Transparency & Accountability
Where Your Donation Goes
You are being asked to send money to a small organisation, in a country you may never have visited, that you probably heard about from one person. You should be sceptical. This page exists so you can check us.
Who We Legally Are
Registration & governance
- Registered name
- Watoto Wa Africa Organization
- NGO registration number
- 14NGO/1525
- Registered in
- Tanzania, 2006
- Caring for children since
- 2000
- Location
- Buswelu, Ilemela District, Mwanza Region, Tanzania
- Children in our care
- 120+
We began caring for children informally in 2000 and completed formal NGO registration in 2006. We state both dates rather than the earlier one alone, because the difference is the kind of thing a careful donor checks.
The Document
Certificate of registration
Issued by the United Republic of Tanzania under the Non-Governmental Organisations Act, 2002 (section 12(2) of Act No. 24 of 2002) on 30 June 2006, under registration number 14NGO/1525. It authorises the organisation to operate in the Mwanza Region and to act in accordance with its governing constitution.
Anyone may verify it with the Registrar of NGOs in Tanzania against the number above. Click the certificate to view it full size.
Ongoing Oversight
Social workers visit three or four times a week
Government social workers come to the home several times a week — usually two of them, usually unannounced. They walk through the rooms, check the kitchen and the sleeping quarters, look at what the children are eating and what they are wearing, and then sit down with the children one at a time, without staff in the room.
That last part is the part that matters. A child who is unhappy here has a person to tell who does not work for us, comes on their own schedule, and writes it down. We do not get to see those notes, and we do not get to be in the room.
It is a condition of operating as a registered children's home in Tanzania, and we are glad of it. A home that resents being inspected is telling you something. So is one that never mentions it.
Where The Money Goes
What a donation actually becomes
We are not a fundraising organisation that forwards money to a project somewhere else. The children live here, our staff are here, and the costs are the ordinary costs of running a home for 120+ children: food, school fees, uniforms, medical care, water, electricity, and repairs to the buildings they sleep in.
Food
Three meals a day, cooked on site. Our own farm and poultry project cover part of this — which is exactly why those programs exist.
Education
School fees, uniforms, exercise books and supplies at Busenga School, plus support for the children who go on to secondary and vocational training.
Healthcare
Routine medical care, medicines, and treatment when a child is ill or injured.
The home itself
Rent-free buildings still need water, power, beds, mosquito nets, and constant repair. This is the least photogenic cost and one of the largest.
We do not publish an audited percentage breakdown, and we would rather say so plainly than print a reassuring number we cannot evidence. If you want to see the operation for yourself, arrange a visit — several of our supporters have, and that remains the most honest verification we can offer.
Avoiding Confusion
Making sure you're in the right place
https://watotowaafrica.or.tz is the only official website of Watoto Wa Africa Orphanage. Our official bank details are published on our donate page and nowhere else. If you have been asked to send money to any other account in our name, contact us first at info@watotowaafrica.or.tz.
A few things worth knowing if you have searched for us before:
- —We are not connected to Watoto Church or Watoto Ministries in Uganda. The Swahili word watoto simply means children, and several unrelated organisations use it.
- —Several third-party directory listings still describe us as caring for 86, 93 or 108 children. Those numbers were accurate when they were written — we now care for 120+. We are growing, not shrinking.
- —Some listings describe us as a faith-based organisation. We care for children of every background and faith, and we do not require any religious participation from the children, our staff, or our volunteers.