Quarterly Newsletter August 2023!

Dear supporter,
 
We are pleased to share with you our recent newsletter with the updates on what we have been up to in the last three months!
 
New partnerships!
 
This year brought us the pleasure of new partnerships, explore to learn more about our new partners!




FEMI Foundation

After several months of communication, our partnership with FEMI Foundation finally came into existence in May 2023 through our newest project; The Maasai Women Empowerment and Climate Change Adaptation Project (MWECCAP). The two-year project commenced in May 2023.


WILDE GANZEN FOUNDATION
In collaboration with Global Exploration, Wilde Ganzen Foundation co-funded our new project “Fighting climate change through tree planting and environmental education”. The project spans to twenty schools (both primary and secondary) from Simanjiro and Longido districts in northern Tanzania.

GLOBAL EXPLORATION
Stitching Global Exploration (SGE) partnered with us by co-funding our tree planting and environmental education project. During the inception meeting, we partnered with Global Exploration and students from Montessori college for a tree planting event with students from Montessori college and Longido secondary.
The Maasai Women Empowerment and Climate Change Adaptation Project (MWECCAP)
The project’s main objective is to create climate change adaptation for the Maasai community through social and economic empowerment of women in four villages in Simanjiro district. Through economic empowerment, more than 2,000 Maasai women will be supported through climate-smart agricultural and environmentally income-generating friendly income-generating activities. After securing funds from FEMI Foundation, the next processes followed as follows:
Inception Meetings:
To ensure the acceptance of the project by the community, inception meetings were conducted at the district and community levels as follows:
A). District-level inception
On the 29th of May, TACCEI team visited the Simanjiro District Headquarters purposely to introduce the MWECCAP project. The meeting was held in the office of the District Executive Director (DED) in attendance of the acting District Executive Director (DED), Community Development Officer (CDO), District Agricultural Officer, and two District Education Officers. The inception meeting at the district level is in line with national regulations that require all new projects to be introduced to all administrative levels.
During the meeting, TACCEI team presented the project to the mentioned members who were very excited about the project and they said “This is an important initiative that will help the government to deliver important services to the people in need”. The district executive director and all members would, therefore, ensure that their office would offer the required support throughout the implementation of the project.
B). Village level inception
After the inception and endorsement of the project at the district level, meetings were held in four villages that were identified as beneficiaries of the project. The four beneficiary villages are:
TERRAT VILLAGE
 
On the 2nd of June, the team attended two meetings that were held in the village of Terrat. The first meeting was held in the morning and it brought together the team from TACCEI together with the district community development officer and the members of the village government.
 
In the village of Terrat, a total of 20 leaders from the village government attended the meeting. Furthermore, the village general assembly was attended by 230 people, making a total of 250 villagers who attended the inception meeting in Terrat village. During the first meeting, members were very excited about the project, and hence they endorsed it accordingly. Their endorsement made it easier for the community to accept the project during the village general meeting. After presenting, members of village general meeting accepted the project. Furthermore, the villagers requested the organization to help address the conflicts between people and wildlife in their village.
LOSWAKI VILLAGE
 
On the third day of project inception, TACCEI managed to visit the village of Loswaki and held a village general meeting. A total of 383 village members attended the village general meeting and they were very keen to listen to what the organization brought to them.
 
After presenting the project, the village members were very happy, and with no doubt they endorsed the project. A number of questions were asked by the village members and were addressed effectively by TACCEI team.
ENGONONGOI VILLAGE
 
On this day, the team visited the village of Engonongoi for the inception meeting. At Engonongoi village, a total of 181 people attended the meeting. The project was introduced and villagers asked questions after which they accepted the project. Many people liked the project and wrote down their names in order to be included in the project as beneficiaries.
EMBOREET VILLAGE
 
On the last day, the team from TACCEI and the district community development officer visited the village of Emboreet for an inception meeting. The first meeting was held in the morning and it brought together the members of the village government. In the afternoon, the general meeting was held with around 190 people in attendance. After a long discussion, members endorsed the project. Generally, a total of 1004 people attended the inception meetings in all four villages.
HOUSEHOLD SURVEY AND BENEFICIARY MAPPING
 
After successful project inception, TACCEI continued implementing the MWECCAP project by surveying the households in four villages and mapping potential beneficiaries. During the inception meetings, villagers with interests in homestead gardens were required to write down their names. Also, they were instructed to start preparing their small plots to establish homestead gardens. The field team went through the list and visited all those who showed their interest. After household visits, the following were noted down in four villages respectively;
A). Terrat Village
 
In Terrat village, although many people showed their interest in gardening, many of them have never done gardening work before. After the project’s inception, many women formed groups, found a place, and established the gardens. The main challenge is that only a few households have water in their homesteads.
 
For instance, in the sub-village of Lerupet, six women formed a group and decided that they would be farming together and since their decision, their garden has been well prepared.

B). Loswaki village

In the village of Loswaki, many people showed their interest in gardens, some of them either knew or had done the gardens before. It’s one of the villages in which many women have water to around their homesteads. In this village, women are not farming in groups but rather individually.

C). Engonongoi village
 
At Engonongoi village, many people showed interest, although many of them hadn’t practiced gardening before. During the visit, TACCEI learned that women in this village are very hard-working and optimistic about the program. Since its inception, many of them have already prepared their gardens.

