In July, thanks to the generosity of our sponsors we were able to transfer £600 to the Tujiendeleze Youth Organisation, supporting their work with young people and education. We also invited our partners in Africa to submit outline proposals for their organisational strengthening- we don’t yet have sufficient funds to support all of the ideas (we would have loved to) so two of these have now been selected to develop their ideas into full proposals, and we hope to support both of these with small grants of £2,000, probably in late 2025 and early 2026.

We were also delighted to receive an article from Patrick Mbullu, It comes down to Commitment and Hard Work: The Story (so far) of the Kombuni Water Development Self-Help Group in Kenya. In 2023 Village Volunteers supported them with a small grant to deliver training on climate change, and this article describes the wider efforts the group are making to improve the lives of the community and the significant progress they are making. This type of locally-led, community initiative is exactly what we are working to encourage and catalyse (picture: Construction of a sand dam is one of the major activities being implemented)

With all the questions being raised about the nature of aid and international development, our blog post Village Volunteers: Working in the new reality of aid and international development expands on the rationale behind Village Volunteers and places the scheme in the wider context of international development and ICA’s work internationally.

Will you become a sponsor? The demand from our partners for small amounts of catalytic funding for organisational strengthening and programme development is as high as ever and we would love to do more. Visit our Village Volunteers web page to learn more of our approach (for both Tujiendeleze and Village Volunteers), our impact and to make a one-off donation or become a regular sponsor.