Children in Tanzania had their education life transformed with the help from a young London volunteer.

The Increasing Children’s Learning and Participation project improved the quality of education and established learning clubs for over 4,000 primary school children in Tanzania, with the aid a young Harrow resident.

Priya Solanki, aged 22, travelled to Tanzania with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), an international development charity where she worked alongside young volunteers from Tanzania and the UK.

The volunteering was part of the International Citizen Service, funded by the UK government, with other volunteers aged 18 to 25 working on long-term projects that seek to end poverty in some of the poorest countries in the world.

Ms Solanki said: “Although there is free education in Tanzania, the quality of teaching isn’t the best as they don’t have the resources to provide a high standard of education as we are used to.

“The work we did, changed the lives of so many people in and around the community and seeing this change over the three months was amazing.”

The team worked together on creating 161 different teaching aid resources for teachers to improve their quality of teaching and encouraging parents to become more involved with their children’s learning.

Community action days which reached over 808 community members were also held to educate people about any issues the team noticed.

Felicity Morgan, Director of International Citizen Service at VSO said: “It’s really inspiring to hear about the fantastic work Priya did on placement. We’re incredibly proud that UK aid is supporting young Brits to bring about positive change in some of the world’s poorest communities.”

Before leaving Tanzania, Ms Solanki raised £1237 for VSO, ensuring communities in developing countries continue to benefit from the work of volunteers. Since returning to home, she is continuing to contribute to Tanzania’s local community by spreading the word and holding large fundraising events.