The Tuwapende Watoto Foundation offers disadvantaged children a long-term better future. Tuwapende Watoto translates as "we love children". In line with this guiding principle, Tanzanian staff provide a loving home for abandoned and orphaned children and accompany them on their journey to adult independence.
The children's charity was founded in Switzerland in 2005. The children have been living in the foundation's own buildings since 2010. Our aim is to give the currently 34 children in our care a good upbringing, school and vocational education, improve their quality of life in the long term and prepare them to lead independent lives.
To give the children in the children's home and the neighbourhood the best possible education, the foundation runs a daycare centre, a kindergarten, a primary school and a vocational college right next to the children's home. The land and all buildings are owned by the I-NGO Tuwapende Watoto Tanzania.
Next to the children's home, the foundation has run a Montessori kindergarten since 2010 and a primary school for children from the children's home and the surrounding villages since 2011. Since January 2024, we have been teaching around 900 pupils. Around 15% of these children come from underprivileged families, and we provide them with a good education in return for a modest contribution to the school fees.
Tuwapende Watoto Primary School is one of the best schools in the Dar es Salaam region and guarantees all primary school leavers secondary school entrance. We also support pupils from disadvantaged families throughout secondary school and vocational college.
Thanks to your much appreciated donations, Tuwapende Watoto is able to ensure the long-term education and vocational training of disadvantaged children in Tanzania. The foundation guarantees that your donations are used with the utmost care. Donations are tax deductible in Switzerland.
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We have been caring for children aged 1 to 3 in our daycare centre since January 2016. In 2016 we also opened a vocational college. We support young adults by developing their manual skills, training their technical understanding and teaching them general knowledge. We currently provide nine different two- and three-year apprenticeships with a dual education system, with around 200 training placements for teenagers and young adults from neighbouring villages.
We employ 104 staff. All are Tanzanian citizens with the necessary qualifications to assure the state-recognised operation of the daycare centre, Montessori kindergarten, primary school, vocational college and children's home.
We are building a secondary school for around 500 pupils between 2024 and 2026. From 2027, we will be able to cover all the operating costs of the three schools and the children's home with the income from the primary and secondary schools, true to our principle of "helping people to help themselves".
Tuwapende Watoto is a registered charitable foundation based in Switzerland and Tanzania. All trustees and ambassadors serve on a voluntary basis, funding their travel costs to Tanzania and expenses themselves. Thanks to a considerable amount of unpaid work and an efficient organisational structure, 99% (1% for administration costs such as postage, auditing and foundation supervision) of the donations are guaranteed to reach children and young adults in Tanzania.
Find out more about the foundation: https://tuwapende-watoto.org/
