“Not everyone gets an opportunity to be in the Kisa Project and those who get that opportunity will find that it changes their lives completely”. That was the message shared by the Year Two Scholars (Form Six) when they were introducing the program to the new Form Five students who were being recruited.
Since 2010, the Kisa Project has expanded from two schools to twenty in the Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions. About 815 students in these partner schools have shown an interest in becoming Kisa Scholars this year. However, due to limited resources, only 592 students will get to experience the two years of leadership, personal development and community service training. At many schools, admission is more selective and the Mentors have to decide who can join. If there are too many Scholars in a class, the mentoring process will not be as effective.
Kisa Mentors consider these criteria to select the new groups of Scholars:
The recruitment process starts with introducing the project to the new Scholars. Those who are inspired enough then fill out the application forms. This is followed by an interview, and lastly, the names of the selected Scholars are posted on the school notice board.
During the interview, the most important question we ask the potential Scholar is what she expects from the Kisa Project. When answering, most of them spoke about the benefits shared by the Form Sixes during the introduction session. These include being confident, learning teamwork, fulfilling your personal goals, and achieving the vision you have for your community.
“I was inspired with the way the Kisa Scholars did the introduction for us. It seems Kisa enables girls to achieve their personal goals and be a part of the solution towards the challenges facing their societies.They spoke confidently and in a very strong and powerful voice. I can’t do that,” said one new recruit. Not yet, but before long, she will too!
Links:
Kisa Scholars learn about leadership, in part, though stories of great leaders around the world. One of the leaders they learn about is the great Nelson Mandela. We use his leadership principles in our Kisa Curriculum, including:
After two years of training, the students get a chance to start writing their own leadership stories by helping their communities solve different challenges. This program is called the 2 Day Challenge. On their own, scholars are required to research their communities’ challenges, come up with a project, organize the community members and do the project with them.
This year, the Kisa graduates did 37 different projects in communities throughout Tanzania. These projects included: fighting drug abuse, combatting Malaria, addressing issues of early marriage and early pregnancy, motivating other students to read different books, and tackling environmental issues, just to mention a few.
For these girls, it was their first time to do something like this. They had fear inside them, but that did not stop them from planning the projects, introducing themselves to the community leaders and stopping strangers on the street asking them to join the projects. They learned that Nelson Mandela was once scared on many occasions, but he overcame the fear. He believed that “courage is not the absence of fear, but overcoming the fear and in turn inspiring others to do the same.”
Like any other situation where you are doing something for the first time, the Kisa Scholars faced lots of challenges, but they persevered using the lessons learned in the Kisa Classes on Nelson Mandela. One group helped secondary school students prepare for their exams by educating them on self-awareness and time management. Their approach was to let the students first come up with possible solutions to this challenge. At the end, the Kisa Scholars concluded by giving them their suggestions. They applied the Mandela principle of “leading from the back” to show the students that they have solutions for their problems inside themselves; they only need to think deeper and work together.
Nelson Mandela has been an inspirational leader to many people, including our young Kisa Scholars. They use his principles to bring changes in their communities – and to become outstanding women.
Links:
End of Year One Presentations are done by Kisa Scholars after they conduct community assessments during their school breaks. The aim of the Year One Presentations is to see to what extent Kisa lessons have impacted Scholars in terms of their confidence, public speaking skills and, importantly, the ability of giving back to their communities.
During the school break last September, Kisa Scholars conducted community assessments and came up with several challenges facing communities. These included challenges such as drug abuse, early pregnancy, female genital mutilation, poverty, road accidents, polygamy, lack of toilets and the position of women in the society.
Kisa Scholars also identified the existing assets which could be used to address those challenges. This process is one of the first steps towards their leadership careers. Supported by their Kisa Mentors and the Kisa Curriculum, Scholars were able to come up with win-win solutions and sustainable social entrepreneurship projects.
On 30th January, 2016 the presentation event was conducted for Kisa Scholars at Moringe Sokoine and Orkeeswa Secondary Schools. The venue was Moringe Sokoine Secondary School in Monduli. The event was conducted in two sessions. The first session was about the Scholars presenting those challenges along with their creative solutions in front of the two judges and ten audience members in each room. Judges were AfricAid friends from different NGO’S in Arusha, and audiences were friends of presenters, including both boys and girls.
