About TAHN
Practical development. Real opportunities.
TAHN is a Swedish non-profit organisation focused on international development.
Working through locally grounded partnerships, we develop practical programs that expand opportunities for skills, employment and sustainable livelihoods.
TAHN was established from more than a decade of experience designing and delivering development and humanitarian programs with the United Nations, international NGOs, governments, communities and the private sector.
That experience has shaped a simple conviction: development works best when it responds to real needs and is grounded in local realities. By understanding what businesses and industries actually need, developing those skills through practical, market-relevant vocational training, and connecting people with real employment opportunities, programs can create sustainable livelihoods, strengthen local businesses, and contribute to broader economic development.
Built from experience.
TAHN is a new organization, but the experience behind it is not.
Our management team brings together decades of combined experience across international development, humanitarian operations and the private sector, spanning Africa and Asia. This includes senior expertise in program leadership, hospitality, vocational training, quality management, entrepreneurship and professional skills development.
That experience includes work with UNDP as Programme Officer, Peacebuilding Fund Coordinator and Land Tenure Reform Specialist; serving as Regional Head of Programmes for West Africa; and Country Director assignments with the Clinton Health Access Initiative in Sierra Leone and BBC Media Action in Afghanistan. It also includes rural development programming in Afghanistan and humanitarian work following the Nepal earthquake, during the conflict in South Sudan, and the West African Ebola crisis.
It is complemented by more than a decade of international five-star hospitality experience spanning operations, professional training, quality management and culinary instruction. Both members of the core management team are also entrepreneurs who have founded and operated businesses, bringing practical experience of what it takes to create employment, serve customers, manage people and resources, and build commercially viable operations.
Together, this gives TAHN experience across the development and employment pathway — designing and delivering programs, developing practical skills, understanding employer needs, and creating and running businesses.
How we work.
Good program design starts with understanding the problem, the local context and the outcomes we want to achieve.
For employment-focused programs, that means starting with the labor market. TAHN works with businesses, industries, communities and other local stakeholders to understand where skills are needed, what employers actually require and where credible opportunities for employment and enterprise exist.
Those findings inform program design. We connect market-relevant technical and vocational education and training with practical application, workplace experience and pathways into employment, entrepreneurship and continued professional development.
The private sector is therefore not simply a destination for graduates or a source of funding. Businesses and employers are development partners from the beginning — helping identify skills gaps, shape training, provide practical experience and create opportunities for employment and enterprise.
We measure success beyond participation and graduation. The important question is what happens afterwards: whether people are able to use their skills, build livelihoods, progress professionally or create viable businesses — and whether the program contributes to stronger employers, local economic activity and wider development outcomes.
Training is only the beginning. What matters is whether skills create economic opportunity — enabling people to build livelihoods, progress professionally and exercise greater agency over their futures.
Turn opportunity into action.
TAHN is building partnerships with organizations, businesses and individuals who share our belief that skills development should lead to real economic opportunity.
Whether you want to work with us, support our programmes or contribute expertise and resources, we would be pleased to hear from you.