Village by Village

About us

Village by Village is a highly cost effective kitchen table charity, run by professionals, based in the UK working in Africa. We exist to ensure rural Ghanaian villages living in poverty have access to the things we in the UK we take for granted. Before we undertake any new projects with an African community the following elements must be in place:
• Communal Labour: We will only work with communities who are prepared to engage in a 50/50 partnership to help themselves by providing labour, sand, stones (when locally available) and water for the project.
• Communal Land: Projects must be accessible to the whole community and by working on communal ground it ensures the project is owned and maintained by the community and not only the landowner.
• Improving lives. As part of our commitment we do not just fly in and fly out of villages but live with the people of the village in their homes and see how their lives are improved by the projects we complete.
• Cost Effectivness: We do not spend most of our money on staples and head office overheads but directly on materials that will be used by the communities we support. The village supplies land, labour and accommodation.

Projects:
• We dig wells.
• We build household and school toilets: 4,000 children die each day in Africa because of a lack of clean water and access to basic sanitation. So we build toilets to reduce those deaths and educate children, teachers and the community about issues of hygiene and sanitation.
• We provide scholarships in the poorest villages: In Ghana education is free up to the age of 18, but to attend school you need shoes and a uniform. We provide the poorest families with shoes, books, pencils, bag, belt and a uniform.
• We built an information centre: The centre is the source of information to all the surrounding villages bringing messages of health, hygiene, sanitation and family planning
• We built a School library: The information centre we built in the village of Buloo Kofi now also houses a school library. We sourced and shipped books to the village and stocked the shelves high.
• We create public information films: In a small remote rural village without light & power we have set-up a big screen with a generator and data projector. Our volunteers produce, edit and direct these public health/education videos. All films are produced in local dialect.
• We teach at the local school: Our teaching projects are based in Gboloo Kofi [Bull-loo Coffee] a remote rural farming village nestled in jungle and forests in the heart of Ghana´s Eastern region.
• We photograph/document the villages we work in.
• We create small businesses in villages in poverty: In a small remote rural village without light & power we have set-up businesses. We have helped sewing, carving, washing, and building enterprises set-up and hope they will be the first of many.
• Projects aimed at UK schools: One of our aims is to link rural Ghanaian village schools to schools in the UK. The books, educational equipment and clothes that UK schools just throw away could so easily improve the quality of life for thousands of school children in Africa.

Neil Kerfoot is the CEO of Village by Village.

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.