Since 2004, Bread and Water for Africa UK has been fighting poverty, relieving hunger and increasing access to healthcare and education in some of the world's poorest countries. By working with local grass-roots organisations we have helped to fund schools, lifesaving health clinics and loving homes for abandoned and orphaned children. We work directly with small local organisations which are best placed to know the needs of their communities, identify the solutions that exist and work best, within their cultural and religious contexts. They are efficient and cost effective because they use local staff and local resources and are quick to adapt. We focus on long-term projects rather than temporary relief efforts, so we can give African communities a hand up, not a handout. In this way, these sustainable projects can continue to help future generations.