We believe that all amputees should have access to a prosthetic leg

This is the quintessential reason that Legs4Africa even exists. There is a huge disparity around the World as to who does and who doesn’t have access to prosthetic legs and rehabilitation services, we want to redress the balance. We use the UN’s ‘Least Developed Countries’ list and conversations with health care professionals to find the countries in Africa that are most in need.

We believe independence is achieved through community, education and opportunity

The aim of any charity should be to put itself out of business. For us that would mean every amputee in Africa has access to services that allow them to feel mobile, independent, supported in the community, and have opportunities for work, education and recreation. 

We look for local solutions first

We believe that much of what amputees need can be found locally to them, and when they can’t we will send resources from elsewhere. Currently this means looking for local community groups and mobility centres. In the future this means looking at local manufacturing and resources along with new low-cost prosthetics technologies.

We believe in collaborating with other organisations

Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do, why do it ourselves if some other group already has the expertise. We have strong bonds with hospitals, men’s sheds, rotary clubs and other charities. We want to keep our team small, dynamic and great at working with others. 

We are inclusive of people that are under-represented

Whether we are recruiting a member of our team in the UK, Africa or elsewhere we will always look to prioritise under-represented people where possible, be it people with a disability, women or from cultures that need a voice.

We communicate with transparency

We want everything that we do to be open-source, public knowledge and simple to understand. This includes our finances, footprint, project work, partners, policies and goals. If you can’t find anything on our website then email us and we’ll send it over.

We present every person with dignity, agency and humanity through our media

We are not one of those charities aiming for the sympathy donation, we will never show pictures of anyone without consent and in a way where they are not presented well. We like showing positive and honest stories about amazing people that have overcome difficulties. We like showing people smile.

We will have a positive impact on the planet for generations to come

We recognise that we are living in an ecological and climate emergency. We are big into recycling, and we always think about the planet’s health. We acknowledge that sometimes the nature of the work means we need to fly, which we aim to minimise and when we can’t we will use responsible carbon offsetting projects and work towards being carbon negative.

We listen, adapt and say thank you

We put our hands up and say ‘we do not understand’, we actively listen until we do understand, we read relevant books, we change the way we do things in response to new information and we thank everyone that offers us support, advice, criticism or biscuits.

And with that in mind… A big THANK YOU