Kenyan Partners Excellent Development UK Charity of the Year!

It really IS Excellent Development!

Our Kenyan Partner Excellent Development is celebrating a resounding win at The UK Charity Awards 2008. They were named Environment Charity of the Year and later crowned Overall Winner of the Charity of the Year Awards from the selection of 10 category winners.

In an emotional speech, Excellent Development co-founder Simon Maddrell said, “I'm quite overwhelmed. To achieve this in just 6 years is a remarkable achievement. We have many people to thank from the past and current trustees, friends, family, donors, our fantastic six staff in the UK and equally fantastic 46 staff in Kenya, who work so hard."

"However, there are 1,293 people who we really need to thank. One is Joshua Mukusya, the founder and inspiration of Excellent Development. His sand dam technology and philosophy is what makes the difference. However, I know he would join me in giving this award to the 1,292 farmers that we work with in Kenya. I know the judges were very impressed with the results of our work - the impact we make is driven by the farmers themselves - so it is them that this award belongs to. "Joshua Mukusya, speaking from Kenya noted, "That's great. This shows that we are really moving somewhere - and of course the Award belongs to all the farmers - they own everything that we do!"

Daniel Phelan, organiser of the Charity Awards 2008 commented: “Excellent Development is a fantastic example of how innovation, passion and vision can be turned into an effective project demonstrating considerable impact. The project greatly impressed the judges with how its excellent management led to a great idea being implemented across so many communities. The initiative is both sustainable and replicable and is a perfect illustration of the inspirational work that takes place within the voluntary sector by charities ranging in size from those with a couple of volunteers operating on limited resources to the largest household names.”

Congratulations to all at Excellent Development for all their hard work.

Check out Excellent's work at http://www.excellentdevelopment.com/!