)
What if you could build a school?
Not a rhetorical question. With Makuyuni you can do exactly that. We are a network from Cologne. Friends, makers, believers. We build schools in Tanzania. Together with the communities on the ground.
5 + 2
Five schools complete, two under construction
1.000+
pupils and students
3.000+
people supplied with clean water
100 %
of every donation flows into building schools
Every school has a story. Each one begins with the people on the ground.
We don't build schools for communities. We build them with them. The idea comes from the people themselves. Lalahe and Lazaro coordinate everything on site. They know every family, every need. We provide money, ideas and support.
Our goal for every school: handover to the government. Then we step back and the community takes over. Help towards self-help, not dependency.
)
Zaburi Primary School (2023)
Until 2023, the children of Zaburi walked several kilometres along the unlit main road to the nearest school. Today they learn just behind their houses: six classrooms, a teacher's house, and a toilet block.
)
Makuyuni Juu Primary School (2022)
The community had been building here since 2006. In 17 years they had built two classrooms and a teacher's house. In 2022 we stepped in. Today: seven classrooms, a teacher's house, two toilet blocks. Handed over to the government in 2025.
)
Selela Nadosoitok Primary School (2021)
The community had already built a classroom themselves. We docked on and extended. Today Selela is the largest school in our network, with 467 pupils, nine classrooms, and a community that keeps on building.
)
Orkisima Primary School (2019)
Out of personal ties to families in Orkisima the project began in 2019. The well followed in 2020 and supplies 3,200 people with clean water. Handed over to the government in 2022.
)
Idimayii Primary School (2018)
Our first school, built in 2018 together with the Lomiyon community. It has been handed over. Another NGO carries it on.
A school costs less than you think.
A complete state school in Tanzania has three blocks, seven classrooms, teachers' rooms and toilets. It costs around 100,000 to 150,000 €. We never build it in one go. Block by block, school by school.
Lolera, our sixth school, even starts with 76,000 € for Block A: classrooms, a teacher's house and toilets. Your donation doesn't disappear into administration; it builds walls and roofs and pays for school desks and learning materials.
Friendship that builds schools.
Two supervisors in Tanzania, Lalahe and Lazaro. Six board members in Cologne. And around 90 people in the network who carry it all.
)
Lalahe
Project lead Tanzania, NGO partner
)
Lazaro Laizer
Project lead Tanzania, NGO partner
)
Andreas Klein
Board · Sponsoring & Finance
)
Jan Grandisch
Board · Donations & Projects
)
Daniel Vogelgesang
Vorstand · Merch
)
Olivia Vogelgesang
Board · Events & Network meetings
)
Dana Bergmann
Board · Marketing & PR
)
Oliver Blank
Vorstand · Allrounder
Wear the message. #wearresponsibility
Our merch collection is made with Cologne artists and fair print shops. Materials and packaging come out of our crew contributions. 100 % of the purchase price flows into building schools. You only pay for shipping.
This is what we get asked most.
Find out more and get in touch directly.
Find out more about our partners, look into our transparency report, or learn what drives us. Still have questions? Then write to Andy or Jan directly.
Who builds with us.
Families, foundations, Bücherbörsen, companies. The partners without whom no school would stand.
Where your money goes.
100 % of all donations flow into school construction. Three pots, one transparent financial report. Audited by the Finanzamt Köln-Altstadt (Cologne tax office).
What drives us.
Why we do what we do, and the criteria we use to decide where the next school is built.
Andy
Andreas Klein. Co-founder, since 2018. Contact for sponsorship, partners, financial reports and technical questions.
Jan
Jan Grandisch. Co-founder, since 2018. First contact for donations and projects. He met Lalahe in Tanzania in 2017.