Three Days with The Tanzanian Children's Fund
GIFT has supported the Tanzanian Children’s Fund (TCF) for five years, so we arrived in the Rift Valley knowing the organisation well, and with high expectations. Three intense days later, those expectations had been far exceeded, and sharing the experience with our daughter Scarlett made it all the more special.
TCF’s approach is holistic. Rather than tackling one problem, it is built on four pillars that together address every aspect of life in a community of around 10,000 people, with the aim of lifting it out of poverty.
At its heart is the Rift Valley Children’s Village, a family of 154: 48 children currently living in the village, 52 young adults in post-secondary education, and 54 who have already launched their independent lives and careers.
Around it, TCF co-manages three government schools (two primary, one secondary) through public–private partnerships, together educating more than 1,900 students;
runs a health clinic that treats over 7,000 patients a year;
and helps families build their own livelihoods through its economic advancement programme.
We saw the results in every part of the work. Gyetighi Primary, once a school with around 100 pupils per teacher, is now ranked first among government schools in the district. It is one of only two schools in Karatu with an official English-medium permit. At Oldeani Secondary, TCF has addressed a real barrier to completing secondary school: long walks, household chores and, for girls, the risk of early marriage or pregnancy. 460 students now board, more than half of them girls, giving them a real chance to finish their education The clinic, newly accredited as a registered health centre, is spotless, fully digital and refers complex cases to the FAME hospital in Karatu, which we also toured. The economic advancement programme has provided small business loans to 950 clients since 2008, two-thirds of them women. It is now being redesigned to be leaner and fully digital.
We had lunch in Karatu with India Howell, TCF’s founder. Hearing the origin story first-hand was fascinating. On Sunday we went back to the village to play football with the children: warm, confident, excellent English, and looking out for one another like one big family.
In philanthropy, much of the emphasis is on scale. TCF has understood the importance of depth: it is not only about reaching more people, but about creating lasting, transformative change for a whole community. That depth is what stays with us. The village, schools, clinic, and community programmes all hang together as one well-thought-through strategy for transforming an entire community, and it is executed exceptionally well.
Beyond our lunch with India, we spent time with much of the management team, across finance, education, health and economic advancement. TCF employs around 200 local staff, and everyone we met was sharp, highly competent and clearly works with a real sense of purpose.
It was deeply inspiring to see the quality of this work first-hand, and we are very grateful to the whole TCF team for welcoming us so warmly. We are proud to stand alongside TCF and its team.
