How We Work – Mityana Projects Trust
We work closely with two or three key people in Mityana as well as community leaders, the clergy, vocational and primary school principals/head-teachers, school management committees. We need to ensure that we understand fully the challenges facing the institutions and people we work with and that our projects meet the very real needs of those we are trying to help.
Most definitely we are not in there for the quick fix, the patronising gesture or the ‘feel good’ factor. Work in each area we focus on has to be collaborative and in partnership with people in the community. It is with projects that are already established or part of a reputable organisation. This ensures we are not starting something ‘European, western or non-African’. Then it will be possible to sustain it over a number of years.
Two examples:
1Link schools: we want these, of course, to be centres of academic excellence but more than that to be schools of outstanding agricultural practice. It is our belief that children in our rural schools in Mityana need to learn good animal husbandry and farming principles. With 48% unemployment and with 42% population under 18, our children are going to HAVE TO KNOW how to grow food well. (See our Piglet Projects)
2Microfinance for Women: Where possible we seek out a ‘lead’ woman in the community to find three, four or five other women, to bring a possible project plan to the table, including outlay, repayment timings and contingency plans. This scheme was piloted first in 2012 at Bulera
Key to our accountability are:
- Our financial practice is always to pilot a project in a place and with people we know. So initially our financial commitment is small and if it’s successful, we offer it on a wider scale.
- That our financial assistance in schools begins with the ‘hard core’ stuff: concrete floors, window shutters, doors to protect the school from the weather and vandals. Most of all we want to improve the learning environment.