Cambridge Development Initiative Raise £5000 in One Week

Britain’s first student-run development consultancy Cambridge Development Initiative (CDI) have secured £5000 in the first week of their crowdfunding campaign going live. The charity, founded a year ago by Trinity finalists Patrick Hoffmann and Kelvin Wong and a committee of twelve, has been pledged £25 000 by two Cambridge-based trusts on the condition that this is matched in private donations by April 15.

Students at the University of Dar es Salaam who are working with CDI to found social enterprises in the slums

To implement development projects in Education, Entrepreneurship, Health and Engineering, CDI are sending 30 students from Cambridge to the slums of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania this summer. This will be one of the biggest student-led trips ever to be initiated in Cambridge. More like consultants, volunteers will work closely with the community, local university students and the local government to help slum residents themselves to improve their quality of life. Having already been recruited, the volunteers are currently undergoing training in association with industry experts. Teach First are involved with training in the education project, for example, while creative design consultancy IDEO are mentoring participants in the entrepreneurship project. The crowdfunding campaign is needed for the charity’s pilot programme to run successfully, and will be instrumental in ensuring the society’s long term financial stability so that future visits can build on the work of previous ones.

Children from Vinginguti who will benefit from the Engineering project’s plans to lay down a cost-effective sewerage system this summer

With high profile backers, including Downing alum Lord Rumi Verjee, the owner of Dominos Pizza in the UK, and former United Nations Deputy-Secretary-General Lord Malloch Brown both publicly praising the work that CDI have achieved, the charity hope that the funds raised will allow them to “change the way that student volunteering is done.” Raising £20000 over the next 4 weeks will be no easy task for one of Cambridge’s newest student societies, but the committee are confident that this target will be reached and exceeded with the support of the university community.

Cambridge Development Initiative’s campaign can be found here, and more information about the society can be found here.