Economic Empowerment
Agriculture forms the basis of the Tanzanian economy..Empower Tanzania, in tandem with local Tanzanian organizations, works to establish and grow sustainable economic development.  Learning new skills and building viable business models enables Tanzanians to enrich their communities.

Encouraging sustainable economic development in Tanzania requires different tactics in different areas.  Some locales, such as Hedaru, require improved infrastructure and basic resources to increase economic development.  In other areas, such as Shighatini, natural resources are more abundant, so learning new skills and establishing businesses are the focus of development activities. 

ETI board members have experiences in many locations throught Tanzania and apply their knowledge, expertise where it is most needed.
 
Water User Group Development Project
In a recent visit to Tanzania, ETI Project Manager Sheri Krumm asked the Same District Water Engineer what he felt the most pressing need was in the area to improve water supply.  Expecting to hear of yet another well or tank, she was suprised to find out that the establishment of Village Water User Groups was in fact #1 on the list!

From 2007 to 2010, fifty-two new water structures were build in the Same District.
In the same period, fifty old structures fell into disrepair and stopped working...because of a lack of maintenance.

The problem?  Lack of government structures within the villages to collect fees and manage maintenance and repair of the systems.
The solution?  The establishment of Village Water User Groups!

Step 1:  ETI is currently seeking funding to hire a consultant to visit each of 43 villages that need Water User Groups.  He will conduct focus groups, look at the situation in each village, and then write up a plan to hire Facilitators to go to each village and work with them to put this Government-designed and approved system in place.

Step 2:  ETI will review the plan, and upon approval, seek funding to implement the plan.

While not the sexiest project we could be working on, this project will have a profound and immediate impact on literally tens of thousands of lives all over the Same District, and when finished, can be repeated in many other Districts where they face the same issue.
 
Economic Development for AIDS widows

Widows are starting sewing businesses with skills and equipment provided by Pella Lutheran Church. Mwanga Parish of the ELCT (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania), Pare Diocese, and Peace Lutheran Church, Pella, Iowa, of the ELCA, SE Iowa Synod, have cooperated for two years on a program to train three AIDS widows on how to sew and to set them up in a sewing business together. A teacher was hired to train them in two courses, one on basic sewing with a machine and a second on sewing embroidery work. Three regular sewing machines were purchased and one embroidery machine. A building owned by the Mwanga Parish was completed to provide work space and retail sales space for the sewing business.

More about economic development in Mwanga...

 
Mwanga Well Project

A well at Mforo provides water for three villages near Mwanga.Mwanga Parish of the ELCT (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania), Pare Diocese, and Peace Lutheran Church, Pella, Iowa, of the ELCA, SE Iowa Synod, cooperated in drilling a deep well about seven kilometers northwest of Mwanga, Tanzania. The well is centrally located about 2 1/2 kilometers from three villages that have no water source. In the past, villagers drank contaminated water from a hole dug in the bed of a dry stream and took their cattle ten kilometers to drink. The animals were watered only every other day. The Mwanga Parish secured the land on which the well was drilled, and local residents cleared the land. The well was drilled to 86 meters and has a solar pump and solar panels since there is no electricity in the area. A house for a guard and a storage tank were built, as well as a watering trough for cattle.

More about the well at Mforo...
 
Hedaru Water Project

Clement E. Ngoka, Chairman of the Hedaru Village Water CommitteeOne of our partners, St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church of Ames, Iowa, is currently in phase 3 of a 5-phase water rehabilitation project in Hedaru, Tanzania.  Based on a watershed survey done by the local water engineer, and coordinated by the Hedaru Village Water Committee, headed by Village Chairman Clement Ngoka, this water project is designed to rehabilitate a nearly 40-year-old water system that is in poor repair and does not adequately serve a population that has outgrown it.

More about the Hedearu water rehabilitation project...

 
 
More Articles...
<< Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>

Page 1 of 2