What is the point of UppFutures?

“The aim of a charity should always be to reach a point where we are not needed anymore”- Matt Webb, Founder of UppFutures

This is what UppFutures is all about. We work together with the local economy in Ghana, supporting projects so that these can become self-sufficient, sustainable and durable.

At the moment, 100% of the funds raised and used by UppFutures have been invested into the local economy of the Ghanaian Northern Region, in the city of Tamale. Here, our tailor, Mohammed Saani Rabiu makes the uniforms that we then distribute. Just a few doors down, in the neighbourhood of Sishiagu, is the first school where we have delivered our first lot of uniforms. The facemasks (which are available now in our Etsy shop!) are also made locally by our seamstress, Alhassan Lamnatu. 

It is important for us at UppFutures to make as many investments as we can in the community which we are trying to support. Tamale, 600km north of the Ghanaian capital of Accra, is the fastest growing city in West Africa. By investing all of your donations straight into Tamale’s economy, we ensure that we are doing all we can to empower the community financially and ensuring that no child is left behind from such a fast-growing economy.

What exactly is sustainable development of a local economy?

United Nations has provided a number of development goals to be met by 2030, they call it, The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals. It shares a blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. These goals recognise that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequalities and spur economic growth.

At UppFutures we are so very proud to be part of this. By investing financially into the economy, we hope to create enough momentum so that economic activity will be sustainable. More money circulating in the economy often translates into more economic activity, and more jobs. What a better way of promoting sustainable development than through the provision of school uniforms?

UppFutures engages with the local economy in a way that it doesn’t just deliver a solution but seeks to empower the community in Tamale so that charities, like UppFutures are not needed in the future. Like our founder, Matt Webb, explains, “the aims of a charity is to stop existing”. This is what sustainable development means to us, to support solutions so that communities can live independently and help themselves.

 Sustainable local development often works in correlation with education levels. In areas where economic activity is higher, there is less need for children to work and school attendance is higher. In Ghana, education is free and provided by the government. So, if children have free access to school, no need to work and a free uniform, there should be nothing preventing them from going to school. This is what UppFutures is all about, so much more than just uniforms.

If you’d like to support UppFutures current and future projects in Tamale, you can donate by contacting us.