D). Emboreet village

At Emboreet village, women have shown interest to start their small gardens. The case is similar to Terrat where only fewer households have water around their homesteads. Despite this challenge, many of them have shown their full commitment.
04: Beneficiary training
In early July, TACCEI organized essential training for Maasai women who have been selected as the beneficiaries of the MWECCAP project. The training brought together 155 people both men and women from four villages in the Simanjiro district with the overall objective of equipping them with the necessary knowledge and practical skills to effectively establish and manage their gardens, ensuring food security as well as income generation as a way to reduce poverty in the community. The training was facilitated by Mr. Venance Mollel from ECHO East Africa.
About ECHO
ECHO exists to reduce hunger and improve lives through agricultural training and resources. Working through regional impact centers around the world ECHO connects small-scale farmers, and those working to eliminate world hunger, with essential resources, and each other. These resources include a vast knowledge base of practical information, experienced technical support and an extensive seed bank focused on highly beneficial underutilized plants. To learn more about ECHO, please visit their website here.
The training focused more on the agroecology approach and the establishment of homestead gardens. Furthermore, the facilitator highlighted important procedures for beginners to establish homestead gardens. Overall, the training aimed to empower Maasai women from four beneficiary villages in the Simanjiro district with the necessary skill sets to effectively establish and manage their gardens for food security and income generation. Topics covered for the gardening training
A). Theory-based training
The training covered a wide range of topics, including among others;
-Gardening methods
– Garden Preparation
– Garden management
– Vegetable varieties
– Vegetable growing/planting
– Harvesting.
Also, participants learned more about local methods of pest control, compost manure, and its application, efficient water usage, and purification of soap water. Mulching was emphasized as an important practice for water conservation and soil moisture retention, with participants advised to use compost or grass for covering.
B). Practical-based training
After the theoretical training, participants were assigned a number of practical tasks such as garden preparation, applying manure, measuring garden size, spacing, mulching, watering, seeding, and planting seedlings. Local methods of insect control such as using pepper, sugar soap, ashes, and tobacco, were also practiced in the field.
05: Seeds and gardening equipment distribution
 
Soon after the training, TACCEI in consultation with the trainer and the project beneficiaries agreed upon the varieties of vegetables and important equipment to be purchased and given to farmers. Soon after the agreement, TACCEI procured the vegetable seeds and the equipment as well as distributed them to the project beneficiaries in four villages.
According to the agreement with project beneficiaries and the trainer, around seven different vegetable varieties were agreed upon. The decision was made based on their survival rate in the project area and the preference of the community (market). Furthermore, three gardening equipment were identified as the most important ones for gardening. Such equipment are;
  • Watering cans
  • Gardening racks
  • Spades
In the first distribution, a total of 50 women from four villages were given seeds and important gardening equipment.

WAY FORWARD

Frequent project monitoring

Frequent monitoring is underway. Once a week, TACCEI’s project officer and the team visit all the project beneficiaries. The first week’s visit aimed to ensure that all the beneficiaries had planted their seeds accordingly. Generally, weekly visits help to ensure that watering and general garden management are well done as instructed by the trainer.

Conclusion

The project emphasizes the positive impact of the homestead garden project on women in the community, ensuring food availability and income opportunities. It was seen as a means to alleviate the challenges posed by climate change to women in the Maasai community. However, financial constraints and limited water resources were identified as significant barriers to the widespread adoption of the garden project amongst interested women.

Fighting Climate Change through Tree Planting and Environmental Education in Rural Tanzania (FCCTPE)

Although Africa contributes the least to global greenhouse gas emissions, yet key sectors of the region have experienced widespread loss and damage due to human-caused climate change. In the Maasai community, climate change has reduced food crop yields and livestock production, a major cause for the deterioration in food nutritional quality. In rural Tanzania especially in the Maasai districts of Longido and Simanjiro, rivers which are the main source of water to the population, livestock, and wildlife are drying up leaving people and animals thirsty and hungry.

As trees grow they absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), a major greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. When communities plant trees they can help to reduce the impacts of climate change in their local area and around the world. 

Fighting Climate Change through Tree Planting and Environmental Education in Rural Tanzania (FCCTPEE) targets the youth and school-going children as well as the community that lives along water sources and other dry places in Longido and Simanjiro districts.

By focusing on the youth and children, our project seeks to connect students and the community to the benefits of trees and foster environmental stewardship. Through this project, over 10,000 trees both shade and fruit trees native to local area will be planted with two tree nurseries being established in Longido and Simanjiro districts. The two nurseries will provide tree seedlings to a total of 20 schools and other public areas.

Tree Nursery support at Longido Secondary School

In July, through FCCTPEE project, we were able to support the tree nursery at Longido with the maintenance of the nursery as well as the provision of water storage that will ensure water availability for the nursery throughout.

Tree planting with Global Exploration and students at Longido Secondary
 
At the end of July, we embarked on an exciting opportunity to work with students from Montessori (The Netherlands) and Longido Secondary School (Tanzania) on a tree planting program through which more than 100 trees were planted at Longido Secondary School. More trees will be planted in Simanjiro and Longido districts.
We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Wilde Ganzen and Global Exploration for funding this project. In the next few months, more tree planting will be done and nurseries will be established in our target schools. More updates will be shared accordingly.
THANK YOU – ASANTE SANA!

 

As always, we thank all our partners and sponsors for their generous and committed support.