Who We Are

Perspective Development Skills (PDS) Charitable Organization, also known as PDS Zanzibar, is a community organization located in Jendele, Central District, Zanzibar (Tanzania). It was registered on September 11th, 2017 under the Societies Act No. 6 of 1995-Zanzibar-Tanzania.

Zanzibar is an archipelago of Tanzania. It consists of many small islands and two main ones: Unguja and Pemba. The area of these two main islands is about 2,3 km², which consists of 5 regions and 11 districts with a total population of 1.8 million.

Zanzibar is impacted by ever-growing poverty issues, especially in the rural areas. Poverty is mainly due to a lack of jobs and to the political situation of the country. 

PDS Head Office is located in Jendele Village, in Unguja Island, where most of the activities are implemented. However, some other projects take place in Pemba Island, more specifically in the village of Tumbe, in Micheweni District. We develop all our projects in rural areas of Zanzibar to be as close as possible to the community we serve.

Jendele Village, Central District, Unguja Island
Kibele Village, Central District, Unguja Island
Jendele Village, Central District, Unguja Island
PDS zanzibar -tumble village
Tumbe Village, Pemba Island

The idea of PDS came from its current Director General, Abdalla Hamad. He was born in Zanzibar, in a poor family in Pemba Island. Since he was a kid, he has been involved with community, participating in many peer education and life-skills trainings. When he was President of Zanzibar University in 2015-2016 he established an Outreach Program for the sake of doing research about the problems faced by the community of Zanzibar. It appeared that the more recurrent problem was unemployment, especially in the rural areas. That’s how he got the idea to create PDS. He realized that local jobs creation should be the main objective of PDS. Indeed, all the other issues come from the same key problem, like the branches of the tree all come from the same trunk. This local jobs creation objective constitutes the trunk of PDS and two main branches grow from it: women and youth empowerment. Indeed, they are the most impacted by the lake of employment opportunities.

So far, PDS has created no less than 1,000 local jobs in Zanzibar with the few resources that it has as a small organization. In the future, we believe that we will be able to create much more employment opportunities. Today, PDS is an ever-growing family, with a lot of volunteers and supporters from all over the world whose generosity has helped, still help and will help the community of Zanzibar in the future.

PDS has recently received a 4.5 acres parcel of land in the village of Jendele, Central District, which will be the new site for PDS Headquarters. It will include PDS Head Office, the volunteers’ house and PDS School of Dreams. We are currently building these infrastructures with the help of our partners and volunteers. The long-term plan also includes an orphanage and a community hospital, for which we will need support.

PDS is a charitable organization which empowers local people living in the rural areas of Zanzibar by providing skills and additional education.