About Us
A small UK charity building schools, libraries and sports facilities that Malawians own and run — for good.
We are a small, UK-based charity committed to improving opportunities for children in Malawi. We build the infrastructure — schools, libraries and sports facilities — and hand it to Malawian organisations to own and run.
Because those facilities fund their own running costs, they don’t depend on us. That makes them long-lasting: Falls Secondary School has run for years without a penny from us. And because we only ever spend on the buildings, we can point at the exact thing your money paid for.
What makes us different
- We build tangible infrastructure — school and library buildings and sports facilities.
- Malawian organisations run everything we build.
- Our projects fund their own running costs, so they don’t depend on us.
- 100% of your donation goes to the cause — never to UK running costs.
- We have almost no UK costs, and our committee covers those (aside from unavoidable bank charges) out of their own pockets.
Our story
Building Malawi began in 1988 as “Building Futures in Malawi”, when our team arranged a fundraising tour around Britain to build six classrooms in Lilongwe — and Falls Secondary School was born. Since then we’ve added a library to each school. The library at Falls receives around 70,000 visits a year.
We’ve learned that good projects take time. We invest heavily in firm foundations so the work lasts, tackling development in three ways: building educational and sports facilities; partnering with Play Football Malawi to run community sports coaching that also teaches HIV/AIDS awareness; and helping volunteers visit and support our projects.
100% of what you give reaches Malawi. We maximise every pound by investing in sustainable projects that are run by Malawians and fund themselves — so you can see exactly where your money goes, and it keeps working long after it’s spent.
To look is one thing. To see what you look at is another. To understand what you see is a third. To learn from what you understand is something else. But to act on what you learn is all that really matters.— Benjamin Puckett
The people behind it
We have no paid staff in the UK — just a dedicated team who give their expertise for free and cover their own costs. Meet the team, read about how we’re governed, or find a way to help.
Registered UK Charity No. 1145965.
Be part of the next build.
Time, money or sports equipment — every contribution reaches the ground in Malawi.