PROSPER MAMA AFRICA
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Mission Statement
To innovate impactful and sustainable Agripreneureship solutions to alter and improve livelihood capabilities for communities in Africa.
About This Cause
FACILITATING RURAL AFRICA FARMING COMMUNITIES TO LEAD THEIR TRANSFORMATION FROM SUBSISTENCE TO A PROSPEROUS PEOPLE. A Mindset Change Approach. Overview In the year 2020, the world, especially in Africa still has people who don’t have food to eat, and even when they get it, it does not provide food nutrients that we all require to live a happy life. There are people who don’t have where to sleep. Animals in most countries sleep in better facilities than many Africans. Children lack clothes to wear, don’t attend school, and have no access to water, toilet, electricity, and many other basic necessities of life. To many, life is no different from that of the dark ages, 20,000 years ago. What is worse is that their chance to migrate out of this situation is next to zero. The system is not designed to give them an opportunity to live a better life. I strongly believe though that our generation has a moral duty and the means to give a better life to many. It is this mission that inspired me and a group of classmates of Harvard 2019 to make these suffering people in Africa a better life. Currently, our project is changing lives in western Uganda with little help from well-wishers like you and me. STATEMENT OF NEED: Agriculture plays a strategic role in both regional and national economic development. More than 60% of sub-Saharan Africans are involved in agriculture, but most of these farmers own small pieces of land. With just 4–5 acres of arable land, they lack economic incentives to hire a tractor. As a result, 90% of agricultural workers rely on primitive tools (hoes), while only 8% use oxen, and only 2% use tractors. To be competitive in the marketplace, growers need to provide high quality and constant quantity supply of food. Subsistence farming means that rural Africans are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty and cannot expand into the export market. Both local communities and the larger national economy suffer from the lack of agricultural productivity and efficient use of land resources. We need to use technology to facilitate these communities to increase their agricultural production if there are to ever have a chance at living better, healthy, and meaningful lives. PROGRAM CONCEPT As a team of Harvard Kennedy School graduates committed to improving economic conditions in rural Africa, we have come together to propose a new way to end extreme poverty in Africa. We believe poor people are poor because they hold a subsistence mindset. They do not produce enough food to eat and hence lack substantial surpluses left to sell to the markets to receive an income. In order to grow surplus crops, rural communities must change the means of production and must start producing for the market as opposed to producing for only themselves. Prosper is embarking on a mission to transform subsistence mindsets to economically active communities of sub-Saharan Africa. We also hope to change systems by demonstrating to governments and poverty eradication development experts that only a community can get itself out of poverty in a collaborative and integrated effort. All they need is a little help to get started. THE MODEL We are piloting our model in the western part of Uganda and the results so far are amazing. The “Resilient villages model” brings together farmers in a village, who start planning what to grow, how to grow, when to grow, and where to sell. The first step we do is for our experts to take the community through a mindset change training module. The agronomists come into the village and work with these rural farmers, demonstrating to them how to look after their soils and plants and how to keep the harvest. Our community organizing experts stay with the community and train them on how to work as a collective force in order to increase their income. This is cemented by bringing into the community the cultural and religious leaders, who offer hope and leadership to these community clusters. To create resiliently, the village is engaged in a number of related and economically productive medium projects, namely; Crop production, free-range chicken-keeping (poultry), beekeeping, tree planting and vegetable, and fruit planting. This has increased every household’s income and reduced its cash shock vulnerability. “Uganda’s fertile agricultural land has the potential to feed 200 million people.” —UN Food and Agriculture Organization OBJECTIVES OF THE PROOF OF CONCEPT. Our primary objective is to help local farmers increase their incomes through increased food production and land productivity in order to live better lives. In particular, our objectives are: 1. To establish a different kind of community leadership, with the 2-local power centres locked in, the cultural and religious institutions. 2. To bring technology into these poor communities to increase crop production. 3. To introduce to the community other related economically viable enterprises in order to improve on their incomes and resilience. 4. To reduce hunger and poverty in communities 5. To improve on other social aspects of human life; health, education, happiness. PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION LOCAL CONTEXT: A “proof of concept” project is underway in Hoima, western Uganda. Community leaders, community farmers and our technical teams regularly hold community meetings to discuss what to produce and how to work together to produce for the market. Everyone has something to offer. ACCOUNTABILITY AND IMPACT The impact of our work has been so visible that it has attracted the church of Uganda and the kingdom of Bunyoro to take full leadership of our model. For example, the church has donated all its arable land to be used for farming by the community members. In total, we have 200,000 households that the church has enrolled to benefit from our model. This is a first! Our proof of concept has demonstrated that village farmers can plan and work together, and can agree to plant for the market. Incomes have improved within a short time, women lead committees have been developed, wife and husband relationships have improved, and the youth are becoming entrepreneurs. In terms of accountability, our belief is that both community ownership and accountability guarantee the success and sustainability of the model. To achieve this, we have in place a self-monitoring leadership structure. To ensure accountability, we have the head of the area kingdom and the two bishops of the Catholic and Anglican provincial churches as the project overseers. A group of community leaders has the responsibility of ensuring community organizing, ownership, and participation and are answerable to both the community and the board of overseers in achieving the set goals and objectives. Prosper only facilities the integration and functioning of the projects. The greatest impact is a change in mindset, from subsistence to commercial Agriculture. Reports are generated for every milestone. GLOBAL CONTEXT: Over the next 30 years, the global population will increase by 3 billion to 9 billion people, creating demand for more food. This project will avert hunger and famine by increasing food production and productivity. In addition, Africa is endowed with a high population of young people. This project will provide employment and economic opportunities to this young generation, thereby giving them an alternative to migrating abroad. SHORT-TERM IMPACT PER FARMER: According to Timmer and Akkus (2008), no country has sustained a rapid transition out of poverty without raising productivity in its agricultural sector. We will increase rural incomes from less than $1.9/day per capita to $13.5/day in 3 years. TIMELINE AND PHASES PLANNING PHASE MILESTONES: Our pilot in Hoima, western Uganda is now in phase two of the planting cycle. Over 200,000 farmers are being registered, with the help of the church of Uganda, to participate in our scaling next year. Fundraising for next year starts now. Funds needed are in form of grants, gifts, and loans. INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY Financing is needed to give these farmers an opportunity to access the right farm inputs and post-harvest handling equipment. The church of Uganda will guarantee all financing in form of bank guarantees, land titles, and social capital that they enjoy in the communities. EVERY GIFT COUNTS. WE CAN DO SOMETHING TO CHANGE LIVES.