Partnerships & Stakeholders


Our achievements in the development of children’s cancer services in Tanzania thus far, have been made possible through the support of a number of key stakeholders and partners. Stakeholders include;

  • The children and families in our care who constantly guide our progress.
  • Their Lives Matter sister NGOs in Ireland and the UK.
  • The Government of Tanzania, through the Ministry of Health and our partnering centres nationwide.
  • Other medical and educational facilities and experts, many from Ireland and others from across Europe,America and Africa (especially Tanzania).
  • The public, private and NGOs, in Tanzania and internationally.

As the scope of our childhood cancer service provision in Tanzania grows, so does our need for support. In short, the more children we are able to reach and cure, the more expensive and complex the programme becomes. Although competition for funding is fierce in the non-profit area, we believe that the institutional partnerships and connections we continue to build give us a strong platform from which to secure sustainable funding and powerful partnerships. We wish to increasingly share the opportunity to positively change the narrative of childhood cancer in Tanzania.

We have many different types of donors including individuals, schools, clubs, foundations and private companies. Some have assisted us on one occasion but many are our lifelong friends offering annual or more frequent support. Support is generated through initiatives including fundraising events, monthly direct debits, in-kind collections, grant applications, fundraising campaigns such as our Kibubu Campaign, St. Patrick’s ball and online channels and as part of corporate social responsibility initiatives. Click here for more. 

Partnerships

Partnerships governed by Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) that will continue throughout the duration of our nationwide expansion include:

  1. ‘We Are TLM & National Children Cancer Centres’ – TLM establishes MoUs with all centres supporting the provision of Paediatric Oncology in Tanzania. These agreements identify the responsibilities and sharing of resources between partners centres.
  2. ‘We Are TLM & Muhimbili National Hospital’– TLM has an MoU agreement with MNH whereby we incur no rental costs for all onsite facilities. We Are TLM, through various donors, supported the construction of two Paediatric Oncology wards (Upendo and Tumaini), a home away from home family hostel (Ujasiri House), TLM offices, doctor’s offices and restroom, conference room, store and procedure room, nurses/ doctor lounge, skills room, playroom/classroom and a kitchen. All these facilities are continuously maintained by We Are TLM and MNH.
  3. ‘We Are TLM & Childrens Health Ireland’ – From the beginning, CHI (formerly OLCHC), has been central to our success by offering specialist opinion and services as We Are TLM have been building local capacity. We would not be where we are today without the amazing input from almost every department in this special hospital.
  4. ‘We Are TLM & DHL’ – We Are TLM have MoUs with various DHL and other suppliers specifically for shipping of the supply of chemotherapy drugs and other products and services.
  5. ‘We Are TLM & Donors’ – We Are TLM have MoUs with various national and international donors for the implementation of various operational projects as agreed with the donor. The MoU timeframe will depend on the duration of a particular project.

​Alliances and collaborations

We Are TLM develop alliances with other international networks, international and local organisations with a view to strengthening our operations but without the requirement of a formal agreement.

  1. ​ESTHER– a formal approved partnership between MNH and CHI, (formerly OLCHC). The ESTHER alliance is a parastatal European body facilitating formal twinning programmes between European health institutions and African counterparts17. This has unlocked a vast array of support and resources from Ireland including but not limited to: twice weekly sub-specialist reviews of pathology specimens; assistance in the foundation of local services, resource support and remote authorisation/supervision of specialist haematology investigations; expert visits; clinical engineering support and surgical specialist camps.
  2. ‘Operation Childlife’ – a children’s surgical organisation is one of the most important NGO partners we have, providing lifesaving surgery and surgical skills development multi-annually to children with cancer in Tanzania for over 10 years.
  3. Friends of the Abbott Fund and Export Trading Group combined to build our first family hostel, Ujasiri house at MNH.
  4. The Rotary Clubs of Dar es Salaam banded together over 3 years to fundraise, design and to build the beautiful Upendo & Tumaini wards at MNH. They have helped us with many smaller projects over the years and remain a hugely valuable partner.
  5. ​The Lions Clubs of Dar es Salaam have supported We Are TLM with frequent blood drives,  in-kind donations, volunteer hours and weekly hospital visits for a number of years. We Are TLM are most grateful for their continued support and collaboration.
  6. In 2021, our formal partnership commenced with Killruddery House and Gardens, Ireland, where the annual Harvest Moon Ball takes place. Additionally, Lady Ardee began sponsoring the Artist in Residence program, which involves hosting one local Tanzanian artist for a two-week residency. This initiative is part of our broader efforts within the annual Bid for Life art auction.
  7. ​Schools across Dar es Salaam who support and partake in our Annual Kibubu Campaigns. We hope in the coming years to expand this wonderful child-focused campaign across the UK and Ireland but wish to acknowledge Readers Rabbits, Little Scholars, Kidz Kollege, HOPAC, Shaaban Robert, Al Muntazir, DIA and all others who continue to support us – together we can!

​External Memberships

​Current memberships include:

  1. SIOP – a medical association that is dedicated to increasing knowledge about childhood cancer internationally.
  2. ​The Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) is a membership based, non-governmental organization that exists to help the global health community accelerate the fight against cancer.

​In Europe, we have ongoing collaborative programmes with a growing number of medical institutions such as Beaumont Hospital and the RCSI – all in Dublin; and with the Children’s Cancer Research Institute in Vienna, Austria. We are actively developing vitally important clinical trials with a number of Universities including Oxford, Birmingham and University College Dublin. In the US, the Baylor college of medicine in Texas and the University of Arizona has officially listed us as an intern partner for those students undertaking an MSc in Public Health.