Adult Learning

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 householder will be subsistence farmers where income is erratic and reliance on the weather and market prices it 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.

Goal 1

Support Babati residents to improve their household resilience levels

Smallholder Farmer Training

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.

Street Business School

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 activities

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.

Between 2019 and 2022 we had the resources to train 1 cohort a year , however due to the impact in January 2023 we scaling up to provide training to 3 cohorts a year. Cohorts can be mixed gender, women only, and youth only, depending on the needs of the community.

Progress

• Mixed gender Cohort from Bonga graduated August 2023

• Youth Cohort training started in July 2023 and graduated in December 2023

• Women only cohort in Nakwa start in September and graduated in April 2024

• Mixed gender Cohort in the Halla community graduated in July 2024.

• A women only Cohort in Singu Ward started in May 2024