

Photo of Jo in India

What makes Just Peoples unique compared to other organisations aiming to achieve a similar initiative?

Just Peoples guarantees 100 percent of project donations go directly to project implementation. This has proved very appealing to our donors and fundraisers to be offered this complete transparency and it's quite incredible the impact that can be achieved in many of the countries we work with relatively small amounts of money. For example, 22 dollars can provide a family with clean, safe drinking water for five years in Kenya.

We cover our overhead costs through a separate income stream received by individual and corporate donors who are excited by our model’s potential to transform the way people give to charity and have chosen to back us to ensure we can keep our 100 percent promise to our project donors and fundraisers

What part of the world, in particular, are you most passionate about raising awareness?

We are passionate about supporting projects anywhere in the world where people are living in extreme poverty due to their geographical location. We currently support many projects across Africa and Asia and have plans to offer our supporters projects in Central America and the Pacific in the near future.

Photo of Just Peoples micro project in in action- India 2019.

What were some of the challenges you faced whilst trying to launch Just Peoples? What did you learn from this moving forward?

The biggest challenge that Christey (Just Peoples co-founder) and I have faced so far is balancing raising young children while launching a non-profit. It’s been a challenging but extremely rewarding few years from all angles!

It's also very challenging working with such a geographically dispersed team but it has made for some beautiful international collaborations and friendships along the way. We learn so much and are inspired every day by the incredible project leaders who implement Just Peoples projects in the field.

 

How do you define a ‘life impacted?’
Each Just Peoples project has a unique impact on the lives of the people we work with. Impacts include receiving access to clean water, regular education, job training or maternal health care services.

 

Could you please explain the concept of ‘micro projects’ and what the benefits are for those who want to get involved? 

Just Peoples “micro-projects” are specific interventions that have been designed to tackle poverty in one community. Those who want to get involved in sponsoring or fundraising for a whole micro-project (800 dollars plus) can choose the community that receives the benefit of their dollars and will receive personalised feedback from the people they support after their micro-project has been implemented.

“Global poverty doesn’t need to be overwhelming, there is something that we can all do to help.”

Head to https://www.justpeoples.org/ to learn more. 

Check out https://www.facebook.com/justpeoples/ to keep up to date.

WORDS: SARAH RAMANTANIS
PHOTOGRAPHY: JOHANNA DE BURCA