MAVUNO Improvement for Community Relief and Services is a Non-Governmental Organization that was established by rural Community People in 1993 for the purpose of improving their livelihood through using modern techniques of farming and care for the environment.
Since 1993, MAVUNO has managed to keep its close working relations with its regular and other prospective donors. MAVUNO has implemented several community development programs through a joint cooperation with donors like DKA, WELTHAUS, MIVA, BSI and HORIZONT3000 and private people of Austria; MAG, EWB, KINDERMISSIONWERK, HEIDEHOF, BAYWA, August Faller AG, and several individual donors from Germany, EWB and donors from Sweden, MIVA from Switzerland, PRF from UK, Amizade and All people be Happy from USA, Embassies of USA, Germany, France in Dar Es Salaam and VI Agroforestry in Tanzania.
Over 29 years of history, MAVUNO has a proven record of accomplishments of working with community members and other stakeholders in Kagera Region. MAVUNO continued to build capacities of community representative in various categories as Volunteers, Para-professionals and caretakers who form a great and handy support to scale up and give breadth to knowledge and interventions put in place by the organizations. Children in need, youth both male and female as well as vulnerable households with both men and women have benefitted much from the works of these community representatives.
We promote human rights and we ensure that the needy children and other poor community members are supported to lead into a decent life as a result of empowerment programs designed to make communities resilient and self-sustained. Our trainings go beyond training farmers and thus it also reach to professionals such as teachers, religious leaders, health workers, constructors, carpenters and government employees. School children have also been empowered in environmental and nutrition related practical learning with formation of clubs; subsequently these young ones replicate the practical knowledge in their homes and eventually many people are practicing production of nutritious vegetables, crops and fruit-trees.
MAVUNO is expected to implement identified projects and programs that contribute towards its mission statements and critical issues through advocacy, capacity building, awareness raising and information sharing; for increased gender participation, control, ownership and benefits from sustainable services. This will be made possible through seeking for resources from communities themselves, Government and external donors.
There are some elements of good governance that can be taken advantage of including the gesture of separation of powers between the executive, judiciary and legislature, and the presence of a multi-party system with all its shortfalls. There are Government laws and policies that safeguard the interests of the NGOs in establishing and managing community services. There are some elements of rule of law that could be taken advantage of in running the business and sustainability of the Organization and its members. Threats that tend to restrain forward movement include Government bureaucracy, unclear Government structure and operation of its institutions and above all corruption. With regard to policies, it takes a long time for policies to be implemented and some are not enforceable because they are not backed-up by the laws, and the formulation of some of them does not extensively involve relevant stakeholders.
There are clearly defined social structures that provide good entry points for community engagements. Other opportunities are the use of the common language Kiswahili and similarities in people’s sub-cultures in the areas served by MAVUNO, apart from the existence of some positive cultural traditional practices that promote positive development practices, too. Threats in this regard include male domination particularly in the decision making positions as well as access and ownership to the family properties. MAVUNO is keenly addressing and mitigating this threat through the involvement of women in each project and promoting girls’ education towards a more balanced and empowered community in the future. Women are given leadership roles in groups and approaches to our interventions are tailors to ensure that participation in income generating activities involves both men and women. In the course of implementation of our programs women voices have increasingly been heard and captured and thus each program features a great representation of their needs. Resource mobilization will also focus into areas that will further income diversification by women through individual and group entrepreneurship activities.
Technology has shortened distance, time and made the work of organizations easier. However, technology is changing very fast and new challenges relating to technology are expected. Computers and internet are more readily available and in extensive use in the country. Accessing these facilities could mean greater efficiency and effectiveness. There is increased use of mobile phones and internet connection in the country, which MAVUNO could fully exploit to communicate to the members and other partners. The rural community in North western part of Tanzania lags behind in technology. These communities may, therefore, not be able to realize the full benefits of technology. Limited access to energy (electricity/solar) deepens the technology gap in the rural areas. MAVUNO has played a great part in putting light and some technology equipment in schools and hospitals which has improved students, teachers and communities’ enjoyment of these basic services. However, much is still needed in terms of investment from both government and private investors to bring the community into optimal benefits on technology. In the meantime, MAVUNO will continue reaching the community and delivering trainings through the popularly accessible radio media. This has proved to be a very useful tool to reach a wide mass of people.
Tanzania as all other countries of the world has been massively affected by the global emergencies including the COVID-19 pandemic and the wars in the Ukraine and Russia. Access to basic resources and needs has been very limited and prices continued to be on a hike. Rural communities whose purchasing power has always been low are even worsened. There is need for interventions both from policy level, national/governmental actions are needed as well as more action from Non-state actors.There are a number of opportunities that could be taken advantage of including growing gross domestic products, based on the availability and development of natural resources. However, macro-economic development does not seem to have a positive impact on micro economic development; the gap between the rich and poor is widening. The policies on management of resources are poorly enforcing: the inflation has been on the rise for some time and the national debt has been growing. The problem of lack of transparency and accountability continues to be a hurdle to development.
Kagera region has witnessed multiple ecological changes in the previous half a decade when implementing the 5 years’ strategic plan. Staggered rainfalls and general unpredictable climate, natural disasters and catastrophes like earth-quakes, pests and insects have challenged rural communities’ financially because of their minimal resilience and adaptation abilities. Insufficient rains and heavy rain flashes have affected farmers as well. MAVUNO continues to recognize and support project beneficiaries in Karagwe and Kyerwa Districts as actors in climate change adaptation and mitigation, disaster risk reduction and resilience strategies (such as protection of water sources, food, fuel/energy and livelihoods). Also promote the green economy including environmentally sustainable agriculture, to achieve sustainable development and help mitigate climate change for current and future generations. Additionally, medicinal and herbal trees will be promoted to expand and maintain indigenous knowledge among the young generation for knowledge management, restoration and upscale.
Since its inception and her intervention, MAVUNO has worked with different stakeholders of various roles. These include previous, current and prospective stakeholders. All these stakeholders were analyzed based on their roles, expectations and challenges that are facing MAVUNO in cooperating with them. Stakeholder’s analysis was done through making a list of all past and current stakeholders and then categorized into three groups located into a circle with three layers as indicated in this figure below. Current stakeholders who are still supporting or working with MAVUNO were put under the inner layer, stakeholders who have recently stopped working or are partially working with MAVUNO were put under the second layer and lastly the outer layer where less important stakeholders were placed.