Local fundraising example:
Latrines for disabled pupils and teachers in Busisi

Summary

Madoshi Alan, a grade 3 child with disabilities, acknowledges that the learning environment has become friendlier after the construction of the school latrines. He says: "Before, we used to go to bushes nearby. It was scary and that's why I hated school. Now I am very happy and wake up in the morning, excited to go to school."

Busisi Primary School has a fair number of disabled pupils and even some staff members are disabled. Yet the school had no latrines suitable for the disabled. That situation changed when the Mama Zulu organisation, by attending a Change the Game Academy training in local fundraising, came up with the idea of finding the solution not in financial donations, but in contributions in time and in kind. It turned out that all the necessary resources could be found within their own community and not long after, the proud stakeholders were able to officially open the new latrine building.

Tips and lessons learned

1. If you want to realise projects financial support may be important, but in-kind contributions and voluntary labour are equally important.
2. It was an eye-opener to discover that these resources were also available in our own community.

Review by Wilde Ganzen Foundation

The example of Mama Zulu shows how important training can be. Since their inception, they depended on foreign support. They had no idea that it was also possible to realise projects with their own community and its resources. The training taught them the importance of in-kind donations and voluntary work (in time donations). Moreover, they learned skills to convince potential donors. The first result was that a long-standing wish could finally be fulfilled: separate and appropriate latrines for disabled pupils and teachers at Busisi primary school.

Details

Short description of the organisation the funds were raised for

Mama Zulu is a child-focused and community-based organisation in Sengerema district. Since 2020 Mama Zulu is officially registered as an non-governmental organisation (NGO). The organisation was founded in 2013 and since then it depended on external donor support to fund its projects.

Short description of the project or programme the funds were raised for

Busisi Primary School is a registered Primary school in Sengerema District Council, Mwanza. The school is an approved centre for Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and Standard Four National Assessment. The pupils include a significant number of disabled children. For them, adequate latrines were not available until recently.
The problem had been known for years, but the big bottleneck to the solution was: how to pay for the construction of new latrines, amounting to Tsh
2,500,000 (equivalent USD 1,082)?
The organisation had no clue that they could also fundraise and mobilise project resources from stakeholders found within their localities and the areas around their projects until July 2018, when some of their leaders and programme staff participated in the local fundraising training organised by the Tanzanian member of Change the Game Academy, FCS.
Lameck Deus, one of the two programme officers who represented Mama Zulu in the local fundraising training, soon afterwards mobillised the rest of Mama Zulu staff and members to apply local fundraising knowledge and skills to get rid of the unsuitable school latrines for children with disabilities at Busisi primary school.

Summary of fundraising action

Mr. Deus proudly states that “the Change the Game Academy local fundraising training gave us a breakthrough towards solving the school latrines problem at Busisi primary school. Children with disabilities found it very difficult to use same latrines as the other pupils at the school. The local fundraising knowledge helped us to identify other stakeholders with an interest in and passion for the development of children with disabilities. We managed to convince them that their help was needed and they contributed as follows:
Community members - water and sands,
Kigongo Ferry Management - Roofing materials and sanitary tiles,
Primary school head teacher – Ventilation pipes,
Sengerema District Engineer – Design and supervision,
Mama Zulu CBO – Bricks, cements, doors, iron bars and labour.”

The latrine is now in use whereby 34 school children with disabilities enjoy the friendly school latrines. The three doors disability-friendly latrines are reserved for girls, boys and staff members with disabilities.

Results