What Windle Trust International does

Windle Trust International (WTI) is a UK-registered charity (Charity No. 1092834, founded 2002 as a successor to Hugh Pilkington Charitable Trust programme operations dating to the 1990s) headquartered in Oxford that delivers education programmes, teacher training, and scholarships for conflict-affected communities in East Africa and the Horn of Africa. Its core products include the Postgraduate Programme (UK-based Master's scholarships with a 90% return-to-region rate), Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for unqualified teachers, English Language Training, the Accelerated Secondary Education Programme (ASEP), Female Teacher Training Scholarships, the Connecting Classrooms global schools programme, and support for the UK government-funded Girls' Education South Sudan (GESS) initiative. The organisation also operates a digital Scholarship Application Portal and runs a Solar Power Systems project for office sustainability.

WTI operates through country offices in Khartoum (Sudan), Juba (South Sudan), and Somaliland (newly added in 2025), with field-based delivery teams embedded alongside ministries of education and host communities. Its technology stack is non-commercial: programme delivery is human-led through local staff, with IT support from a single ICT Manager and digital tools limited to a scholarship application portal. The organisation does not sell products or services and does not have commercial pricing.

The revenue model is grant-funded: WTI operates as a charity funded through institutional donor grants (UK FCDO, Education Cannot Wait, UNHCR, UNICEF, World Bank, Mastercard Foundation, Open Society Foundations, British Council), trust and foundation giving, and individual donations via the website. Reported organisational income grew from £2.8M (2020) to £5.7M (2024). The organisation is governed by an independent Board of Trustees chaired by Sam Bickersteth, with CEO Dr David Masua (a former refugee and WTI alumnus) leading a 51-100 person team. WTI operates separately from the parallel Windle International network (Kenya, Uganda, Somalia), with shared history but no legal or management linkage.

Name

Windle Trust International

Legal name

Windle Trust International

Website

https://windle.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Windle Trust International is a UK-registered charity that delivers teacher training, English language instruction, alternative education pathways, and scholarships for conflict-affected children, teachers, and scholars across Sudan, South Sudan, and Somaliland.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Humanitarian Education Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Services (61)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Thematic & Discipline-Specific Study Abroad Programs (e.g., STEM, Business, Arts) (EDAIAAAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Merit-Based Scholarships (Academic Excellence) (EDAIAOAA), International Student Academic & Personal Support (case management, referrals) (EDALANAE)

Keywords

• Education in emergencies
• Teacher training programmes
• Humanitarian education services
• Scholarship programmes
• Girls education initiatives

Headquarters

HQ city

Oxford

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Institutional Donor Funding: WTI operates as a charity funded primarily through grants and donations from institutional donors, trusts, foundations, and government funders. The organisation does not generate commercial revenue but receives programme funding from donors including UK government, UN agencies, and private foundations.
2. Individual Donations: Individual donations from supporters who contribute to educational programmes for conflict-affected communities. The website includes a donation mechanism for individual supporters.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Windle Trust International is a UK-registered education charity that delivers teacher training, English language instruction, scholarships, and alternative education pathways for children and communities affected by conflict in Sudan, South Sudan, and Somaliland. Programmes range from primary and secondary schooling support through to UK-based Master's scholarships, with specialist expertise in education in emergencies, continuous professional development for teachers, accelerated secondary education, and female teacher training.

Product overview

Windle Trust International is a specialist education NGO offering a unified set of educational programmes rather than a modular platform. Its core offerings include the Postgraduate Programme (UK-based Master's scholarships), Teachers' Continuous Professional Development (CPD), English Language Training, the Accelerated Secondary Education Programme (ASEP), Female Teacher Training Scholarships, and support for the Girls' Education South Sudan (GESS) initiative. The organisation also operates a Solar Power Systems project for office sustainability and maintains an online Scholarship Application Portal. These programmes work together to provide comprehensive education support across Sudan, South Sudan, and Somaliland, ranging from early childhood education through to higher education and teacher professional development.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 563,329 learners reached in 2024 across primary, secondary, and tertiary education
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• UNHCRcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWTI works with UNHCR as part of the refugee education response, particularly through Windle International Kenya and Windle International Uganda which operate alongside UNHCR in refugee contexts.
• UNICEFcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWTI collaborates with UNICEF on education initiatives, particularly in South Sudan and Sudan where both organisations work to support education for children in crisis contexts.
• British CouncilmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWTI collaborates with British Council in Sudan and sub-Saharan Africa on education programmes and English language initiatives. WTI works with British Council on various project implementations.
• Oxfam GBminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMewahib Mohamed, a WTI Trustee, currently serves as Director of Programme and Business Development at Reall, previously worked at Oxfam GB in Oxford.
• Windle InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWTI works separately but in parallel with Windle International, which operates autonomous locally-managed NGOs in Kenya, Somalia (Mogadishu), and Uganda. Both organisations share common history based on founder Hugh Pilkington. WTI collaborates with them on specific projects such as recruitment for the WTI Postgraduate Programme.
• Government of South Sudan (Ministry of General Education)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWTI maintains close collaboration with South Sudan's Ministry of General Education and Instruction on policy influence, programme implementation, and education system strengthening.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Plan International: Global NGO with a strong girls'-education focus overlapping directly with WTI's GESS support. Operates across multiple regions including East Africa and competes for similar gender-equity education funding from FCDO and ECW.
• BRAC International: Large international development organisation with substantial education programmes in East Africa including teacher training and accelerated learning for marginalised learners. Operates at significantly larger scale but covers comparable programmatic territory.
• Save the Children: Large international NGO with a substantial global education programme portfolio, including conflict-affected contexts in East Africa. Competes for similar institutional donor funding and operates teacher-training and access-to-education programmes comparable to WTI's.
• Norwegian Refugee Council: Major international NGO delivering education programmes to refugees and IDPs in conflict-affected countries including Sudan and South Sudan. Directly comparable mission and beneficiary segments, though operating at much larger scale.
• UNICEF Education in Emergencies: UN agency operating a global education-in-emergencies portfolio that overlaps with WTI's work in South Sudan and Sudan. Far larger and broader, but a key strategic partner and competitor for the same donor-funded EiE programme pool.

Direct peers

• Windle International Uganda: Autonomous sister Windle organisation in Uganda operating parallel scholarship and refugee-education programmes under the same Pilkington legacy. Operates alongside UNHCR in refugee contexts and shares WTI's mission model.
• Education Cannot Wait: Global fund for education in emergencies that is itself a major funder of WTI's Multi-Year Response Programme in South Sudan. Operates as both a peer (delivering education programmes through partners) and a financier in the same EiE ecosystem.
• Jesuit Refugee Service: International NGO delivering education, teacher training and psychosocial support to refugees and IDPs across East Africa and the Horn of Africa. Overlapping programmatic focus on accelerated learning and teacher professional development.
• Windle International Kenya: Sister Windle organisation operating autonomously in Kenya with shared founder heritage (Dr Hugh Pilkington). Delivers comparable scholarship and teacher-training programmes to refugees and conflict-affected communities, making it the most directly comparable peer.
• Relief International: Humanitarian NGO operating education-in-emergencies programmes in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, including East Africa. Comparable mid-sized organisational footprint and donor base to WTI.

Market position

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/windletrust
• Facebookfacebook.com/WindleTrustIntl
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/windle-trust-international

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles19 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Windle Trust International