About Our Principles

Vine Trust supports long-term international partners as they use sustainable international development practices to strengthen health systems and implement construction programmes in Peru and Tanzania.

We also run expeditions that enable volunteers to experience the exceptional work that our in-country partners are doing to empower their local communities, giving these volunteers the invaluable opportunity to interact with community members and project workers in a way that inspires mutually empowering and long-lasting relationships.

Volunteers can experience first-hand the positive impact of sustainable international and community development practices, whilst our partners gain new international advocates for the work they’re doing in Peru and Tanzania.

It’s not just ‘what’ you do…

Since it was first established in 1985 as a response to the famine in Ethiopia, Vine Trust has developed the scope and focus of its work.

One thing has remained consistent throughout our journey: as a charity, we’ve always sought to find the most suitable way of providing assistance to our in-country partners, recognising that the nature of this support may need to adapt over time due to shifting socio-cultural, economic, and environmental contexts.

In order to better understand and prepare for these shifts and adaptations, Vine Trust develops and maintains transparent and constructive communication with its partners and engages in regular reviews of its operational and strategic planning.

As well as prioritising the importance of ongoing communication with our partners, we also believe firmly that it’s not just “what” you do but also “how” you do things that is the key to the success of development programmes and projects.

To put it another way, it’s about recognising that the “ends” don’t justify the “means” if those “means” aren’t ethical, sustainable, or constructive. Rather, it’s equally if not more important to consider the way in which a project is run rather than focussing purely on the outcomes.

We never seek to drive the work that our partners do; rather, we aim to help our in-country teams achieve their own community goals through playing an active, adaptable, and supportive role in the process.

Our Principles were developed through review and analysis of our existing work, research into global development themes as well as extensive discussion and engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, including our partners in Peru and Tanzania.

They underline and reflect the approach that we strive to take in all facts of the charity, from fostering relationships with our partners to strengthening our volunteers’ experience on their expeditions and creating a non-discriminatory and inclusive workplace environment on the barge (our UK base in Leith, Edinburgh).