Community groups

Louth is a friendly and cohesive town so it is no surprise that there are many community groups. But we are not just inward-looking, minding our own affairs, but get involved with communities thousands of miles away.
In 2005 a group of us set up the charity Tanzania Rural Revival/Uboreshaji Maisha Vijijini Tanzania (TRR/UMVT). We had been involved with Tanzania in various ways for many years, originally through our work with VSO. During visits to Tanzania in 2004 we became very aware that the economic position in Tanzania made sustainable development in rural communities incredibly difficult. Various factors including trade practices, unfavourable exchange rates and the world economic situation all conspired against people in countries such at Tanzania. We realised that small scale, focused financial help was very much needed, particularly in communities which were beyond the reach of the big development agencies.
So the five of us – Tony Janes, John Hough, Lesley Koumi, John Fowler and Rosemary Fowler – formed the charity in 2005. We decided to focus on one small part of rural Tanzania. Our aim was to enable people in this rural community to obtain funds to help carry out improvements which they together had decided were a priority. Our underlying belief was that local people understand their needs and priorities better than outsiders and can best ensure the necessary community involvement in any work.
Read more about the Tanzania Rural Revival.