About Us

Teso Development Trust (TDT) is a small UK Christian charity that has worked with churches in the Teso region of eastern Uganda since 1989. We fund projects in clean water, community development, health, education, Christian ministry and emergency relief, delivered by trusted local partners.

Where is Teso?

Teso is a rural subregion of eastern Uganda, centred on the town of Soroti and stretching north towards Karamoja. It covers 11,650 km², about one and a half times the size of North Yorkshire, across ten districts and Soroti City. Uganda’s 2024 census counted nearly 2.5 million people there, and more than half of them are children under 18.

Most families live by small-scale farming that depends on the rains, so floods and dry spells hit them hard. Uganda’s national risk atlas rates Teso as the area at highest risk of catastrophic flooding in the country, and an estimated 50 to 60% of its people live below the World Bank’s extreme poverty line of $2.15 a day. The largest community is the Iteso people, who speak Ateso; around 98% of them identify as Christian.

Our story

TDT was formed by Christians in the UK in 1989 and registered as a charity in 1991 (number 1005139). It began as a response to the humanitarian crisis in Teso after Uganda’s civil war of the mid-1980s, and the raids that followed by the Lord’s Resistance Army and neighbouring Karamojong cattle raiders. Ever since, we have provided relief and resources for development and mission, working through churches and Christian organisations in Teso.

How we work

We have no staff in Uganda. Instead we work with the development arms of local churches and Christian organisations, each registered with the Ugandan government as a non-governmental organisation. Our partners know their communities, identify the greatest needs and deliver the projects. We raise funds in the UK, choose between project proposals, make grants, and check progress against agreed outcomes, with regular visits to Teso. Each project has its own agreement under a wider Memorandum of Understanding with the partner. This keeps our overheads low, so more of every gift reaches Teso.

What we achieved in 2025/26

• 17 clean water sources (13 protected shallow wells, 3 protected springs and a borehole), serving 10,890 people.
• Over 500 households joined 19 new community savings groups, and partners delivered over 4,000 participant days of training in food security, family business and resilience.
• Over 4,000 patients at Ngora Freda Carr Hospital benefit from new beds and a replacement blood refrigerator, and 183 patients who could not afford treatment were cared for through the Kumi Compassionate Fund.
• Two schools, Aminit High School and Atilinga Primary School, gained finished classrooms, doors, windows and desks.
• About 2,000 people in 400 flood-hit households received food, tarpaulins and mosquito nets.
• 22 church leaders, including 6 women, graduated from the PAG South Teso Bible school programme.

Our finances

In 2025/26 our income was £137,685, mostly from individual donors, plus trusts and churches. We spent £93,208. Clean water was the largest single area of work, at 31% of spending.

Who runs TDT

TDT is guided by a volunteer Management Committee, chaired by Andrew Third. Three committee members were trustees in 2025/26.  You can see our filed accounts and trustees on the Charity Commission register.

Support our work in Teso, or get in touch. Gift Aid adds 25% to your gift if you are a UK taxpayer.