Promoting sustainable growth at the grassroots level

Getting the community involved in finding local solutions to is not a new concept, but lately it appears to be gaining popularity. The truth of the matter is local solutions developed at the grass roots level have proven to result in long term sustainable growth. MicroGrant initiatives have helped with promoting community development where part of the responsibility is put on the community to find solutions for problems. 


The international development community recognizes the importance of, “small scale assistance.” An example of this is the Millennium Village Projects (MVP), which was created to help accomplish the Millennium Development Goals. One of MVP’s popular and successful projects is the Mama Kit. The kit is used as an incentive to encourage pregnant women to deliver their baby at a local medical facility, rather than delivering at home. Delivering at the local medical facility is much safer for both the mother and child. The Mama Kit contains cotton cloth, laundry soap, gauze, and other items, many of which are not made available in most medical facilities. 


In 2009, two health workers in Ilolangulu, Tanzania had the idea to do something similar. They wanted to encourage women to give birth at the clinic by offering free diapers and soap. With nominal assistance, these two women wrote the first proposal of their lives, refined it, and received four months worth of funding. Deliveries at their clinic increased almost immediately. Ilolangulu's clinic went from 10 deliveries in September to 35 in December. Just $615 delivered soap and diapers to about 200 pregnant women and gathered evidence to evaluate their strategy. This was the beginning of Spark MicroGrants.

Despite the trend toward local involvement in development, there's still work to be done before local solutions to local problems is seen as the norm. On a recent trip to a developing country, I was surprised by the number of NGOs and development non-profits were springing up. It seems like everyone I spoke with was involved in starting a new NGO. Yet when I spoke to some individuals about the idea of MicroGrants and small scale, locally-led development, many did not seem to fully understand the concept. However, many were excited about the idea of giving the community a voice in local solutions. 


One gentleman mentioned that the issue facing a lot of well-meaning NGOs is there is no follow up plan or matrix to measure progress so the problem keeps re-occurring. Other issues that are often discussed: 

• lack of funding,
• ensuring that aid dollars are used for the intended purposes,
• solutions are often short-term which means that the problem eventually returns, 
• political factors get in the way. 

Given these issues facing development efforts, it is easy to see how solutions that are planned by the people with the best understanding of local contexts, and that are able to get a big impact out of a small amount of money, can be so powerful. In general people I spoke with were excited about idea of getting the community involved in creating local solutions. It all boils down to finding measurable, sustainable, long term solutions. Local people living with a particular problem have the best understanding of that problem, and are in a unique position to develop a solution. Creating a framework for communities do develop solutions to their own problems is a step in the right direction.


-Hary Rakotondrazaka is a Spark MicroGrants volunteer. She has also worked with humanitarian organizations in Madagascar addressing HIV/AIDS and violence. 

Sources:
UN Millennium Project. online at http://unmillenniumproject.org/
Lief, Jacob. "Why Small-Scale Assistance Works." Dec. 2011. online at http://www.devex.com/en/articles/why-small-scale-assistance-works

NUTRITION TRAINING FOR CYABINGO COMMUNITY.

On October 2, 2011 at MUKINGO in CYABINGO sector, 40 women from DUHUGUKE BAGORE association were trained by two other women from GHI (Gardens for Health International).

This training was about good nutrition because the women were suffering from malnutrition .the training started at 2:00 pm and ended at 4:30 pm ,in that training the women were trained about complete meal which can be composed by four colors which are:white,pink or red,brown and green color. and they were encouraged to drink enough and clean water like two liters per day .The Gardens for Health International were the one to do a training because they have skills in doing such training in different regions of Rwanda and SPARK looked for the trainers from UMURIMA W’UBUZIMA (Gardens for Health)to help the community as spark’s mission is to help help people to search to search for solutions to their problems.

I am very happy; I see this training as a good thing that SPARK has helped us with. Some people had food but they didn’t know how how to prepare it, but from now we are going to change things and teach other women who are involved in this association,”said INGABIRE Theopista ,32 one of the women who participated in the training of good nutrition.

