ABOUT CIVA: 

Who We Are  

Our administrative work is done by volunteers, chiefly the Board

Who We Help  

We support strong local organizations

How We Choose  

We foster self-help and self-reliance

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Who We Are

Canada India Village Aid, or CIVA, is an independent non-profit charitable society based in Vancouver, BC. Since 1981, CIVA has raised funds to support anti-poverty projects benefiting the peoples of rural India.

Our guiding principle is to foster self-help and self-reliance, particularly through sustainable development and women's empowerment.

The close relationships we maintain with our partners in India helps us ensure that the communities we support have the direction and leadership necessary to meet their goals.

What does CIVA do?

Please visit our current projects listed on the home page to see the kind of work we do.

No Paid Staff

CIVA is unusual among non-profit Canadian organizations in that we have no paid staff. All work is done by volunteers, chiefly the board of directors, who also bear the administrative costs of the society.

In this way almost all the funds we raise annually go to our non-profit partners in rural India.

CIVA: 2008 Board of Directors

Judy Brown Suzy Buckley John Harriss Ashok Kotwal Sarah McAlpine

Sophie Low-Beer Essop Mia Amir Mitha Anne Murphy Tony Phillips

Cathy Strickland Drew Stewart Hari Varshney Russell Wodell

Past Directors

George Woodcock Ingeborg Woodcock (co-founders) Johanna Duprey Bahman Farmanara Hannah Fisher Katherine Fletcher Dr. W.D. Forbes John Friesen

Marta Friesen Genise Gill Patricia LaNauze Charlotte Mitha Toni Onley Robert Philips Dale Rolfsen Shirley Rushton Doris Shadbolt

Giles Shearing Barbara Chilcott Somers Bill Bruneau Marnie    DiGiandomenico Max Wyman Keath Fraser

CIVA: Illustrious Sponsors, Past and Present

CIVA is proud to list these illustrious individuals among our generous sponsors and patrons:

Margaret Atwood Nizar Damji Ronald McQueen Gordon Smith Jack Shadbolt John Bene J.V. Clyne

Anna Wyman George Bowering Arthur Erickson James George Harry Somers Timothy Findley James Beveridge

George McWhirter David Suzuki Howard White Margaret Laurence Princess Eva Galitzine Dr. Kathleen W. and Dr. Robert G. Langston

(C) Canada India Village Aid. All rights reserved.
Last updated October 22, 2008