KCF Director
Geoff Needham is the founder and Director of the Kashmir Earthquake Community Fund, now known as the Kashmir Community Fund. He is the former Director of the AHS Foundation who are constructing the Health Centre in Noon Bagla. Geoff was also a founder member of Yorkshire Forward, the Regional Development Agency, where he was Head of Community Regeneration. He was instrumental in developing and establishing several local and sub-regional partnerships as well as overseeing the Region's very successful, multi-million pound Single Regeneration Budget.
Geoff holds a Professional Diploma in Management Skills from Leeds Metropolitan University and has extensive experience of managing multi-disciplined teams in Yorkshire and Humberside and in London where he worked for many years including three years in charge of Ministers' offices.
Despite his considerable experience Geoff sees helping to regenerate Noon Bagla as his greatest challenge.
'There are so many issues to contend with beyond the actual devastation, including difficulties in fundraising, cultural differences, transport and communication problems, the lack of Government support, the absence of any local management or planning structures....
The basic difference between here and there is that we have a developed, sophisticated and effective top down structure based on Central and Local Government which doesn't work in Kashmir for a variety of reasons, political, religious, geographic.....In the isolated, rural areas of Kashmir it is very much bottom up, the desperate and the needy being helped by family, localised groups, local initiatives, generally very simple structures with limited funding, experience and support. What this means in practice is that there is no wider co-ordination, no added value, no economies of scale, no overall policy.....
For every Noon Bagla that is getting a modicum of help and support there must be a thousand villages that are largely abandoned and ignored by politicians. Yes, we can talk about rolling out initiatives to other areas but realistically this will take generations. There has to be a political solution to Kashmir before we can see social and economic development on a larger scale. In the meantime the people go on suffering and enduring - but at least they do so with kind hearts and smiles!
People are so appreciative and hospitable, despite having so little themselves, and they ask nothing in return. I only hope we can help them, in some small way, to recover from such unimaginable destruction'.