Jumpstart Innovation and Learning in East Africa

Africa Rising's Fourth Annual Meeting took place in Masaka, Uganda in September 2012.  Twelve of the fourteen Africa Rising partner organizations came together to share their succcess stories and challenges over the previous year. This year, the Concerned Children and Youth Association (CCYA), the daughter organization of Concerned Parents Association (CPA), joined the partners at the annual meeting.  

The meeting was strategically located at St. Jude's Family Projects, a family farm that has grown to become a center of excellence and learning for agriculture, an area that many of the the parter organizations were interested in for implementation in their own communities.  The organizations learned practical agricultural models that could be easily applied.  More importantly, each organization identified practical next steps on how to further grow their own organizations to also become centers of learning.  

Shalom City has moved from the temporary IDP camp to the new property.  After years of advocating for the government to act on its promise to secure post-election IDPs their own land, residents of Shalom City have been granted this land.  Inspired by the annual meeting, Shalom City is planning to start its own community farm on the new land.  The community garden will help to ensure food security and provide income generating activities for the community.

African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM) and African Economic Foundation (AEF), together with Africa Rising, visited Kilisa village to introduce Maasai elders to the successful water project implemented by AEF.  Approximately 20 Maasai elders visited the project to learn how to build subsurface dams and use the water for income generating activities.  See the attached picture of the Maasai elders viewing a greenhouse project.  

Africa Rising is in the process of registering itself in Kenya, to establish an east African branch.  All paperwork has been submitted and we are awaiting a response from the government.  This is a step towards Africa Rising's goal of being more African led and shifting its core leadership and management functions to Africa.  

A group of Maasai leaders from Ilmamen village will be visiting Kilisa Village of the Kamba community in Kenya. The Maasai are known as the Kenyan cultural ambassadors while the vibrant Kamba are culturally famous for Kenyan wood-carvings among other things. The two communities live on similar terrain of very dry lands. Kilisa village has however found a way to secure water for dry seasons by building sand-dams on their seasonal rivers. The Maasai leaders will be visiting Kilisa to witness first-hand the innovation that has changed the face of the village and to take back that knowledge to their own situation.

This is a great example of how the Africa Rising network helps facilitate growth and learning among the partner organizations.  This knowledge exchange initiative is an agreement between two Africa Rising partner organizations; Africa Economic Foundation (AEF) & Africa Leadership & Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM) Kenya. The two organizations have plans to establish a long-term partnership to venture together to address the drought crisis that threatens their communities. This exchange will be the first among a series of initiatives to bring the two communities together in Peace-building and Community Development.   

This partnership have drafted plans to co-write and submit a grant proposal for funds to build similar wells in Ilmamen village and begin agricultural projects to generate income.  

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Africa Rising has been working hard to prepare for its annual meeting, planned for Sept 20-22, 2012.  This year's annual meeting will emphasize capacity building to help equip the grassroots organizational partners become centers for learning.  This will also be a time to vision together about the future of Africa Rising, as we strive to become more African-based and are registering an official branch in East Africa.

Links:

• africarising.org