Saab Zero Charity Ice Challenge!!!


Baltic Ice Heroes Imogen Wall and Rob Swinburn will be trundling off from London to Latvia on 8th February to cover 2,342 km of frosty tarmac in a 200 quid 1990 Saab, all in support of Teach A Man To Fish!

Imogen and Rob have daringly offered themselves up for any cruel or unusual challenge you can think up (as long as you offer up a nice chunky donation). Current challenges include doing a handbrake turn on ice and being towed by the car on skis for 100 metres :)

Check out the website and offer them some support!!!

Website: http://www.freewebs.com/saabzero/index.htm

FB group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6832255687)

1st Pan-African Prize for Entrepreneurial Teachers - Winners

Many thanks to everyone who entered the 1st Pan-African Prize for Entrepreneurial Teachers. As expected the level of entries was extremely high - making the judging a difficult task.

The sheer range of innovation and achievements described by entrants is a true testimony to magnificent work of so many teachers across Africa.

While so many entries truly deserve recognition, sadly, as with all competitions, there can only be a few winners.

Winners' Stories
1st Prize: Eco-Friendly Business Education
Akwany Leonard, Ecofinder Youth Movement, Kenya

Akwany Leonard, leader of Eco-finders Youth Movement in Kenya has been working to promote ‘environmental entrepreneurship’ in the poorest region of the country since 1995.

Through cost sharing and improvisation Eco-finders has been able to use its limited resources to reach out to over 100 schools and hundreds of community groups, to establish ‘Environmental Enterprises’. Eco-finder members have been involved in a diverse range of enterprises, learning both technical and business skills in a hands on manner.

These have included 20 school tree nurseries, communal village vegetable gardens fertilized with recycled human waste and a self-sufficient agroforestry learning and resource centre.


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2nd Prize: Satellite Farms for Schools
Pamela Akinyi Nyagilo, Ojere Primary School, Kenya

Pamela Akinyi has been teaching her students how to cultivate indigenous vegetables at school since 2003. Students collect seed at the end of each school harvest and sow them back on their home farm. This has led to most of the households surrounding the school starting their own indigenous vegetable gardens, radically reducing malnutrition in the area.

At the school’s poultry house, students breed their family’s local hens with purebred cocks, producing high value ‘pullets’. Some of these pullets are sold to local hotels to support and expand the project, whilst the remainder are looked after at school by the students. The project has now grown in size and there are 4 cockerels breeding with dozens of hens, generating a handsome profit which students use to buy educational materials.


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3rd Prize: Turning Waste into Gold
Atanga Martin Tabifor, Paradise On Earth, Cameroon

Since being forced to look for alternative forms of fertilizer in Cameroon’s economic depression of the early 90s, Atanga Martin has been leading his community to recycle their waste to produce furniture, ornaments, building materials and of…course…fertilizer, through training courses and enterprise schemes.

By transforming their waste and selling it for a profit, the community has tackled health and sanitation problems head on and found new and profitable ways to exploit waste products. Teaching the next generation to transform garbage into gold not only offers them a route out of poverty, but also a better chance of a genuinely sustainable future.

Final Day Of The Conference

See more pictures of the conference at !

All good things must come to an end sometime so, sadly, the conference wound up on Thursday 6th December. After a great presentation from Dr.Warner Woodworth, Director of the Centre for Economic Self-Reliance at Brigham Young University (USA), Mary Liz Kehler and Luis Fernando Sanabria introduced the Fundacion's and TAMTF's new 'School In A Box', a comprehensive guide to how to generate income in schools.

Next participants were grouped together and given a seemingly impossible challenge by Steve and Dave. Each group were given a wood block with a nail nailed into it. Then 12 more loose nails were given to each group, which had to all be balanced on the head of the wood block nail without any nails touching the base (i.e balancing on the head of one nail).

It was the Argentinian and Bolivian group which came up with an ingenius solution first, proving the theme of this conference: NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!

Next each group was given an opportunity to come up with simply diagrams to illustrate how they think Self-Sufficient Education can be achieved. Representatives came up to the front of the hall and presented their group's ideas, visualized using anything from smiley faces to palm trees.

