About us
A partner for sustainable urban development
Who we are
Development Workshop (DW) was founded in 1975 by three architectural students in the UK with the objective of improving the lives and livelihoods of poor and disadvantaged communities with a specific focus on human settlements.
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Vision & Mission
A world where human settlements provide equal access to opportunities to ALL its inhabitants and where these villages, town and cities become the drivers of social and economic prosperity. Read more
Governance & Accountability
In each country the local Development Workshop organisation is established as a non-profit organisation. However, due to the different legal frameworks in each country, different types of legal entities were used to register the DW organisations.
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Urbanization in Southern Africa
Across southern Africa, more and more people live in towns compared to rural areas. Most towns struggle to provide housing for rapidly growing populations. As a result, large percentages of urban residents only find housing in the informal sector. Read more
Social Enterprise Approach
Scale and sustainability are considered fundamentally important indicators of success for our programmes; however achieving both the afore-mentioned with donor funding alone is not possible due to the fluctuating availability and size of donor funds. Read more
Our Donors
Development Workshop (DW) could not do the work that is does without the support of our partners and sponsors. We wish to thank all of you for your continuing generosity. Read more