Children, from kindergarten and up, wear uniforms to go to school. These are generally custom made with fabric purchased from women in the local market and uniforms carefully measured and sewn by local tailors. It is expensive but required.
Baraka was approached by a customer who wanted to do something in the community that would have a major impact and support children, families, education, and development.
After speaking with the women and community and learning their priorities, we suggested a project to provide school uniforms and some school supplies to local children. The customer contributed the bulk of the funding and Baraka supplemented their support with cash as well as covering the cost for Waca Development Partners to manage and oversee the project.
The result was over 300 children received school uniforms and school supplies and local market ladies, tailors and others earned income.
Rather than take advantage of the cash savings we could have realized by purchasing the fabric in bulk from a factory and using a production method for the sewing, we purchased the fabric from local women in the market and worked with local tailors who measured the children and custom made their uniforms.
This spread the development impact and left more funds in the community to support overall development.
