Exciting News on March 15, 2021
In 2019 the Tanzanian government decreed that all charities must become Non-Governmental Organizations in order to operate in Tanzania. There were months of learning all the government-imposed layers of governance following July 28, 2020 when Tumaini was registered as an NGO, with the new name “Tumaini Orphan Support Organisation” (TOSO). [Yes, the word was registered with the English spelling for org.]
All Tumaini’s work in Kagera is now carried out under the name of TOSO. We are so proud of the 5 area coordinators (4 of whom were former Tumaini students) who carry on with office work, registering orphans, working in the field with support workers, supervising building of wells, homes and schools, as well as organizing the distribution of school notebooks (Daftari), which is just a small part of all that they do to improve the lives of 50,000 orphans.
TOSO financials will be audited by the government every 3 months. As well, each wire transfer of funds must be accompanied by an official Funding Agreement which the Tanzanian Government Office must stamp with approval before the funds can be withdrawn from the Guernsey, Scotland, USA, or Canadian bank accounts held by TOSO in Tanzania. This is a safeguard that we didn’t have before to ensure the safety of our donated funds.
Isaac, who is the TOSO Chief Program Director and one of the area coordinators, has just completed a new website for TOSO. We would like to suggest that you bookmark this new website so that you will be able to see the latest Tumaini news from Kagera.
The Tanzanian website, which went live this weekend, can be found at:
www.toso.or.tz