What does Empathy Action Do?
Empathy Action focuses on deepening people’s awareness of, and empathy with, global deprivation and finding strategic ways of helping those in need. It achieves this primarily through its experiential activities; igniting a desire to help, which in turn it believes will fuel compassionate action.
Empathy Action also sells fairly traded handicrafts produced by disadvantaged groups around the world, including refugees, migrants, and internally displaced people.
Co founder Matt Gurney shares at the 2016 UN World Humanitarian Summit the importance for Empathy
How does Empathy Action work?
Empathy Action’s experiential activities include simulations of the life experiences of disadvantaged groups around the world. These simulations of life experiences are activities that allow participants to ‘walk in the shoes’ of those in extreme poverty and desperation. These aim to help people better understand the needs of people facing such situations by offering a small insight into the reality they face. The experiences are used to stimulate discussion about how participants can respond to humanitarian need through volunteering, or donating goods, skills or financial resources.
In addition each simulation is designed to directly help marginalised groups. Each participant is given a fairly traded handicraft produced by disadvantaged groups around the world, and 10% of the receipts from each simulation are put into a ‘Livelihood Development Fund’ to help marginalised individuals and communities become self-sufficient.
Who does Empathy Action work with?
Empathy Action works with any school, business, charities or other organisation that wishes to take advantage of the experiential activities it provides, both here in the UK and abroad. This includes working with profit making, as well as non-profit making, organisations to encourage their Corporate Social Responsibility.
Do simulations/empathy programmes work?
There is evidence that empathy and/or sympathy are important correlates of, and likely contributors to the quality of intergroup relationships.These experiential activities provide a valuable tool in schools’ educational and citizenship programs, and in assisting in the development of corporate social responsibility in businesses and other organisations.
Others have said to us, following their experiences:
“ I leave with new eyes”
“feeling, even if only through a simulation, eclipses all the telling in the world”
What happened next: Kat’s story
Is there a cost for the Simulations?
Yes. As each event is unique and bespoke please get in touch to find out more.
Who we are?
Empathy Action is run solely by volunteers based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
How is Empathy Action funded?
Empathy Action is funded by private donations and the charges it makes for delivering its experiential activities which contribute towards its overheads and the expenses of its volunteers. Its volunteers receive no financial remuneration except for expenses properly incurred. Those volunteers working full-time are required to raise their own support.
What next for Empathy Action?
Empathy Action will identify particular communities in need of assistance, working closely with them to establish viable livelihood development schemes. This targeted approach will have the twofold objective of bringing about positive transformation of such groups whilst providing Empathy Action’s partners with exciting opportunities to become part of the solution.
Empathy Action is looking to broaden its empathy programmes to address slavery, trafficking and climate change.
Empathy Action is sourcing special bespoke ‘gifts that give twice’ for groups to create connections to marginalised communities.