The last part of the day involved a panel discussion, with the main facilitators being (from right) James Tooley (Global Education Fund), Mary Anne Muller (Escuela Agroecológica de Pirque- Fundación Origen), Makonen Getu (Opportunity Internetional), Godfrey Nzamujo (The Songhai Center) and Martin Burt (Fundacion Paraguayay). The panel explored the most important issues raised during the conference and set the agenda for how the TAMTF can move foward and develop. Regional TAMTF committees were proposed, to follow up on the progress the conference had made and participants volunteering to join these committees then signed up to confirm their intent.

With a message of thanks for all who came together to make this wonderful event happen, the conference closed with a feeling of optimism and real hope that a strong, far reaching TAMTF network can make a real difference to changing the way global education works.

The Idea Tree

Steve Carver and Dave Germond are geniuses! Not only are they keeping everyone entertained with their brilliant MCing and group games, they have started the IDEA TREE.

Each participant gets a block of post-it notes every morning and when they hear a good idea from somebody else or even think of one themselves, they post it up on 'The Tree'.




First Day Speakers

Yesterday afternoon (Tuesday 4th) attendees were treated to some inspirational speeches and presentations from our keynote speakers.



Fundacion Paraguaya Managing Director, Martin Burt gave an inspirational introduction to how The San Fransico School is creating a new generation of rural entrepreneurs in the Paraguayan Countryside.



Polan Lacki gave a though provoking speech about how rural education needs to be revolutionised to meet the needs of the rural poor and give them the skills to lift themselves out of poverty.

James Tooley reflected on the findings of his own extensive research across Africa and Asia and celebrated the success of the 'private school for the poor', schools which are setup by community members to provide lower cost yet high quality education to children from poor families.

Marianna Martinelli gave an inspiring introduction to the work of her organisation CODEER in Chile and Godfrey Nzamujo showed participants how he has been building the skills of young farmers in Benin for the last 20 years at 'The Songhai Center'.

Paraguayan Traditional BBQ






In the evening participants were treated to a superb feast of traditional local dishes. As a side accompaniment Afro-Paraguayan dancers providing some high energy rhythm, with our African particpants getting in on the act. During dinner a harpist and guitarist serenaded the diners until the wee hours....

Teach A Man To Fish Conference 2007 Begins!




Over 100 participants have been gathering at The Fundacion Paraguaya's San Franciso Agricultural School in Paraguay from Malaysia to Benin. Most arrived on the 3rd December and have already been treated to training in the 'GROW BIOINTENSIVE' method, tours of the school and an evening of traditional Paraguayan music and dance.

The official start of the conference is in a few minutes, with Nik Kafka welcoming participants and Martin Burt giving an introduction to the school. More to follow...

Teach A Man To Fish Is Two Years Old!



Whilst most two year olds are still waddling around, TAMTF is in full stride and helping change the world of education!

On the 22nd August we celebrated our 2nd birthday with a nice little cake. From left is: Maya Joseph (School Links Officer), Jim Stephenson (Programmes Manager), Nik Kafka (Managing Director), Tyler Mattiace (Conference and Communications Officer) and Adam Dorken (Fundraising and Communications Officer).

TAMTF has achieved a remarkable amount over the last two years and spread 'Education that Pays for Itself' all around the world. May the next two years bring even more success!

Teach A Man To Fish at The Innocent Village Fete


Over the weekend of the 4th and 5th of August, Teach A Man To Fish ran a stall at The Innocent Village Fete in Regent's Park, London. The stall was a huge success, with a 'Mango Shy' (styled on a Coconut Shy but using Mangos instead) and a sack race, with each sack being decorated as one of the animals from the Teach A Man To Fish projects around the world.


The aim of the weekend was to raise awareness about what we are doing to some of the 60,000 people who turned up for the event. The Mango Shy signalled the launch of our 'Carbon Fruitprint' programme, supporting the planting of Mango Orchards in Kenyan schools.

The sack race was aimed at promoting the diversity of projects we have around the world, from worm farming in Armenia to Pig rearing in Uganda.

Altogether the weekend was a great success and our enthusiastic team of volunteers had a great time!