Who We Are
Introduction
I SEE MAASAI DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE is a registered community based organization operating within the Sekenani area of Maasai Mara game reserve. Sekenai is situated at the main gate of Maasai Mara game reserve, 230 km south of Nairobi and 100 km from Narok town.
ISMDI's Vision
An educated and developed maasai community whose cultural practices contribute positively towards gender and social equity and respect for human rights.
ISMDI's Mission
Statement
To transform the Maasai community educationally, culturally and economically into a modern self-reliant community without destroying their positive traditional value systems.
ISMDI's Main
Goals and
Objectives
1. To contribute towards eradication of FGM in line with WHO resolution (by 2015) in order to promote girl child education; improve women reproductive health, human rights position and elevation of the social-economic status of the Maasai woman.
2. To enhance community capacity and to participate in securing sustainable livelihoods for the Maasai people of the Mara region by putting in place programs that enable profitable participation for the community in the tourism industry. Tourism is the key economic activity in the Mara region.
3. To provide clean water to the community by seeking the assistance of supporters/ donors to help in the drilling of boreholes. Clean and adequate water supply is a critical need as the water systems around the Mara region is now heavily polluted as a result of tourists’ camps and upcoming urban centres.
4. To provide better health care services to the community which at the moment lacks proper hospital facilities despite of the area being a high-risk area for disease such as Malaria, Typhoid and TB.
5. To initiate environment conservation measures for the benefit of the community, livestock and wildlife. The environment around the Mara region faces imminent degradation as a result of many tourist lodges and camps being built haphazardly and due to mushrooming shopping centres.
6. Drought management and relief program.
7. To co-operate with PURE DESTINATIONS TOURS & SAFARIS in the management of Oldarpoi Mara Community camp.
This is a tented safari camp which generates revenues for the Maasai community and help in poverty reduction among the people.
ISMDI's Core
Program Areas
ISMDI is working with the community around the Mara region to realize the possibility of improving the living standards for the people and poverty eradication in the Maasai community. The community is currently facing many problems such as scarce medical facilities, few schools, and loss of traditional grazing land to conservation of wildlife, severe droughts, environmental pollution and lack of access to clean water. These problems have impoverished the Maasai community and despite of their land having been annexed by the government to create the Maasai Mara game reserve, little or no benefit is yet to be realized by the local people. The situation is further worsened by negative cultural practices of the community such as FGM and early marriages of girls without giving them a chance to go through school. The future wellbeing of the Maasai community is thus threatened as many of its children do not receive education and this means that the Maasai community will find it hard to compete for the resources of Kenya, which will only be maximized and exploited by other tribes that have accepted education for both their boys and girls.
1. Women Empowerment and Girl Child Edjucation
The main purpose of this project is to encourage education of the maasai girl child and make community members especially women gain confidence that they are the prime movers of their own destiny and they are the major forces in dealing with the issues that confront them.
Currently, 90% of Maasai girls are circumcised and married off before they reach the age of 13 years.
Circumcision of both boys and girls is considered a rite of passage. It is however more serious for girls as they are considered ready for marriage once circumcised. At the end of it all, young Maasai girls are often sentenced to wifehood at an early age at the expense of education.
ISMDI is currently planning to build a facility to act as a rescue centre for girls who prefer to acquire education as opposed to FGM and early marriage and those that are rejected by their families for refusing to be circumcised.
The community has offered some land for the construction of such facilities that will also accommodate and be used to orphaned and vulnerable Maasai children.
ISMDI is fully committed towards the promotion of education for Maasai children more especially girls who are more affected by negative cultural practices such as FGM.
FGM is the greatest challenge towards enhancing girl child education and we aim to sensitize the community against this practice in the following ways:
• Workshops on various topics e.g. the importance of educating the girl child, the dangers of FGM, the importance of women in resource ownership and management and HIV/AIDS workshops.
• Conduct sensitization and awareness creation workshops/ seminars for targeted community groups, community leaders, youth groups etc on FGM effects and consequences.
• Train selected community animators to inform them on the advantages of FGM.
• To train community animators and CORPS (Community Own Resource Persons) on community mobilization techniques.
• To sensitize primary school girls on the effects of FGM.
• Script, songs and plays for community education to sensitize churches, schools and villagers on the negative impacts of FGM.
• Record songs and audio tapes on anti-FGM for community education.
• Undertake research, baseline surveys including documentation of all information about FGM.
• Provide progress reports to partners/ donors outlining achievements, challenges and opportunities.
• To mobilize and inform the community on essential information on women’s health, reproductive health, human rights and the legal statutes of FGM.
• To lead the community target groups to suggest culturally acceptable initiatives of tackling FGM including alternative rites of passage.
• Establish community structures for support of education of the Maasai girl child.
The project is aware of the fact that because of FGM, most young Maasai girls never have an opportunity to gain formal education.
ISMDI is actively involved in seeking solutions that promotes Maasai girl child education.
Our strategy in this respect is to approach willing individuals and organizations to sponsor Maasai girls in education.
Although the government has recently introduced free primary education, this does not apply to boarding schools, supplies needed e.g. books and uniforms.
The best chance for young Maasai girls to gain education is through boarding schools where they will be housed, educated and generally protected from cultural ceremonies such as FGM, which they will certainly face if they have to attend to school from their own homes.
ISMDI targets at finding educational sponsorship for 50 Maasai girls each year to attend both primary and secondary schools.
With the help of sponsors named below from USA and Germany, we have in the past year managed to sponsor 14 children, 12 girls and 2 boys through school.
