Development Workshop (DW) is a non-profit organisation working to improve settlements and livelihoods of the poor in less-developed communities. We have offices in Luanda, Huambo and Cabinda. We have worked in Angola since 1981, and for many years were the only NGO in the country. Invited initially by the national government we were request to assist with self-help housing. DW collaborated with local government and community-based partners in the first integrated squatter-upgrading program in the musseque (informal settlement) of Luanda, and, since 1991, have been instrumental in building the capacity of Angolan civil society partners during these crucial years.
DW has worked for many years of conflict through a protracted and complex humanitarian crisis in Angola. We have continuously worked with our partners to build and empower local capacities and search for sustainable solutions throughout, and post, the emergency environment. Since the end of the war, we have been uniquely positioned as a “development organisation” to meet the new needs of transition and re-construction.
DW continues to have one of the strongest NGO presences in Angola and currently manages a large number of successful projects in the following sectors: Water and Sanitation, Participative Planning, Micro-finance, Shelter, Peace building and Citizenship, Decentralisation, Monitoring, Research & Strategy, and Land Tenure.
DW: the Bigger Picture
Development Workshop Angola is a national partner of a wider international DW network focusing on human settlements, shelter, peri-urban upgrading, water supply and sanitation, microfinance and small enterprise development, peace building, governance and disaster mitigation. DW’s strategy is to strengthen the capacity of communities and organisations to act on development problems and opportunities. Founded in 1973, DW has worked with communities, grassroots organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), local and national government authorities and international organisations in more than 30 countries.
DW’s work is funded on a project basis by grants from NGOs, national and international development agencies and private foundations. DW is registered as a non-profit group and does not raise funds directly from the public. Aside from Angola, DW has offices in Canada, France, Burkina Faso and Viet Nam.
In 1996, Development Workshop Angola was given an International Best Practice Award at the UN Habitat Istanbul Summit. In 1998 won the World Habitat Award for our work across 20 years in the Sahel. In 2009 DW earned the Southern Africa Drivers of Change Award and in 2011 the UN Habitat Dubai International Best Practice Award for the Luanda Urban Povery Program.
DW is supported from a variety of institutional, government and private sector sources. DW has developed a social-enterprise strategy with the aim of building institutional sustainability.