Cambridge Development Initiative CDI

Über uns

The Cambridge Development Initiative (CDI) is the first student development consultancy founded in 2013. Making the most of the rich resources available at this university, our aim is to build franchises that will allow local leaders in the city of Dar es Salaam to improve their communities through entrepreneurship, education and public services. CDI will not supersede local initiatives but create an ecosystem within which they can flourish: we will give them the tools, they will finish the job.

The initiative will offer students of every discipline the chance to apply themselves creatively as they implement their own projects from conception to conclusion.

The Cambridge Development Initiative is changing the way student volunteering is done.
• We want our student volunteers to be hands-on consultants: Like a consultancy, we are training small teams of volunteers to implement sophisticated and innovative development solutions rather than basic projects with limited preparation. As hands-on consultants, our volunteers will work directly with Tanzanian students and NGOs.
• We want to bring together innovative development solutions in the city of Dar es Salaam: All of the solutions which we are implementing have been applied successfully elsewhere and we are confident that, by focusing projects in Entrepreneurship, Health, Engineering and Education on a single city, we can provide a catalyst for integrated development and real progress.
• We want to create a model that can inspire other universities: If other universities follow our model and each focus their efforts on one city in the developing world, they could become a powerful force for good. Students could be instrumental in helping some of the best solutions in international development to scale – globally.

Projects:
• Entrepreneurship: Uniting the best entrepreneurial talents from Cambridge and Tanzania in an incubator that builds human-centred business solutions for Dar es Salaam´s informal settlements.
• Health: Working with nurses from Tanzania´s top nursing school to set up Health Shops and Clinics with a business model that provides high-quality health services to communities at the bottom of the pyramid.
• Engineering: Matching engineering students from Cambridge and Dar es Salaam with communities to deliver a simplified sewerage solution for 80,000 slum-dwellers in the settlement of Vingunguti.
• Education: Designing a summer school that brings together an inspiring mix of academic, vocational and creative activities and launches peer-to-peer groups for an exciting learning experience outside of overcrowded classrooms.



Ravi Solanki is the President of the Cambridge Development Initiative (CDI).

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.