Summary
Nkoilale Community Development Organization (NCDO) organised a public fundraising event and a livestock auction to raise sufficient funds for the construction of two schools in Nkoilale village.
Having a school in your own village reduces the risk of encounters with wildlife for young children who otherwise have to walk long distances to the nearest school, often crossing feeding corridors of wild animals.
Tips and lessons learned
Community projects require proper planning, patient and active involvement, wide consultation and recognition of all stakeholders involved directly or indirectly.
Approaches to community work should be people-centred, not leader´s favours.
Identify potential conflict and risk, share out and develop a resolution mechanism as well as available options and strategies to address.
Review by Wilde Ganzen Foundation
This event deserves a compliment for being very well planned. NCDO´s board was involved right from the beginning, a special committee to oversee the local actions was formed, meetings were held with stakeholders and community members, and a delegation of elders visited hotels around the Mara National Reserve to secure their contributions on the day of the Harambee. In each of these meetings the problem of the child - wild animal conflicts was made clear and the obvious solution of having a school in your own village was discussed.
A very strong point is that the committee sat down to map out all the stakeholders they wanted to approach and involve, developing a different pitching strategy for each one of them.
Details
Objectives
To raise funds to build two feeder schools within five months in Nkoilale village.
To sensitize parents on the safety of all school children.
To create awareness on the importrance of education among the predominantly pastoralist Maasai community while at the same time facilitating access.
Targeted donors
Beneficiaries, politicians, community members in general, corporates based in the region.
Results
| Cost/benefit |
National currency (KES |
Euro |
| Total amount raised |
1,496,000 |
13,763 |
| (-) Total amount invested |
72,000 |
662 |
| Net amount raised |
1,424,000 |
13,101 |
Description of preparatory work
1. Board and management met to agree on fundraising targets and plan fundraising strategies.
2. A stakeholder meeting was held to incorporate more people and entities. This was key in getting the tourism sector to participate. The need for more feeder schools to reduce the number of wildlife-human conflicts was stressed.
3. Visits to hotels around the Mara National Reserve with a delegation of elders led to generous contributions. The project seeks to reduce conflict between wildlife and humans. Children are often attacked by wild animals on their way to school. The situation is worsened by the long distances children have to travel to school, often across animal feeding corridors.
4. Community meetings were also held to ensure the participation of local members and beneficiaries. The area residents have a lot of cattle and goats that were contributed all throughout the fundraising period and later auctioned for money.
Substeps: cluster´s meetings, household visits, collection and placement of sheep and goats, auction.
5. Hotels and conservancies in the region brought their donations, alongside individual donors. The local Member of Parliament and his entourage also participated. The livestock was auctioned.
Description of implementation
A committee to oversee NCDO´s local actions was appointed by the board and tasked to ensure wider participation of all stakeholders in fundraising.
The committee was able to map out the different stakeholders and prepared different pitching strategies for each segment.
Communities donated livestock while the wealthy in the community and businesses were encouraged to match the contribution of the sheep and goats with cash donations.
Corporates were allowed to make their donations public, in order to secure continued support for conservation tourism from the local community.
A public fundraising event was held.
Follow up: Donor appreciation and acknowledgement
Immediately after the event a thank you message was sent out to all donors.
Moreover pledges were followed up and potential donors to future projects were identified.
Plans to repeat the action
NCDO plans to repeat the experience to raise funds for future projects. If they do, they are thinking of including more activities on the day of the event and auction more valuable livestock, for instance a bull.