Not only did the members of the community attend the training but also the secretary Executive of CYABINGO sector, RWAGASANA was there to thank SPARK for the help they give to different communities in RWANDA and other countries.” I am very glad to see these grand mummies healing such good message I think they will be impact of the changing of other people of CYABINGO” said RWAGASANA.Also he asked the women to practice what they were taught and asked the SPARK representative to collaborate with the leaders of CYABINGO sector.

SPARK intends to receive a good feedback from this association in good nutrition and the result from this training will be seen in different living of the women’s association.

“I am very happy of this training because this will be things which will help us in all of our daily life and I thank SPARK too much for this good help and for other supports to poor and vulnerable people” said PHILOMENE the leader of DUHUGUKE BAGORE (CYABINGO association).

Written by Gloriose ISUGI DADA.

THE MICROGRANT IS UNIFYING PEOPLE IN GISAGARA COMMUNITY.

The Tuzamurane community, based in the Gisagara District in the Southern Province is composed of 87 men and women who are willing to work as community to develop their families. In their village called Ndatemwa they did not have an activity which brought people together for Umuganda, or community work, but after Spark Microgrants started working with them, they chose to grow cassava as their development project, because of a good price and favorable climate for growing this crop. This is why they called the association ‘Tuzamurane’ which means “together let’s get up”.

“It is not only helpful for the members of this community to work together as a group but also it helps us as leaders to mobilize people to form associations,” says John, the leader of the village. “This is going to be a good example in our village to wake up people and join their efforts and we know that together everything can be done”.

Members of the community are proud of having the cassava project because there are other advantages in working together in this project. As member , 56-year-old Nakabonye, says, Nakabonye, “Since I was born and you see I am old but it is my first time to be involved in a group of people with one aim of helping each other,” she says. “I used to work alone and I think that is why I get older with poverty“ .

The unity of people in this community is due to the way they got to know each other. Says Ndayizeye, “I thank Spark Microgrants very much for giving us this grant because, for me personally, as we gathered in meetings I got to know people in our village with good ideas whom I can ask advice .we are not even ashamed of approaching our fellow members to ask them for something we lack in our families because we became one family”.

In this community, people consider discussion leading to solutions as a key of success of cassava project, from them they can’t succeed without having the same understanding about what they are doing, the leader of the community Murwanashyaka André said “At the beginning it was difficult even to take one decision in general meeting because everyone wanted his ideas to be considered but slowly by slowly we became a group of people working together and it is a good thing I can thank my members”.

Tuzamurane association wants to be a role model of cassava farming in the whole Gisagara district - not only in growing cassava but also as an example of how much can be achieved when communities work together.

( Written by Jean Claude MUHIRE)

SANITATION IS THE FUNDAMENTAL WAY OF LIVING HEALTHIER

It is sunny at around 11 am in a stony area near Volcanoes National Park in Northern Rwanda called Nyarutosho. A man with a hoe, a spade and a pick is digging a hole. A boy is collecting stones. He is Mr. Jonas, and he and his son have begun the long, physical process of building a latrine.

“I miss having a good latrine so that we could have good hygiene and live healthier”, says Mr. Jonas a resident of Nyarutosho who hopes that none of his children will be sick again. “We are going to care for our valuable life”.

Nyarutosho village is located in the Burera district, of the Northern Province of Rwanda, Nyarotosho is a stony area, black stones from lava, a fact which lent the town its name: The word “Nyarutosho” means “with a big stone.”

“Sanitation is life.” this is the belief of Nyarutosho Village residents. That is why Mr. Jonas and other 59 residents of Nyarutosho are joined together to handle the problem of bad hygiene. The community identified many problems like food insecurity, lack of electricity and clean water, bad housing and not having fertile land. However, they decided together that bad hygiene and sanitation was the most important problem to address with funding support from Spark MicroGrants.

Because of the rocky landscape, it is difficult to build a good and permanent latrine in Nyarutosho. The community has traditionally used eucalyptus trees and sometimes banana trees to build latrines. Walls were made of banana leaves, but in general they lacked a roof. “It was shameful for me to show these to my visitors if it was raining,” says Charlotte Munezero, a member of the community. “Sometimes I told people who needed to use a latrine to continue up to the top of mountain.”

