Auchi Foyer Exhibition - Small Steps Project

Registered charity 1137443

Small Steps Project is a humanitarian organisation and registered charity dedicated to supporting children living on rubbish dumps around the world and, through film and photography, raising awareness of the unacceptable hardships faced by them.

The project is concerned with locating inhabited rubbish dumps and improving the conditions and opportunities for the children and communities who live there by providing them with shoes, emergency aid and hygiene kits.

Many of these dumps are already infamous and have non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other services working towards the same goals, while others are uncharted, isolated and known only by a handful of locals. At the outset, Small Steps Project identifies all local organisations, services and individuals that share their core principles then coordinate with them to construct a demographic overview of the dump, the number of children and families therein, emergency aid requirements and relevant medical needs.

Once the data is collected and evaluated, Small Steps Project implements comprehensive distribution projects and healthcare provision before creating and reinforcing the links between the community and the network of existing services available to them which they can access when the project departs.

The overall aim is to identify the world's inhabited dumps, show how widespread scavenger communities are and formalise the network of organisations working with these communities to expose the inhumane conditions in which they exist.

We believe that the shoes and aid we distribute empowers people and enables them to take small steps out of poverty and into education and employment.

Small Steps Project strive to improve those conditions and generate global awareness, through the production of documentary films which illustrate the lives of the millions of people who scavenge the world's refuse daily and live this grueling existence.

The Small Steps Project was founded by Amy Hanson and is run entirely by her and a small team of dedicated volunteers who donate their time and skills to make positive changes for scavengers. Small Steps Project relies entirely on public donations and corporate funding.

The Small Steps Healthcare Project

A growing multidisciplinary team of volunteer medical, nursing and allied healthcare professionals advise the Small Steps Project. The philosophy of the Healthcare Project is very much of one of engagement with the local community, working in partnership with the scavenger community, local healthcare systems and health-related NGOs.

We plan to assess the healthcare needs of the waste-picker populations on each dump, to give immediate first aid and to teach and explain the use of the Hygiene Kit, complementing the aid distribution work carried out thus far. We then refer the scavengers to services we have identified that can assist them long term.

The Healthcare Project welcomes help or advice from anyone who has charitable experiences in international medicine, healthcare or international development.

Fundraising Evening at the Royal Society of Medicine: Celebrity Shoe Auction, Film Premiere and Photography Exhibition

To Celebrate the Small Steps Project first year we will be holding the first Annual Fundraising Event, where we will premiere the latest documentary Small Steps: Nicaragua, hold the live Celebrity Shoe Auction and exhibit the photographs that you see here today.

If you would like to attend the event, bid for some of the auction lots or purchase a limited edition print, visit our website, www.smallstepsproject.org where you can also view the first documentary online and see the celebrity shoes or email info@smallstepsproject.org.

This photography exhibition depicts the Small Steps Project target communities where we have delivered projects over the last year and the lives they lead on the dumps of La Chureca (Managua), La Joya (Granada) and Chinandega in Nicaragua and Sihanoukville in Cambodia.

Photography Exhibition by

And additional shots by Simon Lohmeyer

Thanks to for donating the prints.