To date KAD has founded and partnered with global groups to build and manage three primary schools, two secondary schools, an agricultural college, a vocational school, two Bible schools, the district’s only hospital, a maternal health ER, nine out-reach clinics and dispensaries, a range of social services including AIDS programs, women’s empowerment programs and a reforestation program. Add to this a youth center, hotel and airport. All of this is in addition to pastoring, preaching and teaching their 218 congregations!
Everything ETI does is to strengthen developing communities in Karagwe, Tanzania. We achieve this through a holistic, partner-initiated approach that focuses on building capacity for 1) water and sanitation, 2) health systems, 3) education and 4) generating wealth. Through it all we safeguard gender equity and environmental sustainability. What we do is partner with the most effective local organization in Karagwe to assess strengths and needs, then based upon those assessments, determine our further course. With our local partner, we set mutual goals, leverage resources and expertise. ETI grants funds to our local partner (and potentially others) to meet the goals. We adjust course depending upon continuous evaluation of our work. Our work is initiated by our local partners in Tanzania, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania, Karagwe Diocese (ELCT/KAD or “KAD”). We are confident that KAD will achieve its own goal of economic prosperity, social equity, environmental sustainability and independence.
This determined and highly functional partnership between ETI and the ELCT KAD was formalized in 2010 and resulted in the establishment of KARUCO – an agricultural university –dedicated in October of 2017 just five years after groundbreaking in 2012. To date ETI has catalyzed, funded and/or partnered to help: assess strengths and needs in Karagwe; secure the 1,000-acre deed; develop a site plan; fund the design and construction of campus buildings and the water harvesting and storage system; drill a borehole; provide light and power; develop rigorous, hands-on curriculum; provide computers and 18,000 volumes for the library; build barns and provide tractors. ETI oversees evaluation for the longitudinal study to assess impact of KARUCO.
The collective impact of what we do demonstrates the power of our robust networks and commitment to comprehensive, integrated, community-led holistic change. The progress made in Phase One (KARUCO) provides the foundation for what ETI will do in Phase Two as we establish a Rural Opportunity Center (ROC) on KAD property near KARUCO. As with KARUCO, ETI began the ROC by conducting strengths and needs assessments. The University of Minnesota surveyed and interviewed 240 people in Karagwe who offered inputs into what local women and men want in a ROC. Data were analyzed and strengths and needs prioritized. Main challenges were reported as water scarcity, unreliable weather, infestations to crops and livestock, low prices for agricultural products and difficulty getting products to a viable market. Data show that communities want educated, independent children and that vocational training is desired for some. They want agriculture as part of their children’s future but not as it exists currently. They want viable markets for farm products. They want the ROC to have a food processing facility, continuing education for youth, vocational training, a market hub and a central storehouse for farm implements to be rented. Further interviews with community leaders revealed a need for a health post and a veterinary clinic.
ETI shared the findings with KAD who formed a ROC Task Force to guide the project. Partners agreed to prioritize and leverage resources for a: 1) Food processing facility; 2) Farm implement storage and rental area; and 3) a Market hub. There will also be toilet facilities and a guardhouse. Further ROC components are: 4) Health post; 5) Veterinary center; 6) Administrative offices and a 7) Multi-purpose training center. ETI invited award-winning Bruce Engel Architects (NY) to begin pre-design work on the first ROC. (Bruce was lead architect with Sharon Davis Design, credited for the Womens Opportunity Center in Rwanda, near Karagwe. ETI is hosting the ROC Task Force Chair, Dr. Andrew Cesari (Head of Nyakahanga Hospital) and Rev Jackson Kanyiginya (Co-founder, Bweranyange Girls Secondary School) in Minnesota in November to meet with Bruce Engel and other multi-sector partners to outline programs for food processing, implement acquisition, storage, maintenance and rental, and development of a market hub. Potential new partnerships will be announced as the programs unfold.
ETI, KAD and multi-sector partners are working together to establish a ROC on a site adjacent to KARUCO. The site was chosen for its general topography, proximity to KARUCO and the road and an established outdoor market, and because KAD owns the land. The ROC will enforce pillars of a strong, developing community that will in turn, transform the agricultural, business and social sectors in rural Tanzania. We expand our multi-sector partnerships and continuum of services to promote and sustain a thriving community that can rely on four pillars: 1) Clean Water and Sanitation (prevention of disease and increased health and income through provision of pure water, latrines and technology that support sanitary systems); 2) Health Systems (sustained access to quality healthcare through community health professionals, affordable medications and reliable delivery services); 3) Education (equitable opportunities to access inclusive and effective learning environments in both formal and non-formal or community-based settings); and 4) Generating Wealth (thriving enterprises that increase family incomes and contribute valued goods and services to the surrounding community).
What ETI does builds upon what our local partners have already done in Karagwe. ETI and KAD have partnered together formally since 2010 to establish KARUCO in Northwest Tanzania. ETI partnered with KAD because KAD demonstrates remarkable competency as it provides holistic social services and sustainable and integrated development in addition to the normal preaching and teaching in their 218 congregations. Its schools and social services are open to all. (As said at the top of this blog entry), To date, KAD has founded, built and manages three primary schools, two secondary schools, an agricultural college, a vocational school, two Bible schools, the district’s only hospital, a maternal health ER, nine out-reach clinics and dispensaries, a range of social services including AIDS programs, women’s empowerment programs, a reforestation program, as well as an airport, a youth center and district hotel. Kudos ELCT/KAD!