Victor William
Victor William’s path into development work began long before he ever heard the term. Born in Kijumbura village in Kagera Region, northwest Tanzania, he grew up in a farming family where education was precious and hard-earned. “In my village,” he recalls, “parents struggle by hook and crook to send their children to school. Those who show good outcomes are highly respected and become guides for the next generation.”
He was one of them. As the eldest of nine children, Victor walked 15 kilometres each day to attend school. “The long distance of walking to school made me commit myself to reducing poverty,” he says. “I decided to study development studies so I could understand the root causes of poverty and the best ways to move out of it.”
Victor went on to complete his Bachelor of Arts in Development Studies at the University of Dodoma after attending Lindi High School and Kaisho Secondary School. Along the way, he never forgot what his parents had told him: “We are using all available resources for your education, but you are not our only child. You must show a good and clear path for the younger ones.”
That sense of obligation, to his family, his community, and the wider region, remains the foundation of Victor’s professional life. Now the Learning, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager at DMDO, he is responsible for ensuring that the organisation’s interventions are “relevant, effective, efficient, equitable and sustainable.” He advises on strategy, oversees data collection, leads learning processes, and helps guide the team through DMDO’s transformation from a donor-dependent NGO to a self-sustaining social enterprise.
“Most of my time is spent modelling and working on new innovations,” he says. “To do this well, I engage and learn from the communities we serve—together with the DMDO team.”
Victor played a central role in the organisation’s shift to prepaid metering. “After learning from the data on water revenue and consumption from CBWSOs,” he explains, “I saw that with manual meters, DMDO would not recover investment costs. Even though I was sick at the time, I proposed studying prepaid water meters. The team took it seriously. We travelled to Iringa and Morogoro, piloted the technology in Mindu village, and now it’s a full-scale investment. It’s a turning point for DMDO’s financial sustainability.”
He also helped shape the sanitation marketing strategy. “The baseline showed high rates of unimproved latrines. I developed the first draft of the strategy, which the team later refined and implemented. It’s taking time, but it’s already changing how we think and act on sanitation.”
For Victor, the job is more than professional. “My wife, children, and parents have high confidence in my work at DMDO,” he says. “They see it not just as my workplace, but as family.” He recalls the moment his parents visited Masasi and met the Bishop and Fr. Geoffrey. “They told me, ‘DMDO is also your family. You must put a mark here so that one day you’ll be remembered for something good.’ That really stayed with me.”
Balancing work and family isn’t always easy. “In reality, it’s challenging,” he admits. “Weekends are supposed to be for family, but sometimes even those are used for DMDO. Some of our investments at home have failed because I couldn’t be there to supervise. But the family understands. We’re building something bigger. They just pray for our efforts to succeed.”
Outside work, Victor recharges through jogging, gardening and keeping livestock, returning to the rural rhythms of his upbringing. He also participates in local social groups and enjoys the sense of community they bring.
He describes himself as a deeply optimistic person. “My glass is always half full,” he says. “Even in challenges, I try to uncover the positive side. That’s what makes me who I am.”
Looking ahead, Victor sees DMDO becoming a national model for sustainable, enterprise-driven development. “With our prepaid water meters, in-house financing, and sanitation marketing strategy, we are becoming a learning hub. Once we secure more government partnerships and demonstrate the cost recovery model fully, I believe we’ll reach a new level of impact.”
“Success comes from solving problems. Not every problem is solved—but I learn from both failure and success. That’s how we grow.”
