The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service 2015

Empowering young people in Africa through vocational training

We are a charity based in Chesham, Buckinghamshire empowering young people in Africa (and the UK) to help themselves by developing the skills and knowledge needed to find gainful employment or start their own business.

We refurbish donated tools to a high standard and ship them to training centres and self-help organisations.

Urgent Appeal Update

Thank You – Your Support Has Made a Real Difference in Zambia

We’d like to express our heartfelt thanks for your generous donation to our Urgent Zambia Appeal earlier this year.

While the Vwila Foundation have been at the new site for some weeks now, we wanted to wait until all the work was completed before reporting back to everyone.

Click here for the Appeal Update

By donating money, you help empower young people in Africa to gain skills through vocational training. It is easy to make a financial donation by paying online or via the post.

Donating your unwanted tools and equipment can change lives as well as having a positive impact on the environment. Every year over 80 tonnes of tools are saved from landfill and refurbished.

We always welcome new volunteers to join our friendly team at our workshop in Chesham. There are lots of opportunities available and full training is provided for all. 

Our Impact

In Africa

We believe that young people in Africa are the drivers of development and know the solutions to the challenges they face. We work with like-minded organisations to provide quality vocational training through the provision of tools, equipment and starter kits. These are used for training, which creates employment opportunities for young people, helping them escape poverty and promote sustainability.

Increasingly, we support vocational training organisations in Africa to refurbish tools and equipment such as the Kalwande project in Tanzania. We also fund comprehensive training for trainers in how to teach others to repair and service more complicated items such as sewing and knitting machines.

As an organisation, listening and learning is at the heart of all we do and as such we monitor and evaluate all our work and that of our partners in Africa. This enables us to make informed decisions about where to place our resources in order to achieve the greatest impact.

Where We Work

Stories

Meet Vesta and Jofrey

Vesta Zachari, Tailoring Student at Hakizetu

21-year-old Vesta lives with her seven siblings and their aunty. After dropping out of secondary school without any grades, she decided that she needed to take control of her life and find employment. Her aunty persuaded her to apply to Hakizetu and train as a tailor. 

Keep reading Vesta’s story here.

Jofrey, Sheet Metal Fabricator and Welder

Jofrey studied sheet metal fabrication and welding at Basu Bandu Rural Development Association (BRUDA). He completed one year of training, but returned for a further year to gain more work experience to help fulfill his ambition to establish his own business.

Keep reading Jofrey’s story here.

Recent News

News From Africa

Bertha and Winnie

Bertha and Winnie are two of the teachers who took part in intensive sewing machine repair and maintenance training funded by Workaid in Kabwe, Zambia in 2024.

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AVVIK Graduates

Albert Valley Institute of Vocational Studies Karugutu (AVVIK) in Western Uganda is a progressive secondary school and vocational training institute. We have helped them establish a centre of

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Upendo Smiths Group

Upendo Smiths Group is a group of blacksmiths located in Geita, a region in Tanzania that has significant mining taking place, particularly for gold.

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