Sustainable Livelihoods

Change is the end result of all true learning.

No one can take knowledge away from you.

There is a direct correlation between household poverty and the educational advancement of the households’ children. The education stops if the family cannot afford it.

According to The World Bank 58% of the rural population in Tanzania live under the International Poverty line, (26% for the National Poverty Line) which means for those people the costs of educating their children is a challenge. The majority of these householders will be subsistence farmers where income is erratic and reliance on the weather and market prices is total.

It is clear that if they can improve their income and their income security they can achieve better cash flow and improve their resilience levels. If this can be achieved they will be better able to afford visible and invisible costs of educating their children.

This is exactly what we do, we share our knowledge and skills with householders so that, should they want to, they can alter their farming/business practices to take advantage of opportunities open to them.

We see the changes in the fields and in the income and farmers tell us they are improving their lives and the lives of their children. It is a slow process because farmers living in poverty are extremely risk averse, but when farmers have the confidence to implement what they have learnt, the changes are evident.

Smallholder Farmer Training

Nearly everyone in Babati has land on which they farm and the majority of them will have learnt their farming behaviours from their parents and their before them. Providing training to farmers can help them more from subsistence levels.

69% of horticulture farmers have moved from domestic growing to small business production

Farmers in the singe ward have seen their collective annual net income increase by 81%

Having previously provided training on a wide variety of staple crops, fruit and vegetables we are now specialising on tomato production, poultry management and banana plants. Tomatoes, when grown properly can provide a significant income for farmers and there is both a local and regional demand and supply chain knowledge has been established. The poultry farming has mostly focused on women, providing them with knowledge and support to move from domestic production to small business production. Banana plantation can provide a more reliable income than staples in areas where rainfall is more erratic.

Environmental Management

Most rural communities are in touch with their environment and understand that they are guardians not owners of the land and they need to ensure future generations can enjoy its fruits. This is what sustainability or environmental stewardship means.

We have worked with farmers to support them to use natural fertilisers and pest controls to enhance their crops, but the lure of fast money from chemical fertilizers and pesticides creates a false economy of dependence which the farmers who have followed that path are now realising.

We are now in early discussions with permaculture specialists to bring back the knowledge of sustainable soil management to communities whose agricultural output is on the wain.

Street Business School

Many small businesses do not follow bet practice when setting up or when running, which can result in their business not being as successful as they want it to be or as successful as it can be. By providing enterprise training, this can be changed, and is being changed.

Participants have achieved a 249% increase in their collective average monthly net income

91% of graduates have savings they can draw on in emergencies or to start new activity.

This training programme builds the knowledge and skills of participants, enabling them to improve and diversify their incomes. The programme is modelled on the curriculum from ‘Street Business School’, a Ugandan/US NGO. Four of the MCDO team are qualified SBS trainers. We provide training for women only groups, youth only groups and mixed gender/ages groups and we collaborate with Babati Town officials to determine where best to offer the training.

Chicken Project

We support women in rural communities to establish and grow their chicken flocks in order to boost household income level and improve resilience.

Banana Project

We work with farmers in arid areas to trial Malindi bananas as an alternative food source to improve their food diversity. 

Tomato Project

We support farmers to improve their tomato yields by training them on best practice, and we then introduce them to buyers from other towns and cities so that they have options for selling their harvests.