Member Article

Charity Christmas campaign to build nursery in Africa

North East based international children’s charity COCO (Comrades of Children Overseas) has launched a Christmas campaign to raise enough money to build an entire nursery in an impoverished area of East Africa. The COCO appeal is hoping to raise £8,500 that will allow construction of a classroom, office and composting toilets on the slopes of Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

COCO was co-founded by Steve Cram and British Army Major Jim Panton in 2000. The charity focuses on small, sustainable, community led initiatives that can make a big difference at a local level, and has raised and invested over £3.5m since its foundation. COCO has now supported 50 transformational projects in 16 countries, positively impacting the lives of over 150,000 people.

COCO already undertakes extensive work in Tanzanian communities. The charity’s 2015 Christmas appeal raised money that provided sustainable agriculture training to farmers in five communities, including Kibosho, where residents were able to increase their income by an average of 239% as a result.

Because of this, parents are now able to make financial contributions to their children’s education, meaning that the proposed new nursery in Kibosho will be able to cover its running costs. Once built, it will be self-sustaining and not reliant on future charity support.

Lucy Philipson, CEO of COCO, comments: “This is a really good example of how our commitment to supporting sustainable projects can reap long term rewards. By funding the training over the last year, we have helped create a situation within which the new nursery can operate without ongoing assistance once built. Everyone who donates to the 2016 COCO Christmas appeal can rest assured that the money raised will have positive, lasting impacts across the generations in Kibosho.”

At the moment, Kibosho’s nursery facility is located in a community member’s front room and shares toilets with a local bar. The plans for a purpose-built nursery will transform learning opportunities for the youngest children in the community, providing them with an education from an early age, which is essential for their longer term prospects.

The campaign has already raised over £1,000 of its £8,500 target. Donations can be made at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/cocoxmas2016.

To find out more about the work of COCO visit www.coco.org.uk, find the charity on Facebook or follow @COCO_Charity on Twitter.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chris Lines .