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Willmott Dixon is teaming up with a UK charity to deliver a project that will enhance skills and improve opportunities for people in Togo, West Africa.
The company will work with Dekamile to develop a skills academy that will provide important construction-related training to people in Agome-sevah, a village alongside the river Mono on the border between Togo and Benin. The concept is based on the Willmott Dixon 4Life Academy created earlier this year in Birmingham that has already seen 2,000 people receive training in a variety of areas to enhance skill-sets.
As part of this latest commitment, Willmott Dixon’s repairs and maintenance brand, Partnerships, has challenged its apprentices to raise £12,000 to help build the new academy. The top four fundraisers will then be given the opportunity to travel to Togo to help build the facility and pass on their trade skills to people living in the village.
It’s not the first time Willmott Dixon has used its building skills to deliver a key facility in Agome-sevah. In 2011, the company worked with Dekamile, which aims to improve community facilities in Agome-sevah, by raising money and sending a team to build new health care facility in the village.
So far, apprentices have raised £1,800 at their first fundraising event at the Ravenfield Arms in Rotherham by holding a number of activities including a raffle and an auction.
Rod Unger, founder of Dekamile, said: “We’re really grateful for Willmott Dixon’s ongoing support; their fundraising and practical support to build a new academy is tremendous and will allow us to provide a new level of skill-sets for people in the village. We are striving to provide long-term improvements in Togo, enabling people to genuinely prosper.”
Willmott Dixon Partnerships managing director, Mick Williamson, said: “We were initially inspired to offer our support to Dekamile because every penny raised goes directly to the village, and the charity’s aims in leaving lasting legacies are in line with our own practice in the UK.
“This new academy will enable us to reach communities much further afield and spread our ‘Skills 4 Life’ ethos to Agome-sevah. Our apprentices are key to what we are hoping to achieve; we aim to equip the villagers with skills and knowledge they can use for many years to come.”