The second session was a small celebration that was conducted in the school hall, during which the judges gave feedback on Scholars’ presentations. Most of the judges spoke about personal development within the Scholars, such as improved confidence. Judges also complimented the Scholars for being creative with the solutions they proposed to address the challenges. One of the judges said “it is such an inspirational thing to see young women, being upfront to find out what are the challenges facing our communities and come up with unique solutions”. The judges also selected the best Scholar from each room.
A representative from Moringe Sokoine Secondary School, Mr. Haruna, provided Certificates of Completion to the 26 Scholars who did their presentations. He congratulated the Scholars for being active and committed not only to Kisa but also their studies.
Links:
The 2 Day Challenge is a new Kisa Project program. It is a practicum that allows Kisa Scholars to implement community service projects in their home communities. It integrates units from the Kisa Curriculum on project planning and management, budgeting, leadership and entrepreneurship.
2 Day Challenge projects are real-world projects carried out by Year Two Kisa Scholars. Projects emerge from the community assessments that Scholars undertake in Year One. Scholars work in small groups and are supported to implement a discrete community intervention, over a two day period, in partnership with a local community.
Kisa Scholars from Moringe Sokoine Secondary School recently carried out three community projects: an awareness campaign among Maasai women about the effects of polygamy; a malaria prevention campaign in conjunction with a local hospital; and road safety education for primary school children.
Across the board we found that communities welcomed and were grateful for the support offered to them by Kisa Scholars. We received lots of positive feedback and are extremely proud of the professional manner in which Kisa Scholars conducted themselves. We have some very impressive leaders in the making!
We’d like to extend our thanks to all our Global Giving donors for contributing to the Kisa Project. We hope you enjoy the photos.
AfricAid’s Career Day women’s leadership conference is one of the premier events on the Kisa calendar, and a key component of the Project. Held annually, it is aimed at current Kisa Scholars as well as Kisa Alumni. Scholars from Kisa Partner Schools attend, along with their School Liaisons. The event is also attended by AfricAid staff, Board Members, and invited guests. Every second year Career Day takes the form of an overnight event, allowing for a more comprehensive program.
AfricAid organizes and provides transport, accommodation (for overnight events), meals, guest speakers, small group leaders, and venue hire. Participants also receive a t-shirt, notebook and pen, all of which are highly valued by Scholars!
In 2015 Career Day took place from the 28th to 29th of August at Tumaini University (Makumira), just outside of Arusha. There were a massive 800 participants in total!
Scholars arrived by bus from their respective schools on the afternoon of the 28th and settled in to their dormitories. That evening, they heard from adolescent relationship expert Dr. Chris Mauki, before having the opportunity to showcase their singing, dancing and other abilities to each other in a talent contest.
The next morning, participants heard the personal stories of three inspirational Tanzanian women, who spoke to the packed auditorium of girls about their own journeys to success, including the many challenges they faced, and how they were able to overcome them to achieve their goals. Our guests this year were well-known print media entrepreneur Emelda Mwamanga, banking executive Edna Kallape, and former domestic worker, women’s advocate and Queen’s Award recipient Angela Benedicto. The girls were completely in awe of these amazing women!
After lunch, Scholars broke into small groups, each of which was led by someone who had successfully pursued a career in an area of interest to Kisa Scholars. These included engineers, doctors, lawyers, accountants, teachers, NGO sector professionals, journalists and a pilot. In addition to the guest speakers and small group sessions, awards were presented to outstanding Scholars and School Liaisons.
Feedback collected from Kisa Scholars shows they found the event inspiring and motivating and that it will help them to be more focused and better informed in choosing a career path. They also loved the opportunity to network and share ideas with their peers. For AfricAid staff, it was an exhausting couple of days, but well worth it! We’re delighted with the success of the event and really want to extend a massive thank you to our Global Giving supporters for your ongoing support of the Kisa Project! Your contribution to the Kisa Project is making a significant difference in the lives of young women in Tanzania.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
Make a monthly donation & get 
