Vision

FT Kilimanjaro envisions flourishing communities on and around the TPC Estate void of poverty and despair.

Communities where all, men and women, young and old, have access to basic health care, education and opportunities to be productive and earn a livelihood for themselves and their families, and to do so in a self-sustaining and environmentally sustainable manner.

Mission

Guided by the concept of an integrated approach to development with interventions applied simultaneously and across multiple sectors, we seek to actively inspire and help to implement initiatives together with the communities to:

▪   Improve quality and access to education

▪   Improve quality and access to health care services

▪   Increase earned income

▪   Improve basic infrastructure (e.g. roads, water, electricity, housing)

Two implementation tracks that are symbiotic and pursued in parallel:

Village Projects = Integrated village development projects that are planned sequentially (“tile-structure”).
Lower Moshi Interventions = Interventions implemented uniformly across the region.

Long term approach

▪   Education: Increasing access and utilization of quality pre-primary, primary and secondary education and developing options for vocational and adult education.

▪   Health: Increasing access and utilization of primary health care services locally and more specialized care further afield, while improving general health and awareness of health issues and diseases.

▪   Income Generation: Increasing and diversifying the community’s overall income generating capacity through agriculture and other entrepreneurial activities, while assuring that each person in the community has three meals a day throughout the year.

▪   Infrastructure: Improving access to basic infrastructure to sustain life and economy. This may include the construction and maintenance of critical village and farm access roads, access to electricity, access to drinking and productive water-sources and safe and reliable housing.

Village Project duration

Each village (project) needs time to evolve, it is a long process towards self development. A framework for long term planning should not come at the cost of the process which has value in itself.

▪   A village project starts with a Year 0, followed by 5 project years.

▪   Year 0 is a year of preparation with low input of resources. It is a year of mutual introduction and exploration to see if there is enough basis to start a cooperation.

▪   During the 5 project years leadership and income generation are the key focus areas because they provide the basis for sustainable development.

This focus is not necessarily reflected in the allocation of the budget, as especially the development of the  leadership is not purely financially driven.

FT Kilimanjaro is cooperating with partners that are relevant to the different activities these are business partners, local and international organizations, government agencies and local government.

• Problem(s): Currently the immunisation coverage remains too low(85%)
• Suggested solution(s): Improving mobile and outreach services and increasing transport services

• Problem(s): Continuing high malaria morbidity and mortality rates and high prevalence of HIV/AIDS/TB
• Suggested solution(s): Increased indoor spraying, the distribution of bed nets, better HIV/AIDS counseling and better access to drugs, as well as refresher training of staff on management of communicable diseases

• Problem(s): Few households with basic latrines, too many people with inadequate access to safe water and protection against harmful organisms and disposal of medical waste.
• Suggested solution(s): Construction of sample latrines, incinerators, procurement of water guards, use of chemicals to eradicate vermin and vectors

• Problem(s): Absence of aHealth Center level facility in Lower Moshi, limited utilization of Community Health Funding, poor physical infrastructure (including lack of staff housing, access to water, electricity), and the poverty of the communities and their limited ability to pay for health services.
• Suggested solution(s): Upgrading one dispensary to health clinic, upgrade infrastructure (staff houses, use of solar, grid connections), start income generating activities, health education

FT Kilimanjaro (FTK) and its founders envision flourishing communities in Lower Moshi void of poverty and despair: Communities where all, men and women, young and old, have access to basic health care, education and opportunities to be productive and earn a livelihood for themselves and their families, and to do so in a self-sustaining and environmentally sustainable manner.

Guided by the concept of an integrated approach to development, with interventions applied simultaneously and across multiple sectors, this strategic plan is built around long term goals for four sectors (Education, Health, Income, Infrastructure) that are interconnected. Using these goals and concrete implementation-related objectives we explicitly set out to create a framework that is meant to be an invitation to other stakeholders, including the community, lower government authorities and other NGOs, to identify what goals and sectors align with their objectives and to consider working collaboratively with FTK toward the accomplishment of a shared vision.

We believe in an integrated approach, because we believe that there are direct reinforcing relations between these sectors (e.g. a healthy child is more likely to attend school), cross-cutting impact (e.g. provision of school meals reduces absenteeism and improves the health of growing children), and assumed causal relations (e.g. girls who attain higher levels of education, will make better informed decision regarding their personal health and the health of their families). What we know is that ignoring one sector will certainly reduce chances for long term success in other sectors (e.g. the absence of access roads and bridges to connect farm land to markets will reduce the opportunities for farmers to make a profit/living).

The logo

In the development of a village the approach is on 5 different components adhering to local needs and order of necessity. These are symbolized by the leaves of the tree in the FT Kilimanjaro logo. The trunk of the tree represents the management role of FT Kilimanjaro.

FT Kilimanjaro is working together with partners relevant to the various activities. These partners are companies, local and international organizations, government agencies and local government.

FT Kilimanjaro received additional funding / support from:

Income generation is a very important aspect of FTK’s work. We want to facilitate economic growth to support sustainable development. Communities need income to be able to pay for school fees, healthcare and other basic needs. Entrepreneurship however is very limited in Lower Moshi and needs much encouragement.

