We are delighted to announce that our CEO Andrew Jowett has been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year honours 2020 for services to education in Zambia.
Graduating from Pembroke College, University of Oxford with MA Geography, Andrew’s career in international development began at Save the Children UK working first in the Horn of Africa, then Central America.
Andrew moved to international charity Harvest Help (now Self Help Africa), where ten years as Director saw him expand the charity’s work of implementing rural development projects across four countries in Africa.
Driven by a strong belief in creating employment opportunities for young people, Andrew co-founded Build It International in 2007 with a small group of experienced international development professionals.
Build It provides construction skills training to unemployed young people, alongside building urgently needed schools and clinics bringing essential services to some of Zambia’s most disadvantaged communities.
Through Andrew’s leadership Build It has raised £11 million helping to train over 1,000 young people and complete 44 community building projects including 34 schools, supporting around 290,000 people. The charity has grown with 7 staff in Shrewsbury, England and 24 staff in Lusaka, Zambia.
Andrew’s determination for Build It to facilitate long-term change has seen the construction of Build It’s Centre for Excellence; a new construction training centre in Lusaka. Already in operation, when completed in 2021 the centre will be a hub for construction skills training, small business development and sustainable building techniques.
Speaking about the award, Andrew said:
“It is an honour to receive this award in recognition of the work Build It has accomplished. Education and training opens up so many opportunities, but a huge number of young people in Zambia are denied access to even the most basic schooling.
It has been a pleasure to lead an amazing team of dedicated Zambian and UK professionals, working with partners across education, training and construction to give more young people the chance of a brighter future.”
