For individuals, professionals & retirees

Leverage your experience and talents to make a real difference in the developing world

We all have a unique set of skills, forged from our genes, education, experience and the general blood sweat and tears of life. Some of us are fortunate to be employed to apply our skills; others apply them to their passions outside of work. If you have the opportunity to do what only you can do best, you can achieve great things. But those opportunities can be rare.

Many of us like to help others. We fundraise, volunteer or run marathons to help support our favourite cause. But we may not always have the chance to apply all our full potential for the cause – All of our skills, talents, wisdom, experience, knowledge, creativity, insight, intuition, objectivity, business acumen and of course our, passion, enthusiasm and energy. (Usain Bolt may run faster than you but does he know how to run a P&L or fix a water well?) You have a unique wealth of abilities - used to their full you can achieve great things and make a difference in the world.

WE² was founded specifically to help you bring your full potential to those who need it most. WE² helps charities in Africa build new programs that improve lives by leveraging the skills and expertise from our volunteers. So our volunteers exchange their professional expertise and experience for the life-experience of working on projects in the developing world. Read about our volunteers experiences on the stories & gallery page

Health Warning – may change your life and will certainly change your perspective.

Applying your talents

If the developing world needs to develop and (if) we are from the developed world (?), then maybe we are well placed to coach, mentor, advise and support this development. In reality, the developing world has a lot to us teach in return.

There are infinite ways you can help this development. Here are a few ideas from our projects.

Entrepreneurs need help setting up their businesses
Successes around the world need to be researched and applied locally
Market opportunities need to be identified
Clean water systems need to be devised and implemented
Awareness programs need to be devised and replicated – Sanitation, AIDS, clean-water
Existing engineering and business projects need to be reviewed and enhanced
New schools and training centres need to be devised, designed and built
Businesses need to be created around local resources and materials
Communities and charities need help to move to become more financially self-sustaining
New technologies ideas need to be investigated for their applicability
Best practice in business, engineering, agriculture, architecture, IT, etc. needs to be shared
New partnerships and collaborations need to be identified and established
Etc. etc……
AND - What you do best is needed in Africa !

Please see the side bar to see more details of our projects.

"Send more books and toys"

"I have a diploma in electronics, which is 40 years old and things have moved on somewhat since then. I have designed and sold large IT systems to major corporations. I am not a doctor or a teacher. My DIY skills are atrocious. What could I possibly do for the people in a rural community in Africa?

I visited Uganda on the MBA Social Entrepreneur module with a group of fellow students. We did make a difference and I was surprised to find that I could apply my skills and experience to help. Visiting such an environment certainly changes your perspective and makes you think – maybe I can help?

For the past 10 years of my career, I have worked on developing alliances and partnerships between large IT suppliers – bringing the best of both organisations to create something new and more powerful than the sum of the parts. I realised that I have a skill for bringing diverse people and organisations together to create something new or do something that couldn’t have been done before. If it works for large corporations – maybe it would work for charities, universities and individuals. It does work! So I have traded my corporate life for a life of applying my skills to help others – bringing organisations and individuals together to make a difference. It sounds corny but the experienced changed my life !! – for the better. Give it a try" Peter Clarke WE²

Our Projects

Past, present and some ideas for future projects here -

How the model has been successfully implemented

Projects currently being developed

How our projects can help charities

An example project

Situation Overview

Young people in Uganda leave secondary school with good academic results. However, in a primarily rural community they do not have the vocational skills to become economically self-sufficient. The charity would like to establish a vocational training centre to give students the life, technical and business skills to build their own businesses and so become self-sufficient. This facility needs to be commercially self-sustaining as income from donations is not predictable over the long term. The charity has no business skills or experience.

Deliverables

A feasibility study and budgetary model, making recommendations to the charity on the best approach.

Timeline

Over a period of a month, the team spend a few hours a week

Understanding the situation
Liaising with the charity
Researching similar projects across the world - their success, issues and critical success factors
Consulting with appropriate experts within their own organisation
Planning and scheduling their time for the field trip

A two week field trip to the charity in Uganda

Initial in-country orientation
Review their findings to-date with the charity
Understand the practicalities and limitations of operating in a developing country
Interview and consult with local stake holders – community, partners, potential students, schools & universities, local government, companies, customers, etc
Evaluate similar schemes in the region
Present initial findings to the charity

A two week period back in the UK