Building Capacity | Connections | What that looks like...
“Give me twenty years,” Social Innovator John Mukolwe told us, “And we can see the future of these communities changed.” John was referring to a region called Engikaret, where he and his team have worked for over ten years. In this culture, young Maasai girls in Tanzania are married off to men three times their age. This is most often a poverty-driven practice as the girl’s family receives a dowry from her husband-to-be.
But Social Innovators like John know it is a threat not only to one girl’s future, but that of her community. Research shows the more educated girls and women are, the better off the society. So, they step in to provide a solution. Working with an existing law that states a girl cannot be married off if she is in school, they start a school within the Maasai community and make sure the girls are enrolled.
This school provides a new future for the girls and the community. But, it’s also located in an incredibly arid and isolated area, which presents a myriad of problems for their team. They are struggling to find housing for their teachers, the resources to build classrooms and affordable solutions for the lack of electricity, water, and widespread poverty.
Loom believes in this project and the incredible potential it holds. So in 2016 , we facilitated a Regenerate Consultation to find practical local solutions for sustainability. In 2016/17, teachers from Engikaret were trained at our Celebrating Children Workshop. Through generous partners, Loom has helped provide a new classroom, staff housing, and water tanks, as well as to launch a social enterprise called the Moovement. A small business loan and added training from Loom has helped the Moovement scale up, and they now have eighteen cows that bring in around $800 per month, along with bringing nutrition and job creation to the community.
Through ten years of challenges and drought, these Social Innovators have refused to give up on the future of this community. Now, over three hundred children have the opportunity of education each year, young girls are protected, and the entire community is seeing the ripple effects of transformation.
This interdependent model is effective and brings results. Loom identifies strong and influential Social Innovators bringing significant solutions. We equip them with training that increases their capacity and then we create connections within our network of skilled people. This is what we mean when we say that together, change is possible.
Through generous partners, Loom has helped provide a new classroom, staff housing, and water tanks, as well as to launch a social enterprise called the Moovement. A small business loan and added training from Loom has helped the Moovement scale up, and they now have eighteen cows that bring in around $800 per month, along with bringing nutrition and job creation to the community.
Through ten years of challenges and drought, these Social Innovators have refused to give up on the future of this community. Now, over three hundred children have the opportunity of education each year, young girls are protected, and the entire community is seeing the ripple effects of transformation.
This interdependent model is effective and brings results. Loom identifies strong and influential Social Innovators bringing significant solutions. We equip them with training that increases their capacity and then we create connections within our network of skilled people. This is what we mean when we say that together, change is possible.
