Impaction is now Tunafasi. Why this change?

From Impaction to TUNAFASI

In 2019, Betteke de Gaay Fortman founded the Impaction Foundation, building on over 12 years of experience with Karuna Foundation in Nepal - an organisation that developed a practical, replicable approach to improve the lives of children with disabilities.

The idea started with an encounter. Gilbert Mututsi Ruturutsa, director of ADED in Eastern Congo, had found Karuna's work online and reached out to Betteke to understand more on how to reach children with a disability in a sustainable way. She encouraged him to visit Nepal. When he returned, Gilbert said that ten days in Nepal had taught him enough to move forward for the next ten years in DRC.

That statement gave rise to Impaction Foundation - with the mission to make this approach accessible beyond Nepal, starting in Congo. Together with ADED and later AJEPAD, the Tunafasi program (Swahili for 'we all have a place') took shape in eastern DRC: rooted in local leadership, trust-based collaboration and sustainable system change from within.

Seven years of lessons, failures, and successes followed. The approach grew stronger, and so did the network. It started  attracting new funders, implementers, and grassroots organisations. The time came to turn the desired changes into reality.

In May 2026, Impaction became Stichting TUNAFASI, named after the programme that started it all.  TUNAFASI captures everything we stand for in one word. We stand for inclusion, the power of community and bottom-up system change, human resilience, trust-based collaboration and sustainable support that lasts.

Dandelion: a symbol of our believe in growing smaller

Growth happens when TUNAFASI lets go. Small, grassroots actions ripple outward, creating lasting impact through trust, collaboration and ownership.

That is why TUNAFASI's role is intentionally small: demand-driven, time-limited, and light in footprint. A small spark to catalyse, and then let go. Because sustainable impact takes root when initiatives are locally led and owned.

Our brandmark captures this: a dandelion formed from repeating "T"s, standing for trust, resilience and potential. Each seed represents a spark of change, carried by connection and spreading into a wider movement. Soft and open, grounded in local roots, and always moving outward.

TUNAFASI itself stays small by design, because the goal is never to grow the organisation, but to grow the movement of reaching more impact.