EdUKaid, the international development charity supported by the Incisive Media Foundation, is close to completion of a major renovation project at a deprived rural school in Tanzania, using funds generated at Incisive Media staff and client events.
With a grant of £32,398 – the largest single project grant made to-date by the Incisive Media Foundation – EdUKaid has refurbished and resourced Namgogoli Primary School (pictured) in the Mtwara region of southern Tanzania, a school that was in desperate need of repair. The renovation works will directly benefit the school’s 543 children, aged 7-13, as well as a pre-primary class of 60 children.
Works already completed include the full renovation of walls, floors, roofs, windows and doors and work is now in progress on the exterior of the school, including rendering and painting, and the building of a large block of latrines. The grant will also cover new furniture for all of the classrooms and offices, as well as teaching costs for one year.
“I first walked into Namgogoli School just over 12 months ago. What struck me most was how dark the classrooms looked and how dirty everything was. The windows were very small and high up. The deep red colour of the soil had turned everything the same colour. Many of the desks were broken and children were crammed in to the few remaining desks,” says Tim Varney, chair of trustees at EdUKaid.
“Four months ago, we started renovations at the school thanks to the money raised by Incisive Media. The transformation is beyond words. Bright newly painted classrooms with large new windows are the first thing you notice as you walk into the school. Many of the children have new EdUKaid desks and the teachers, parents and children are very happy. Thank you Incisive Media.”
Incisive Media brands that supported EdUKaid in 2012 and made this work possible include Risk, Professional Pensions, Mortgage, Insurance Age, Unquote, Structured Products, Post, FX Week, Accountancy Age and Custody Risk.
David Worsfold, chairman of the Incisive Media Foundation, visited EdUKaid’s partner projects in Tanzania in May 2012, before work began on Namgogoli.
"It is one thing to read about what our money has been spent on but quite something else to see for oneself the impact it has had. The contrast between the schools still needing help and those that have already received it is huge. It is no exaggeration to say that it is transformational. The children in those schools have been given a life chance that would have been denied them otherwise. To hear that our biggest project to-date has been completed ahead of schedule is very exciting as we know that hundreds of children will benefit from this,” he says.
The completed work is already having a direct and massive impact on hundreds of lives, transforming the opportunity to learn and develop for young people living in great poverty. Without the support of the Incisive Media Foundation, Namgogoli would not have seen investment and the opportunities for learning and education would have remained hugely challenging.
Further projects are currently being planned in Tanzania and EdUKaid hopes to use future Incisive Media Foundation grants to refurbish another school in the region, Mwenge, and also to upgrade its own headquarters in Tanzania to become a fully resourced training centre for staff and teachers.
