Fax: 01444 414813
Email: info@airstream.co.uk
The charity Tools for Self Reliance works to help relieve poverty in Africa. It is a small charity based in the UK and it has an original approach to development that focuses on the artisan sector in rural communities.
The reason this is relevant to readers of Toolbusiness+Hire is because the charity achieves amazing things with just a small number of staff and hundreds of volunteers who help to collect and refurbish tools.
Tools for Self Reliance was started back in 1979 by a handful of dedicated people. Who had experiences of development projects in Africa and the failure of overseas development assistance to trickle down to the grassroots. Using the knowledge they had gained from their experiences the charitys founders decided the best approach they could take was to work with small-scale community based groups and at the same time lobby with major institutional donors and governments to adopt a more people-centered approach to development assistance.
The year after is was founded, Tools for Self Reliance was formally registered as a charity with the mandate of working with local organisations in developing countries to relieve poverty amongst the local populace. It was envisioned as being a practical way to support artisans and craftworkers in some of the poorest parts of the world. Although lobbying and campaigning are integral parts of the organisation’s programme, it specialises in promoting the availability and use of basic hand tools.
Apart from the usefulness of the tools in helping rural craftworkers and artisans to earn livelihoods, the tool collection and refurbishment process provided people in the UK with the opportunity to work together for the greater good. Today, there are hundreds of volunteers in Tools for Self Reliance groups from the Orkneys to Jersey, collecting and refurbishing tools. This means what the charity does is not just for professional development workers - it is for people from every part of society.
One of our patrons of Tools For Self Reliance is Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a man who knows well the problems of Africa and the best possible solutions. Quoted on its website he says: “I’m proud to be patron of such a worthwhile organisation and can testify to the value of your work as thousands of tools have been sent to Cape Town to help the Men by the Side of the Road project. There are thousands who seek work but have no tools, no implements and no machines. With tools a person can make something, build something, grow something. There is a saying, ‘If you give a man a fish he will eat for a day; if you teach him how to fish he can support himself and his family, always’.
Across the UK is a network of volunteers who ensure that TFSR is able to fulfill its mission. This volunteers come from all kinds of backgrounds and bring with them a variety of skills and abilities. Working together they are able to ensure TFSR’s essential work gets done.
By Roland Ravenhill
Tools For Self Reliance only collect and refurbish tools that have been requested. These include:
•Blacksmiths tools - especially anvils, leg vices, hand operated pillar drills
•Carpentry tools - especially large carpenters’ vices, metal jack planes and tri-planes, drawknives
•Engineering and Metalworking tools - especially HSS twist drills, metric taps & dies, hand operated bench grinders
•Bicycle repair tools - especially spoke spanners
•Shoe repair tools - especially complete sets of individual lasts
•Auto mechanics’ tools - especially HD screw jacks, tyre pressure gauges, foot-pumps
•Electrical repair tools - especially multi-meters, desoldering equipment
•Arc Welders (240V)
•Industrial quality power tools - especially drills and bench grinders.
Not Needed
•Gardening tools (except heavy duty spades and shovels, used for building)
•Imperial spanners
•Any broken, poor quality or disposable tools
•Typewriters, computers, books, lawnmowers, cooking pots, bicycles, knitting machines, domestic quality power tools
www.tfsr.org
