Multiple organisations, one history.
Windle Trust International (WTI) and Windle International (WI) work separately but in parallel across East and the Horn of Africa.
WTI work in Sudan, South Sudan and Somaliland, whilst WI work in Kenya, Somalia and Uganda. WTI also manages the flagship Postgraduate Programme in the UK and Uganda on behalf of both organisations.
Each organisation has its own board, strategies, priorities and governance – but we have a common history.
Both organisations have a distinctive focus on education for conflict-affected communities and a shared set of roots in the work of Hugh Austin Windle Pilkington and the Hugh Pilkington Charitable Trust.
Evolving organisations.
The story began with Hugh Pilkington’s belief that education could give displaced young people a future.
While studying Ge’ez at the University of Nairobi in the 1970s, Dr Hugh Austin Windle Pilkington met Ethiopians who had fled conflict and sought sanctuary in Kenya. In 1977, he established Windle Trust Kenya, now Windle International Kenya, to support refugee and Kenyan students.
Hugh believed strongly in the value of education for personal and professional development, and that refugees should have equal access to educational opportunities.
Hugh believed that refugees should have equal access to education, and that learning could transform personal and professional futures.
After his death in 1986, his estate was used to establish the Hugh Pilkington Charitable Trust (HPCT). In the 1990s, HPCT expanded its education work to conflict-affected communities in Uganda and Sudan. From 2002, these programme operations became part of the newly registered Windle Trust International.
In 2004, HPCT’s Uganda operations became Windle Trust Uganda. In 2005, WTI began work in what is now South Sudan.
In 2013, the Windle International Secretariat was created to support the autonomous organisations in Kenya and Uganda, which were renamed Windle International Kenya and Windle International Uganda.
Today, Windle International Kenya, Windle International Uganda, Windle International Somalia and the Windle International Secretariat form Windle International. WTI remains an independent NGO, with operations in the UK, Somaliland, Sudan and South Sudan.
All these organisations continue to benefit from Dr Hugh Pilkington’s legacy through HPCT, which remains a key funder of programme operations.