In March I'll be running my first marathon. I'm in the last stages of my training now and I can tell you this is going to be one of the hardest things I've ever done. I would love a donation to a cause I really care about to make the pain worth it and to spur me on on the day.

I am raising money for Cameroon Catalyst. We are a small international development NGO based in Cameroon in West Africa. We specialise in water, sanitation and hygiene projects with a focus on sustainable development and community engagement.

Only 45% of Cameroon's rural population have basic access to potable water. Less than a quarter of Cameroon's population have access to safe sanitation and hygiene facilities. Cameroon Catalyst's work helps to alleviate these chronic issues.

So far we have delivered 7 hand dug wells, which have had a huge positive impact in reducing water scarcity. We are also soon to construct pilot schemes in rainwater harvesting and improved communal pit latrines. These will help us to find ways to further reduce water scarcity and to improve sanitation and hygiene facilities respectively.

The charity is student led, with students designing and fundraising for these projects. This is not only rewarding work but also benefits them in their early career development. Student teams are based at the University of Southampton, University of Birmingham and Imperial College London.

I originally joined the charity as a student, and went out to Cameroon over two of my summers to conduct research in the communities we work in. I have recently been fortunate enough to be involved with devising strategic plans for the next 5 years, my main contribution to this being choosing our proposed projects to undertake.

Climate change poses a huge challenge to our projects in an already water scarce region, disrupting the recharge of wells our communities rely on to survive. We have worked to find new approaches to attempt to resolve these issues as set out in our 5 year plans, but these unfortunately come at a greater cost.

Any donation to this cause would be much appreciated.

Thank you,
Thom