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About us
Who we are
Tanzania Development Trust (TDT) works in some of the poorest parts of Tanzania, helping people to lift themselves out of poverty by funding small projects that meet their essential needs.
It sponsors 40-50 small rural development projects p.a. in Tanzania, mainly in the areas of clean water, girls' education and small income generating activities. It also has 3-4 larger, longer-term projects. Its primary function is fundraising, although it provides general project management and business advice where appropriate.
Around half of its income comes from individual donors, and half from Trusts & Foundations. It helps villagers in Tanzania who lack the capacity and language skills to present their projects to international donors, conducting project appraisals and monitoring project outcomes on their behalf. The projects are implemented by the villagers themselves, or by small local contractors.
TDT is run entirely by volunteers (17 regular volunteers in the UK and 16 local representatives in Tanzania). It has no paid staff, premises or overheads, so 100% of all money raised goes directly to projects in Tanzania.
Our culture and values
We are all volunteers working together remotely. Grant applications arrive via our website and are then evaluated and documented by pairs of volunteers based in the UK and Tanzania respectively. Decisions on whether to fund particular projects, and under what conditions, are taken collectively by our Development Aid Committee, made up of all of our regular volunteers, hich meets once a month. Projects are reviewed after completion by our Tanzanian volunteers, and when possible are also visited by UK volunteers, to allow us to build up case histories of what works well and what doesn't.
Our main goals are to achieve the maximum social impact with the minimum amount of money; to focus on the most disadvantaged groups within Tanzania; and to help people to help themselves through local capacity building.
Equality, diversity and inclusion policy
We are completely multi-racial, with equal numbers of Tanzanian and UK volunteers who work together closely. Our volunteers are fairly balanced in terms of gender, and we are proactive in promoting projects in Tanzania which help women to play a larger role in society. Participation by handicapped people is facilitated by the use of remote working, and a warm welcome is extended to everyone.
