Support us!

We have a way to make positive changes, but we know that we are only scratching the surface of what is needed in Zambia. 

By 2021 we want to double our investment in Zambia to increase the number of young builders by 500% and transform the lives of 150,000 people.

Our vision is an Africa in which everyone has an opportunity to work and thrive. We know that this won’t happen unless people have the education, skills and support to create and take advantage of the opportunities that a growing continent provides.  Having laid the foundations for growth, we want to take a bold leap forward to achieve:

• 500% increase in the number of young builders we train: We want to expand our building skills training programme to reach over 1,400 men and women in Zambia. This would mean supporting 450 young people per year, five times the number we supported in 2016.  Build It graduates can benefit from an average increase in earning of £18,000 over 20 years helping to transform their lives and those of their families
• Completion of our training centre: Our new training facility in Lusaka, our Centre for Excellence, will help us to increase the number of trainees we can support, as well as the number of courses we can offer. It will become a hub for construction skills training and small business development helping to bring together graduates and employers
• More community building projects: Our newly trained bricklayers, plasterers and carpenters will help us build schools and health centres in 13+ disadvantaged communities in Zambia with an estimated 130,000 people benefiting over the next 25 years

In order to achieve all this we need to secure £9m from 2017-2021. We have already secured a quarter of this. Will you support us to bring about real and lasting change?

In 2016, Gosten Nyanda was one of the trainees working on the construction of Linda science labs.

After his parents died in 2005, Gosten moved with his young family to Lusaka, where Gosten looked for work as a construction worker.

He worked in Lusaka’s building industry for 10 years, but without a formal building qualification, his earning potential remained limited.

“Best of all, by the end of it I had a qualification on paper that I could show clients, so that they’d trust me to build their houses.” Gosten explains.

“I’m now able to take care of my family without worrying,” Gosten shares. “I’m saving for my own plot to build a big house for them. I love building houses!”

Photo credit: By Jennifer Bruce for Communication for Development Ltd