Spark MicroGrants, a non-profit organization that helps communities to put their ideas in action, visited Nyarutosho in May2011. People of this community described their area, and emphasized that there is a lack of hygiene because there is a lack of good latrines in the community. “We can’t have good hygiene without good latrines. Flies can enter the current open air latrines, pick up germs, carry the germs with them that then land on our food and house materials include plates, cups, buckets, spoons.” Sibomana Fidel, the community leader said.

Spark MicroGrants agreed to provide to the community a grant to support in building good and modern sanitation facility. The support will help to get materials to use, which includes iron sheets, cement, woods, paints, soil and compensation for builders.

Community members believe that building latrines will greatly improve their hygiene and overall health. The hope is that the improvements willhelp prevent illness, which will improve the overall quality of life in the community. Members of the Nyarutosho community believe that this support to help build good latrines has inspired community members. Now, they want to save money used to build low latrines several times.

Rural areas in Rwanda are still suffering from the lack of sanitation problem. Many people are sick because they lack good hygiene. In some areas people don’t know that they are unhealthy because lack of hygiene. The result is often sicknesses such as Jiggers, intestinal diseases, worm eggs, pounds, diarrhea and many others.

But here in Nyarutosho, the people seem to be proud to receive support , and they are now motivated to make healthier lives for themselves. They realize that having a good latrine will allow them to achieve basic sanitation. No flies will bring germs into their houses. They want to be a good example of clean and healthier people in Rwanda. “Let us care for sanitation because nice spirit lives in a nice body”, Emmanuel, Nyarutosho village leader said.

NYABAGENI COMMUNITY HAD THE SECOND HARVEST OF POTATOES.

The Nyabageni Community is located in Northern region of Rwanda. It is a community facing many challenges of poverty. In order to handle the food insecurity, the one of the serious challenges it is facing, it started a potato project with Spark MicroGrants at the beginning of 2011. The first harvest was in July this year. This project joined together people with ability of working together. Community members want to strengthen this project by continuing to work as the community. “Let’s support our community because it helps us to have fun, to work together and have income.” Jean Damascene Hakizimana, community member requested the community.

On October 31, 2011, Nyabageni community harvested Irish Potatoes for the second time. Community members are celebrating the production by sharing potatoes with their families.

The second harvest produced more potatoes than the first harvest in July. The production in total is 12,250 kilos. According to the community leader Fidel, the community sold 5625 kilos and shared 4125 kilos. Every community member received 55 kilos to share with their families. After selling and sharing, 2500 kilos remained. Those small potatoes will be used for seeds.

Not only did the Nyabageni community share potatoes, but also they decided to give to every community member 1000 Rwandan francs. Seburanyiga Leonidas, the community supervisor, said that after selling potatoes the community came up with the idea to help community members providing a small amount of money. The amount is going to help people get household needs including medical insurance, soap, salt and many other things.

According to the community members, the production of the second harvest has been helpful. A woman with a smile and a clean face Saverina Nyarakabanza said that they got food and sold potatoes to get money and then they will continue to grow.

Members of the community ensure that their project is producing well. For the next season they are not going to pay for seeds again but they are going to plant the saved seeds from the first harvest. They ensure that they will also produce next season because they have saved enough seeds.

Spark is helping people in Gisagara to improve their lives

By Muhire Jean Claude 

Spark Microgrants is currently working with many communities in Rwanda.  As a facilitator, I am working with the Gisagara community which in a rural area located in the southern province, Gisagara District.

In the community, many of the community members grow crops like maize, beans and cassava and also make clay pots.  Talking to people that live in this community, the pots that they make are very cheap in comparison to the time and effort they spend making them. 

Some communities in Rwanda are facing challenges such as food insecurity, access to clean water, and problems caused by lack of hygiene.  Spark Microgrants is helping this community to create a sustainable solution to one of the biggest challenges they identified, which is the problem of food insecurity.

