Mwamadilanha

"[A] man is developing himself when he grows, or earns, enough to provide decent conditions for himself and his family; he is not being developed if someone gives him these things."

-Julius Nyerere, First President and Founding Father of Tanzania

There are some days that navigating life out of our culture and context is tricky at best. Days where we feel like every movement forward brings us the proverbial two steps back. Days that make us question what exactly we thought we could contribute to a country so different from our own. But then there are the days when the kids in school just ‘get it’, the days when you bump into a neighbour around town and their welcome suddenly makes it feel more like home, the days when you realise that one man’s input might not change the world, but may ‘change the world for one man’. Visiting Mwamadilanha was one of those days.

Tearfund’s Church and Community Mobilisation Process (CCMP) has been implemented in Tanzania in partnership with AICT since 2003. CCMP is an initiative that aims to equip local churches to work with and for their communities in addressing their needs using their own resources. CCMP actively asks communities what assets and resources they have rather than imposing an outsider’s view of their perceived needs. AICT Shinyanga are involved in the implementation of CCMP throughout the region and Paul is now working alongside their local coordinator to assist in community based and, more importantly, community led projects.

CCMP is implemented in four stages:

• Local Church Envisioning: Helping church leaders and the local church understand that God calls them to serve their communities in a holistic manner and building confidence that change is possible
• Local Community Envisioning: Bringing the whole community together to discuss their situation, their needs and resources, and to decide what they as a community can do
• Planning for Action: Taking the vision and turning it into a plan to help the community form structures that will allow them to take action
• Taking Action: Putting the plan into practice as well as encouraging the community to reflect and learn from how things are going and to adjust their plans where necessary

Mwamadilanha is a group of villages located north west of Shinyanga and has a population of 5,229. Having been ‘mobilised’ by CCMP, the community is implementing its own 10 year plan for sustainable social, economic, physical and spiritual development drawing on their own resources.

Last week we visited Mwamadilanha with Julius, AICT Shinyanga’s CCMP coordinator and Paul’s new office mate. As we sat with a group of community leaders under the ‘development tree’ - the place where meetings are held, strategies formulated and projects commenced - we heard how CCMP has inspired the community to plan and advance its own development.

During a tour of the village, we were shown two primary schools, a secondary school, iron sheet roofs, fields of experimental crops, a water storage tank, crop bank and the foundations of a new church and health centre. In the context of a rural Tanzanian village, with currently no mains water supply or access to electricity, this is a pretty incredible array of facilities. However, it becomes quite extraordinary when we realised that, with the exception of provision to construct dams, external funding has only been used to provide training. It is this education and imparting of knowledge, hosted by AICT using Tearfund money, that has inspired and mobilised the community to work together on a plan for their own development.

As our hosts took us on a tour of their village, we were struck by the community leaders’ immense pride in what they had achieved. Everything they showed us had been done by the community for the community and they were now reaping the benefits. Children are able to attend school, sitting proudly at their unique desk, each slightly different having been made by a member of the community. Farmers work together to increase crop yields and store food to be used during poor harvests. Drought resistant crops such as sorghum, cassava and sweet potato are being grown. Women have been given a voice in the running of their community. Murders of elderly women due to fears of witchcraft have ceased. Solar panels provide electricity and public water supply is literally in the pipeline.

While as with all great plans there have been stumbles along the way, this was an example of development that works. It was encouraging to see that people’s lives can and are being changed through simple and minimal interventions. Mwamadilanha is a community that doesn’t need handouts and has decided for itself how life will be. They don’t need fancy machinery or expensive buildings supplied by foreign development investment committees. They have been given the skills and encouragement to do what they know is best.

Swahilli word of the day: Umoja (togetherness - what CCMP is otherwise known as in Swahili, read more here)