Sponsers
I. YOLANDE BATTEAU USA – 4children
II. JENNY BATTEAU USA - 3 children
III. CHRISTIAN BATTEAU USA – 1 child
IV. KATJA DECKER GERMANY – 1 child
V. LOTHER & RITA DECKER GERMANY – 1 child
VI. Friends & relatives of JENNY BATTEAU – 4 children
This is considerable success given that the sponsorship initiative was only started in September 2006.
There are many other children from poor families and orphans who require help in the form of sponsorship. Help is needed to buy books for these children, uniforms and school supplies that are not catered for in the free education provided by the government.
Additionally, the most targeted children under this sponsorship program are young girls who are faced by the risk of circumcision and early forced marriage. Before our rescue centre facility is actualized, the project will seek to support such vulnerable children to gain their education in boarding schools where they will be safe from FGM influences.
Boarding schools are not free and in addition, the children will require uniforms, books, school supplies and personal items for hygiene purposes.
The following are the sponsorship guidelines to support the education of Maasai children.
Sponsership Guidelines Per Student Per Year:
I. Primary day school - $ 50
II. Primary boarding school – $ 200
III. Secondary school -$ 390
IV. University & Colleges -$1750
2. Community Capacity Building
The project will initiate and sustain tourism related projects that will enable the community around the Mara region to actively and profitably participate in the tourism industry which is vibrant in the area.
At the moment, revenues received from the vibrant tourism industry have not found its way into the community in a significant way.
Group ranches that earlier on used to receive a percentage of tourism revenues through Narok County Council have since been disbanded by the government. This has affected the Maasai community even worse than before.
The project is proposing and seeks support to undertake the following activities, which will enable the community to benefit from the Maasai Mara tourism industry.
• Tourist Camp: This need to be developed to raise revenues that can support the attainment of the projects’ objectives and thereby ensuring that the project is self-sustainable. The Safari camp has already started with 10 Tents and we are currently sourcing for donors to help us acquire more tents. Thirty Percent of revenues from this camp go towards the ISMDI charity programs.
• Resource Centre: There is a need to construct a resource centre where young Maasai school graduates can be trained on tourism and conservation courses. This is a long-term goal of our project.
• Maasai Bead Work and Ornaments: The project will seek to help Maasai women to make and market traditional beaded jewelry and use the proceeds of the jewelry sales for sending their children to school.
3. Provision of Clean Water
Clean water is a prerequisite for the community’s health.
The project aims to develop sustainable sources of clean water, as the water systems around the Mara are inadequate due to droughts and pollution of the river system.
The absence of clean and adequate water supply imposes an enormous threat to the health of the entire Mara community. The project will seek donors to help in drilling of wells where necessary. They will also organize the community to plant drought tolerant plants and trees and water holes and dams.
These plants will serve as a natural and effective means of preventing future soil erosion.
4. Community Based Healthcare
Community based health care is a set of approaches which inform, involve and empower the Maasai community to make their own decisions about improving their health status.
The objectives of community-based health care are to give individuals, families and community more ownership and control of their health care to enable them to accept effective and health services.
The project will focus on community capacity building through development of a community health structure, and community own resource persons as well as establishing community pharmacies.
The program also requires strengthening and supporting existing health systems.
ISMDI will work the government and community to strengthen the provision and utilization of health services. Special emphasis will be put on health training, planning and financing and support to ongoing health sector reforms.
ISMDI will try to improve case management of such diseases as Malaria, Typhoid, HIV/AIDS and TB. Integrated approaches will emphasize treatment, rehabilitation and health promotion.
The project will seek the support of donors and well-wishers to construct a community clinic as there are inadequate health facilities in the area.
5. Environment and Wildlife Preservation
The Maasai have always co-existed well with wildlife and preserved their environment. However, due to population growth and unplanned construction of lodges and markets in the Mara, the environment has been negatively affected. The project will initiate measures in liaison with the community that will culminate in better environmental conservation for the benefit of the community, wildlife and livestock.
6.HIV/AIDS Awareness Creation
The Maasai community around the Mara region has not yet been fully sensitized and educated about HIV/AIDS.
As a result of upcoming urban centres, there has been a proliferation of bars and nightclubs in the Mara region and this has attracted influences that can easily cause a spread of AIDS.
Furthermore, the Maasai themselves still practice outdated cultural practices such as polygamy, circumcising the youths sometimes using the same knife to cut several initiates and general lax sexual behaviors.
They need to be educated about AIDS otherwise; it will be a big crisis in future.
ISMDI's Major
Core Values
These core values form the basis of ISMDI (CBO) organizational culture:
I. ISMDI will strive to uphold honesty and transparency in all its dealings.
II. Integrity is a central issue in the running of ISMDI
III. ISMDI will strive to be transparent and accountable for the community and its donors.
IV. ISMDI will strive to uphold justice and fairness in all the dealings.
V. ISMDI will strive to provide social services that will improve the living standard and reduce poverty among the Maasai of the Mara region.
VI. ISMDI shall endeavor to promote gender equity in all its program activities.
VII. ISMDI shall endeavor to promote and protect respect for human rights in all its program activities.
VIII. ISMDI will be responsive to the community and as such, will strive to promote the involvement and participation of the Maasai community (men, women and children) in its development program activities.
IX. ISMDI will promote patriotism but at the same time maintain political neutrality.
X. ISMDI will uphold respect for national diversity.
XI. ISMDI will be fully committed towards public interests.
XII. ISMDI will remain committed to its set goals and objectives.
Community
ISMDI is a community based organization (CBO) whose main beneficially apart from its registered members, is the local Maasai community in the area of operation. The community is enhanced to participate in the ownership of ISMDI by encouraging its members to contribute resources to the project such as land ISMDI will encourage the community to contribute what they have i.e. livestock, money, land or skilled and unskilled labor. This way, the community will feel and appreciate the fact that they are fully accommodated by the project.