The process of selecting this project was done by the community itself when they were divided into three groups to discuss sustainable solutions for the food insecurity.  Each group had a different solution like growing pineapple, breeding animals such as pigs and goats, growing cassava. After discussing together, each group explained to the other members of the community why they prefer their project.

For those that chose to breed animals, the reason for them was the benefit manure, but they were convinced that these animals can’t be as productive as they'd hope.  Those that chose to grow pineapple were convinced by the others that pineapple is good, but according to the problem of food insecurity, they shouldn’t plant pineapple because they will have to wait for a long period to solve the problem of food.

Finally, the cassava group successfully convinced everyone in the community that cassava is good for the climate of the Gisagara region.  In terms of making money, they assured Spark that they have a market where cassava is expensive so that they will sell it at a good price.

Moreover, after this discussion, they realized that cassava is a good crop for the community because it is productive and can be sold at a good price at 180 Rwandan francs per kilogram.  They also have an idea of how they can store the harvest by wetting the cassava in water and then drying it in order to transform it in flour to make cassava posh. After agreeing on this project of planting cassava, the next step was to think about how they can implement the project.  They drafted a proposal that included a budget, materials they will need for the project and how they will manage the harvest, which is very important as it ensures the sustainability of this project and how the project will solve the problem of food insecurity.

This community was further united as they discussed together as members of the community and decided that what they will rotate cassava with pineapple and rent another piece of land to continue with cassava.  People in Gisagara hope that this project will not only help them to overcome the problem of food insecurity, but also they will be able to afford medical insurance.  The community of Gisagara is composed of 87 members both men and women who are willing to work as community to develop their families and they are starting the project on 3^rd October 2011.  

Local Voices. Local Solutions.

Storytelling: One of the oldest art forms and a powerful tool for creating change. So powerful in fact that there are entire organizations dedicated to helping other non-profits and NGOs tell their story. As someone who has a love affair with the quantitative and a slight fear of the qualitative, I am in full support of the revival of this storytelling movement. That said, I also challenge the storytellers to take it one step further. What about supporting the people that are supported by the changemakers to tell their stories? One quote I came across recently said, “As change-makers we should not try to design a better world. We should make better feedback loops” (Owen Barder). Yes, please! 

For the past few months Spark Voice has (slowly) evolved from an idea to a full-fledged program that, with the help of incredible Voice Fellows, aims to “make better feedback loops”. How, you ask? Through this formula:

 Citizen Media + Participatory Video = Spark Voice 

Just as Spark MicroGrants puts development solutions into the hands of local communities, through Citizen Media (CM) and Participatory Video (PV) Spark Voice supports direct reporting or storytelling efforts from the same local communities, not professionals or ‘experts’, to a local and international audience. Through these methods, Voice aims:

• To amplify the empowerment effect of the local solutions movement 
• To facilitate feedback and dialog: community-to-community, community-   to-national community and community-to-global community 
• To communicate the effectiveness of local solutions 
• To increase transparency, accountability and follow-thru of locally-led development projects 
• To build knowledge and portfolios of the local communities, fellows and volunteers 
• To utilize practical, accessible yet forward thinking tools to capture the development stories

The primary content creators are the local microgrant communities and local journalism and media students (AKA Voice Fellows). Voice will support the communities to create their own videos to tell whatever story they choose, in any way they choose. The Voice Fellows compliment the videos with written articles and interviews about the communities and the broader concept of locally-led development solutions. On the receiving end of these stories are the communities themselves, other rural communities, the larger local audience, students, international development
workers, decision makers, donors, and of course Spark supporters.

So far we have introduced the process to the Voice Fellows as well to Tubeho (an HIV Association currently implementing their honey project), Gisagara (in the implementation stage of their cassava project) and one of the new communities, Nyarutosho (currently working on the proposal of their latrine building project). The reaction is encouraging and I think I speak for the entire Spark team when saying that we are excited for this new venture and to connect you even closer with the incredible locally-led projects that are happening. Not through our voice, but through local voices. The ones that matter the most.

 Stay tuned...