Lower Moshi has large areas of unutilised land, mostly due to the climate and degraded soils. Tree production is an opportunity to reverse land degradation and generate income in the long run. TPC is looking for biomass sources to feed their electricity production and certain trees are very suitable for this purpose.

In Lower Moshi rainfall is limited which makes agricultural production, without irrigation very hard. On the other hand, located in the flood plains of Kilimanjaro, many communities in Lower Moshi suffer annual floodings, often with disastrous consequences for their fragile farm land and crops. Still, many farmers use the flooding of agricultural land by growing crops after the water has been drained (naturally). This is one reason why many farmers produce the same products to be marketed at the same time, which results in lower prices and lower income. Storing of the products is an answer for some grains but other crops are perishable and need immediate marketing.

Developing processing opportunities for these and other products increases the shelve life and the value of the product and can therefore increase the income of the farmers. Besides that, processing creates job opportunities. Customer value is created by offering the opportunity to process (short life span) products into new products which can be stored for longer periods and adds economic value which flows back to the producer.

Most of the farmers in the area are poor and do not have any facilities to process their raw products from the farms. The simple reason is that they do not have clean water, no electricity, no access to a building where clean processing is possible nor do they have the equipment and knowhow to process products. An establishment of direct links between farmers and processors not only increases product quality but also improves agricultural production due to highest quality of raw material desired.

The land degradation in Lower Moshi also has a big effect on grazing animals. Grassland quality has gone down and subsequently cattle quality. Grassland and grazing management can help reverse the degradation. Many villagers depend on cattle for their income, especially Masai. They could increase their income with fewer animals if well managed.

Sector Goal

Increasing and diversifying the community’s overall income generating capacity through agriculture and other entrepreneurial activities, while assuring that each person in the community has three meals a day throughout the year.

• High absenteeism among students (including missing full and partial days)
• Lack of reliable transport
• High drop-out rates
• Low progression rates (primary to secondary)
• Shortage of teachers
• Low morale / motivation among teachers
• Frequent changes in staffing (relocation of teachers)
• Limited opportunity for continuous education for teachers
• Shortage of study and teaching materials, class room furniture
• Poor / Limited sanitary facilities
• Shortage of class rooms
• Parents who see little value in education
• Poor staff housing

• Provision of continuous education for teachers, using – and where necessary, upgrading – the existing Teachers Resource Centers (TRCs);
• The retention of teachers and the ratio of teachers to students;
• The quality of education, including the use of more diverse teaching approaches like experiential learning to encourage curiosity, practical learning and innovative thinking;
• Link with other sectors like health, infrastructure, income generation, community participation, in particular the importance of sanitation was highlighted;
• Physical accessibility of school, through improved transport for students from home to school and back.

FT Kilimanjaro (FTK) is a non-governmental organisation registered in Tanzania (April 2009). FTK is a joint initiative of the Dutch NGO FDK (NL) and TPC Company.

FD Kilimanjaro is a Dutch Foundation strongly liaised to FEMI, a Dutch Development Foundation.

In 2006 Douwe de Vries, as board member of FEMI, visited some projects in the village of Langasani (near Mtakuja) on the TPC-Sugar plantation. During that visit he met the head of the primary school in Mserikia, one of the sub villages in Mtakuja, and was invited to visit his school.
The school was clean, but poorly maintained and lacked almost everything. During that visit, it was noted that none of the students ate anything during in lunchtime. Aiwinia Mlay did a little survey and found that only about 30% of students had breakfast, 0% ate lunch, and most had only received a simple evening meal.
Douwe de Vries discussed with the nearby hospital the composition of a simple but nutritious lunch and the associated costs. It appeared that it was possible to prepare a good meal at the school for only 8 cents per pupil.

Back in the Netherlands, Douwe explained the situation and presented possible solutions to the board of FEMI. The board was strongly convinced that the current local diet is disastrous for growing children, but that something could be done. FEMI decided soon after that to provide the students of this school with a lunch. After half year, the other primary school in Mtakuja and the pre-primary were also included in the school lunch project. Since then, hundreds of thousands of meals are provided.

FEMI was well aware that giving the students a lunch was not a sustainable solution. Therefore a plan was developed to enable the village to take care of the livelihood of its own villagers. A variant of the saying: better to provide fishing net then a fish.
Then another sponsor (DIRA) got interested to join, and it became financially viable. Discussions with the management of TPC sugarcane plantation, by far the largest employer in the area, led to a Memorandum of Understanding between TPC and FEMI. TPC was willing to engage in an exercise for the development of Mtakuja. TPC kept its promise splendidly.
Subsequently there were consultations with the village representatives, with Aiwinia Mlay playing an important role. From that first meeting it was clear that the involvement of FEMI would be limited and that the village should take over the responsibility themselves in due course. It was also said that although FEMI has ideas about the content and approach of the process, the project from them, the village. They are the owners of the problem and the solution, and have key roles in the process. The first years is was noted that it is important to keep repeating this message for local ownership to grow.

For the implementation of the project in Tanzania, the international NGO FD Kilimanjaro was created under Dutch law. “FD” stands for FEMI / DIRA although DIRA is no longer a partner in the project.

The implementation of the projects are done by FT Kilimanjaro overseen by it’s own local board of Directors.