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About twenty young children in Teach Me To Fish T-shirts sitting together on wide concrete steps outdoors, each with a new school backpack, with two women from the team among them and a school building and green hills behind

Educate · Empower · Transform

Teach me to fish, don't simply give me fish.

African proverb, and the reason we exist

Our storyDonate

Founded 2010 · Registered in Cameroon · UK-based

Our impact in numbers

880
Children supported in our latest Back to School
12
Editions delivered since the first
16
Years working in Cameroon
20+
Schools reached across the region
Countless
Dreams inspired for a better tomorrow
TMTF founder Dorothy Akoh-Arrey kneeling to hand a TMTF backpack to a small child, in front of partner banners, with dozens of packed bags laid out on the floor
A hall filled with several hundred seated children and parents at a Back to School event, applauding, with tables of packed school bags along the right-hand side
A TMTF volunteer with a microphone talking to children at the front of a packed hall, with rows of open backpacks full of pens and exercise books on the table in front
Dozens of young children in Teach Me To Fish T-shirts standing behind a Back to School banner outside the Pan African Institute in Buea

Who we are

Education is the most sustainable route out of poverty

Teach Me To Fish Foundation supports underprivileged children in Cameroon through education. We believe every child deserves the opportunity to fulfil their potential, and that lasting change comes from capability, not charity alone.

Learn more about us
Founded
2010
Registered
Cameroon
Based in
United Kingdom
Working in
Cameroon
Focus
Education
The outline of Cameroon filled with a photograph of the TMTF founder handing a school backpack to a young child, with the TMTF logo

Our work focuses on Cameroon

Teach me to fish, don't simply give me fish.

African proverb, and the reason we exist

How we create lasting change

  • We empower

    We equip children with school fees, uniform, materials and the mentoring to keep going.

  • We partner

    We work with local organisations who know the communities, not around them.

  • We invest

    We fund agreed delivery rather than hand over grants, and we follow each child year on year.

  • We inspire

    Teach a child to fish and they feed themselves. That is the whole point of the name.

Our work

Seven ways we keep children in school

All projects

  • Back to School

    Our annual campaign puts children back in the classroom at the start of each school year, with fees, uniforms and materials covered.

  • Educational Sponsorship

    Long-term support for a named child: school fees, learning materials and mentoring that continues year after year.

  • Girls' Education

    Targeted support for girls, who face the steepest barriers to staying in school and the greatest gains from finishing it.

  • School Infrastructure

    Safe, equipped learning environments, because a classroom has to be somewhere a child can actually learn.

  • Digital Learning

    Access to the tools and connectivity that open up learning far beyond what any single classroom can hold.

  • Community Projects

    Development work alongside families and local leaders, so that gains in education hold across a whole community.

  • Emergency Support

    Rapid help when a family's circumstances would otherwise take a child out of school.

Impact

What the work adds up to

Every figure carries a source and a date. Donors who can check one number trust the ones they cannot.

Children supported in the latest edition12th edition, Back to School deck
880
Editions deliveredBack to School deck, 2013 to 2025
12
Year the foundation beganConfirmed by the founder
2010
Children in the first cohort2012 registration, 20 girls, 12 boys
32
Mothers economically empowered2012, alongside the first cohort
30
Partner organisationsNamed in the deck, excluding TMTF itself
7

See the full record, edition by edition

Film

See the work for yourself

A short documentary shot in Cameroon carries more than any amount of copy can.

Documentary film

Loads on click, not on page load. Needs captions and a transcript to meet WCAG 2.2 AA.

Awaiting film

Our corporate partners

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Partner logos need written permission before use, most organisations have brand guidelines governing placement.

Get involved

Be part of the change

However much time or money you have, there is a way in.

Donate

Give once or monthly. Regular gifts let us commit to a child's whole school career rather than a single term.

Give now

Sponsor a child

Support one child through school, fees, uniform, materials and mentoring, and follow their progress.

Sponsor a child

Corporate partnership

Partner with us on programmes that match your organisation's goals, with reporting you can publish.

Discuss a partnership

Volunteer

Give time and skills, in Cameroon or remotely from anywhere.

Volunteer with us

Fundraise

Run, bake, climb or ask. We'll give you everything you need to make it count.

Start fundraising

Stay in touch

Occasional updates from the field. No pressure, no daily appeals.

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