I am returning to Burundi at the beginning of January. Once again, I have been invited to teach my Community Needs Assessment course to master degree students at Hope Africa University.
The Haley McCready Outreach and Development Fund has just announced its fifth Call for Proposals for the Student Grants Program (see below) . Eligible respondents are asked to submit proposals using the 2015 Application and Proposal Outline (contact John McCready, see below).
The Haley McCready Outreach and Development Fund aims to develop the capacity of indigenous people in Burundi; the project managers and the project beneficiaries most of whom are poor women. The twelve (12) active development projects are designed to use the small grant for development projects that are self-supporting, self-governing and self-sustaining. This newsletter highlights one of our most recently funded development projects and one of the first two development projects that were funded.
- Farming Peanuts with Landless Women in Giharo, Rutana, Project Manager, Barthelemy Minani
Project Description: Giharo commune is predominately populated by repatriates from Tanzania. This project works with 20 poor, uneducated, landless and disconnected women; widows and other single parent women. The women are organized into a self-help association that is becoming a self-governing and self-sustaining cooperative. The women are being trained to grow peanuts. In the first year, the women are being paid for their work and they will be able to provide food and shelter and education and health services for their children. The proceeds from the sale of peanuts will be reinvested into the association and it is expected over time that women will be able to buy their own land and become financially independent.
Recent Activities and Accomplishments: The women have been organized into an association and the association will be legally registered. The women have been trained. The required equipment has been purchased; hoes, rakes, buckets, sowing dishes and rope. The land has been rented and prepared. The peanut seed has been purchased and planted. The planted field is being weeded and irrigated.
- Tailoring for Women at Kinama (formerly Nyanza-lac), Project Manager, Christine Kamirameya
Project Description: The sewing project began in Nyanza-lac but the project manager lives in the capital city, Bujumbura. The “long-distance” project management was not working and the project needed to be moved and restored. It took some time but the project manager did a great job of restoring the project in Bujumbura. A workshop was built, two additional sewing machines were purchased and the project was restored with two trainers and three poor women enrolled as trainees for life skills and sewing skills.
Recent Activities and Accomplishments: The project buys new fabrics and the new clothing materials are used to make new products for sale. The women are able cut the cloth and make products that everyone can buy; robes, blouses and school uniforms. The project has had to consider relocating. The project has been offered a small plot of land by the headmistress of the secondary school where the project manager, Christine Kamirameya, teaches. The project would build a workshop that would be located near a secondary school, a primary school and a large market.
HALEY McCREADY OUTREACH AND DEVELOPMENT FUND
Student Grants Program
Call for Proposals
Submission Deadline: January 17, 2015
Overseen by the African Governing Committee, the Student Grants Program of the Haley McCready Outreach and Development Fund provides grants to students or graduates or associates who select to submit a proposal with their own ideas for an outreach and development project; a student-generated project idea for Burundi. Any student or graduate or associate of Hope Africa University, connected with any department or discipline, is eligible. Interested students, graduates and associates are encouraged to submit a proposal describing their ideas and the anticipated, sustainable results.
Applicants must clearly explain how their proposed project will contribute to their own development and the development of the capacity of the project beneficiaries. The projects should be innovative, address obvious needs and have the potential to produce significant change. The proposals must clearly describe how the objectives will be met, how the beneficiaries will be meaningfully involved, how the development benefits will be shared and extended to others (needy individuals, families and community members), how the project will become self-sufficient/self-supporting and how the project will become self-sustaining and self-governing through an association, a cooperative or another type of development organization. The grants are for projects in Burundi and the equivalent of up to $1,500.00 US. The initial funded implementation timeframe will normally be for 12 months but the projects are expected to become self-sustaining and continue long into the future.
- All completed applications or proposals must be submitted by e-mail to John McCready.
- All applications must be submitted in English as Word file attachments, using the current, 2015 proposal outline and format.
- All applications must be submitted by January 17, 2015.
For an application package that contains the current, 2015 proposal outline and format or, if you have questions about the use of the proposal outline and format, you must e-mail John McCready.