Carers Worldwide at the House of Lords

On Thursday 18th May 2023, Carers Worldwide were hosted by Baroness Uddin in the River Room of the House of Lords, to celebrate the first ten years of our journey supporting unpaid carers in low- and middle-income countries.

As well as celebrating how far we’ve come in the last decade and the impact we’ve had on the lives of unpaid carers, their families, and communities, we also launched our Strategic Plan for the next three years to 2025.

To help us celebrate, we were pleased to welcome friends and supporters past and present to the beautiful setting of the River Room at the House of Lords with views over the River Thames of the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye.

We were delighted to also be joined by JLS star Oritsé Williams to speak about his passion for supporting young carers and his support for our work. Oritsé was a former young carer himself, caring for his mother when he was a child, and has just been appointed the first Commonwealth Young Carer Champion. He addressed the guests saying:

“This is a cause that people don’t talk about, but that affects so many people. It’s amazing to see a movement there to help and support people and I’m very engaged with what Carers Worldwide is doing to support unpaid carers, including young carers, in South Asia.”

We are so grateful to Baroness Uddin who hosted us for this event and has personal experience of caregiving herself. She spoke eloquently about the importance of, and need for, our work, saying:

“Carers remain invisible without any complaint - all they want is to care for someone they love dearly. We must strive for a future where support for carers becomes an inherent part of society…I urge you to join us in lifting up the voices of carers.”

We also heard from David Black from one of our funders, Scott Bader, who spoke about why they want to support our work:

“Our colleagues are always struck by the passion, selflessness and humility of Ruth and Anil and people leave meetings with them inspired. You make it an easy choice to choose Carers Worldwide. We truly support your holistic approach and can see how your work is making a long-term sustainable difference.”

Our Chair of Trustees Jonathan Freeman, MBE shared that:

“I’ve seen first-hand the life changing impact on families of the Carers Worldwide Model: it addresses the needs of carers, lifting them to the level of policy makers so they’re not the invisible and forgotten. Many of us understand the joys and struggles of caring for a loved one. It is tough but with the right support it can be highly rewarding. We must ensure that unpaid family carers are recognised, supported and valued.”

Our Founder & Executive Director Dr Anil Patil addressed the room, talking about the profound impact we’ve had over the past decade, transforming the lives of nearly 150,000 unpaid carers and family members across India, Nepal and Bangladesh through our grassroots initiatives and advocacy for policy change.

He also highlighted two significant achievements from our tenth year:

1. In October for the first time, Carers Day was celebrated simultaneously across India, Nepal and Bangladesh, engaging more than 10,000 carers, family members, community members, government officials, and representatives from service providers and charities. The Government of Karnataka in south India has since declared a day for carers celebrated across the state. As part of this day, we launched our Carers Charter, calling on individuals to pledge their commitment to promoting and supporting carers’ rights. To date, an incredible 5,803 people have signed. You can add your name and pledge your commitment to carers here.
2. We have achieved a landmark policy gain. The Government of Karnataka has demonstrated its commitment to carers by partnering with Carers Worldwide to establish 6,500 carers groups across the state. We will collaborate closely with government staff to ensure these groups reach carers who previously had no support at all. Our hope is that this initiative will inspire other Indian states to follow suit, making carers groups an integral part of available support systems.

He finished by saying:

“While our tenth year has been momentous, our work and journey must continue. We remain committed to our vision of a world where every carer is valued and their needs are met.

I thank everyone who has been accompanied us on the journey thus far – your support has been invaluable and we truly value your commitment. Without you, we would not have come this far.

Together let us continue to work for sustainable change and foster a powerful global carers movement. Join us and commit to carers!”

Thank you to everyone who attended the event and helped us celebrate our 10 years. We ask you all to #CommitToCarers in any way you can and help us continue to do more to support these amazing individuals who give so much for the people they love.

All the photos from the event are available here: