︎






Collaborations and Partners




Rafiki Social Development Organisation


Our foundation works together with a local NGO in Tanzania, Rafiki SDO, recommended by Human Right Watch and Terre des Hommes.

Rafiki Social Development Organisation is based in Kahama and Shinyanga, Tanzania. Founded in 2005, Rafiki SDO is a development and advocacy NGO working with children, youth, marginalized and vulnerable groups, families and their communities to reach their full potential by advocating for their rights and tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.

Rafiki works in the poorest area in northwestern Tanzania and where most of the gold mines are located. Since a lot of people from the whole country move there in order to find work (80% of people are peasants in Tanzania), AIDS, poverty and child labour are one of the biggest problems to fight. Besides their AIDS programme for women and children, Rafiki has a programme to fight for children’s right for education and to give them another future than the unhealthy and dangerous working conditions in smaller gold mines. Children are exploited by having little income and long working hours quarrying stones, digging down pits, washing the powdered stone (where they are in contact with mercury) and operating stone crushers. From 2017-22, our project’s goal was to withdraw them from the mining activity and provide them again an education in form of a vocational training (tailoring, motor vehicle maintanance or electrical installation). Since 2022, we are focusing on the afterlife of their training, and how they can set up sustainable business in their village. Sengerema Foundation and YEP Foundation support us by implementing business and soft skills workshops for former students. 

The project has been implemented in mainly 4 artisan gold mines in the area of Kahama (Iyenze, Kalole, Nyangarata, Mwakitolyo). 2017-22, the project was exclusively funded by For Iron I Gave Gold foundation.  Since 2023, we have started a joint funding collaboration between For Iron I Gave Gold and Sengerema Foundation, Wilde Ganzen as funding partners to build-up a Youth Business Centre.

                                      
Sengerema Foundation
For Iron I Gave Gold has started a collaboration with Sengerema Foundation since we both look for a similar impact on youth in Tanzania. Sengerema Foundation is a small foundation, but with a major impact on the future of young people in Tanzania. From the Netherlands they organize education and training for young people in Tanzania who are going to start their own business. They support them with start-up capital and coach the young entrepreneurs during the first five years.

YEP Tanzania
Yep Tanzania is the local organization funded by Sengerema. This NGO takes care of the activities and their trainers are often self-trained entrepreneurs who have the talent to implement training programs. YEP Tanzania will implement most of the workshops at the new Youth Business Centre project, funded in 2023. 

Wilde Ganzen                                                                                             
Wilde Ganzen supports social changemakers all over the world that fight inequality and poverty. They do this by supporting and funding small-scale projects and promoting community philanthropy.




Workshop participants at Nyangarata Youth Business Centre, July 2023 (photo credit: Queen Gerald)


Participants at Nyangarata Youth Business Centre, June 2023 (photo credit: Queen Gerald)
 

Visiting an installationin made by children from electrical vocational training, Aug/Sep 2019


Visiting vocational training students in Aug/Sep 2019


Rafiki team and Antoinette Vonder Muehll in front of Rafiki’s office at Kahama



Child working in one of the four local artisan gold mines near Kahama (Mwakitoloyo)

Map of Tanzania showing the gold mine area in the north west of the country



Mwakitolyo gold mine near Kahama


Visit of Rafiki team and A.Vonder Muehll at Mwakitolyo gold mine, January 2017