Tools with a Mission, are a UK wide registered international development charity, based in Ipswich. For over 35 years we have been collecting donated usable tools, recycling and refurbishing them, sorting them into ‘trade support kits’ and sending them to the developing world for livelihood creation.
We currently send around 18 containers filled with over 300 tonnes of recycled and refurbished tools to a myriad of projects across Africa every year. All these tools would have ended up in landfill across the UK.
We invest in local people here in the UK (where we have a number of young people on sponsored apprenticeships) and provide opportunities for local employment projects. In addition of many our volunteers helping us are here due to support their mental and physical health needs. We also provide skilled older people an opportunity to continue to utilise their skills and provide social opportunities that reduces their isolation. This is particularly important for men in later life.
The tools we save from landfill in the UK then directly support communities in the developing world through grassroots livelihood creating projects. These projects, using the tools we provide, train individuals in trade skills such as carpentry and mechanical engineering – another sustainable approach to poverty alleviation in many rural remote and poor communities in the developing world.