Tanzania & Kenya

Africa Inland Church & Tearfund in Tanzania | GULL Graduation Event in Kenya

 
 

Church & Community Mobilization in Tanzania
The Africa Inland Church Tanzania (AICT) and Tearfund UK have been working together since 2001. Much has been accomplished since then, particularly in the context of Tearfund’s Church and Community Mobilization Process (CCMP).

Meeting with Mwamadilanha  Development CommitteeCCMP in Tanzania began in 2003 and it has greatly helped churches and the wider communities to envision and then implement a biblical mandate for holistic development.

Shinyanga region, Tanzania is characterized by extreme poverty and yet it has both natural resources and resourceful people. In response to this challenge, CCMP empowers communities through the church and encourages participants to fully utilize the region’s natural resources. In this way it is possible to build the capacity of community members by engaging them in integral mission to improve the quality of life for all.

(Above) Meeting with Mwamadilanha Development Committee, Diocese of Shinyanga, Tanzania

 

 

Implementing the Church & Community Mobilization Process (CCMP)
CCMP is implemented in four stages:

1: Local church envisioning:
Helping church leaders and the local church understand that God, through the Bible, calls them to serve their communities. This stage is about building the confidence of the local church by helping them identify and utilize their own resources, so that they come to believe that change is possible.

2: Local community envisioning:
Working with the local church to bring the whole community together to discuss their situation, their needs and resources, to gather and analyze information, and to decide what they as a community can do.

 Mwamadilanha community  members 3: Planning for action and organizing ourselves:
Taking the dream and turning it into a plan and helping the community form structures that will help them take action.

4: Taking action:
Helping the church and community to reflect and learn from how things are going and plan on-going action.

 

 

Mwamadilanha and CCMP: A story of transformation

Mwamadilanha is located 27 km North West of Shinyanga. It has six sub villages and a population of 5,229 (1,901 men, 2,318 women and 1,010 children). The community is implementing its own ten year plan for sustainable development (socially, economically, physically and spiritually) drawing on both natural and external resources.

(Right) The map on the wall charts progress. Prior to CCMP, there were few shared buildings, now the community has built its own school and other developments are underway.

 
 

 

(Right) Community members show us their poultry farm.

Mwamadilanha Development Committee’s slogan is: Mwamadilanha – Maendeleo (Development) Maendeleo (Development) for Mwamadilanha Hakuna Kulala (No sleeping!)

 

 

 

Mwamadilanha and CCMP: Impact and outcomes

A Community Development Committee facilitates, monitors and evaluates the development programme. Projects include:

(Right) The community makes its own bricks and these will be used to build a store house for crops for community use. Crops that are surplus to requirement will be sold at local markets.

  1. The construction of latrines and the community’s own primary schools;
  2. The repair and further development of the community’s water conservation resources (wells and dams) so as to ensure an adequate supply of safe and clean water;
  3. The establishing of income generating project teams;
  4. A road construction project;
  5. Food, water and community security projects;
  6. A transport and communications project (the community now has two motorcycles, one motor vehicle and a mobile telephone);
  7. An agricultural project team and new resources such as two power tillers and supplies of composite manure.

 

 

CCMP & the Diocese of Shinyanga: Regional impact
CCMP in the Diocese of Shinyanga has had a significant impact:

  • 74 churches and communities have been mobilized since 2003.
  • Community projects include: church construction; water conservation (e.g. water extraction and retention) and social enterprise such as poultry-keeping.
  • A number of communities have identified the need for and built their own schools and health care dispensaries.
  • In some cases, communities have initiated and built their own roads, up to 15 kilometres in length and this enables the community to extend the area of land under cultivation and to transport crops to local markets where they can secure better prices.
  • CCMP has empowered women and children to assume greater responsibility in community affairs, especially in household decision-making.
  • CCMP has helped to raise the self-esteem, confidence and status of all community members. Furthermore, the needs of the disabled and other disadvantaged people such as orphans, widows/widowers, HIV/AIDS victims and the elderly are now recognized and met.

(Above) Mwamadilanha recently acquired its own generator and public address system – here in use to greet us with singing and dancing.

 

 

GULL and CCMP: Recognizing learning outcomes
GULL’s role is to recognize and certify the outcomes of CCMP and to help to sustain the process by encouraging participants to cascade their learning to new participants. This is both a life-changing and lifelong journey that connects with GULL’s professional Bachelor, Master and Doctor levels – enabling everyone from church leaders to any community member to make a difference by participating in active, lifelong, holistic learning in the community.

 

 

(Above left) Sun 26 Sep, Africa Inland Church Shinyanga, the congregation gathers to greet one another.

(Above right) Sun eve, Mwanza, CCMP facilitators from across Tanzania meet for the first time at a graduation briefing session.

 

 

CCMP-GULL Graduation: 27 September 2010
Africa Inland Church Tanzania (AICT), Makongoro, Mwanza, Tanzania
The first GULL graduation event in Tanzania took place on 27 Sep 10 in Mwanza. The event was attended by 136 CCMP facilitators from five regions of Tanzania: Geita; Kagera; MUD; Mwanza and Shinyanga who had completed one or more of the CCMP stages. As participants had travelled for many hours to attend, it was a momentous occasion.

 

 

(Above left) Mon 27 Sep, CCMP-GULL graduation day – we stop the traffic (we are an unusual sight!) as we sing in unison and march down the road to the church venue.

(Above right) Graduands fill the church and we join with the choir in worship and song.

 

The graduation event took place in a beautifully decorated church, with flowers, drapes, banners and decorative lighting. Guests included Canon Josia Mwebesa; Aman Chomola (choir); Bishop Peter Kitula who spoke on the Parable of the Talents – a most appropriate text for CCMP outcomes and Bishop Daniel Nungwana.

 

 

(Above left) Reverend Emmanuel Isaya leads the procession, followed by Bishop Peter Kitula.

(Above right) The Aman Chomola choir lead the community singing.

 

The Africa Inland Church Tanzania thank: Tearfund UK for a fruitful partnership over many years; Tearfund’s former Tanzania Country Representative, Peter Gitau (now Kenyan Ambassador to Angola and Namibia); Catherine Mbithi, Tearfund’s Country Administrator and Francis Njoroge, the founding facilitator for CCMP in Tanzania.

(Above left) Reverend Emmanuel Isaya, CCMP co- ordinator for Tanzania explains how GULL is able to recognize and certify the sustained efforts of the CCMP team of facilitators.

(Right) Mapambano Jakobo, CCMP co-ordinator for Shinyanga and General Secretary, AICT, Diocese of Shinyanga thanks Revd Isaya for his pioneering work.

 

The sense of excitement at this inaugural event was heightened by the presence of a television crew, who are making a documentary about the impact of CCMP in Shinyanga and especially Mwamadilanha. The TV crew also interviewed Richard Teare (GULL President) and Revd Isaya, CCMP co-ordinator for Tanzania.

 

 

(Above left) Peter Ngwili, CCMP co-ordinator, MUD region translates for Richard Teare – who is far from fluent in Swahili!

(Above right) Happy graduands relax over lunch in the sunshine after the event.

 

 

 

Kenya’s Second GULL Graduation: 2 October 2010
Ewauso Ngiro village, Narok County, Maasi region, Kenya

More than 200 GULL participants received their level 2 or 3 awards (professional Bachelor, Master and Doctor pathways) at the second GULL graduation held on 2 Oct, 2010 in Narok County. Expansion across Kenya and elsewhere in East Africa has been made possible by the successful GULL pilot work hosted by the Free Pentecostal Fellowship in Kenya, Compassion International Kenya, Tearfund and World Vision International Kenya. The Kenya video case study in the Media section at the GULL website – www.gullonline.org profiles the starting point and the inaugural graduation event held in January, 2010.

(Above) Sat 2 Oct, GULL participants in traditional Maasai dress lead the procession.

Right, front) Dr Sarone Ole Sena has led and co-ordinated the entire piloting phase in Kenya. He is a remarkable visionary and outstanding facilitator.

 

 

CCMP-GULL: Developing an impact tracking system
Professional Doctor pathway project: Jonas Ngelango and Francis Njoroge
Jonas and Francis are members of the Kenya-based Doctor of Professional Studies leadership group. They are developing a return on investment impact tracking system for Tearfund’s Church and Community Mobilization Process (CCMP). They are designing the overall system architecture for the tracking system and their support team of six professional Master pathway country facilitators are working together to design a single generic procedure for implementing the tracking system.

Rationale for the project:
CCMP is well established and highly regarded throughout Africa because it works. Although there is much anecdotal evidence, there is however, little quantitative data to prove that a return on investment in the cost of CCMP is secured – each and every time the process is implemented.

(Right) Jonas Ngelango, Tearfund Country Representative, Sudan

Approach:
By mapping the outcomes of CCMP with GULL’s professional Bachelor pathway it has been possible to align and integrate GULL certification. The outcomes mapping provides a framework so that prior to every level of certification, CCMP-GULL participants are able to gather and summarize the evidence of their own learning (personal and professional) and the specific contribution they have made to community-based development projects. The evidence gathering format draws on generic GULL forms and existing CCMP procedures and soon for the first time, the impact tracking project team will be able to aggregate this evidence at village, community, regional and national levels. This will provide Tearfund Country Representatives throughout Africa with a systemized way of assembling and presenting the evidence.

Outcome:
The impact tracking project will help to transform the evidence of return on investment (ROI) from CCMP. It will enable Tearfund’s Country Representatives to provide a complete picture of ROI together with underlying supporting data. This is an excellent example of the expected outcomes of GULL professional Doctor and Master level 5 degree work.

(Right) Francis Njoroge, Consultant and Tearfund lead facilitator, CCMP.

 

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