Reports- Tanzania and Chile

Workshop was a Necessary Exposure

by Theodore Jacob Ndee

I was a participant at an International Workshop on Community Empowerment Through Cooperatives, held in 1993 when the then Afro-Asian Institute was still along Nehardea Street in downtown Tel Aviv. Memories of Israel and its people are still as fresh as ever, particularly their hospitality to foreigners.

The Cooperative College Moshi, situated at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, where I work as the Public Relations Officer, launched a training project on Membership Empowerment Through Cooperatives (MEMCOOP) in 1996 which is successfully delineating genuine cooperative societies as compared to former societies which were state directed and controlled.

Cooperatives in Tanzania are predominantly engaged in agricultural marketing. There are a few in consumer goods, dairy, housing, handicrafts, fishing and industrial activities. My role in the project is to publish a quarterly newsletter which propagates initiatives, successes, reports on failures and any other information of interest and relevant to members of cooperatives and economic groups, all of which are tools for poverty alleviation in my country. The newsletter, published quarterly, is still in its pilot stage and is sent to some 2,500 recipients. However, it will increase to more than 40,000 individual members, employees and leaders of cooperatives and economic groups when the project is replicated nationwide.

Knowledge gained in the workshop in 1993 was a necessary exposure, which enabled me to practically plan, design and implement my role as editor of the newsletter. Similar exposures in future will be of great help to me and other people with similar functions in other countries.

by Nibaldo Acuna Camus

FOSIS defines as poor those individuals, families and communities that, due to lack of opportunities, have been unable to develop their potential and satisfy their needs by themselves. Overcoming poverty means, therefore, that individuals, families or communities begin a cumulative process of transformation that will enable them to develop their potential, enjoy the goods and services that society offers, and improve in a sustainable way their quality of life.

To achieve these objectives, FOSIS invests with the people through a process of participation, developing complementary programs that generate capacities, opportunities and innovations. FOSIS is not involved in the direct implementation, but rather establishes instead a net of public, private and social organizations that collaborate to implement these projects. Utilizing a highly innovative intervention methodology, FOSIS focuses its work taking into consideration the integral development of the target population. By defining their own problems and social projects, FOSIS allows the beneficiaries of its programs to be "responsible for their own development."

This work would not have been possible without the proper coordination among FOSIS and other governmental and civil society organizations, all of which continue their struggle to overcome poverty in the country. The focus is not on the actual carrying out of a specific activity but on generating sustainable changes in the quality of life of the poor.

"Signs of Hope" is the FOSIS Report for the year 2000. This publication gathered the testimonies of people, from all around Chile, who benefited from participating in the various projects. Here are a few examples:

Although they are located only two hours away from Talca, the Pumunul community is extremely isolated. Some 90% of its population is illiterate, and only towards the end of 1999 did Pumunul receive its first telephone and electricity. The daily necessity of bringing water for domestic use as well as for their animals and irrigation, and the knowledge of that a spring existed in the surrounding hills, encouraged community members to present a proposal to channel the water through pipes to their houses. Nine of the eleven families joined together to carry out the project and with FOSIS's help were able to pipe water from the underground sources to reservoirs and from there to each house. Their situation has changed dramatically from the previous year: from lack of drinking water they are now able to grow vegetables sufficient for domestic consumption and even for marketing.

Seven women from the rural community of Cabildo fulfilled their dream by organizing and presenting a project to grow vegetables in greenhouses, and subsequently formed an independent, registered society to grow and market their produce. They started their enterprise a year ago, with 8 greenhouses, and their first crop of tomatoes was 3.5 tons. Their next stage is harvesting over 15,000 shrubs of carnations. They are very proud of the project and their personal achievement. There is now another source of income with which to improve theirs and their families' quality of life.

The situation of the fishermen and clam gatherers from Huentelolen has changed this past year. Having traditionally fished for clams and fish and collected shells for handicrafts under precarious conditions, they decided to get organized to improve their work conditions. They defined their priorities: a 4-wheel drive truck to be able to reach the harvesting/collection area, diving suits to protect them from the cold, and nets and other small tools. The fishermen concluded that they also needed new boats to replace the old ones. Moreover, they needed a place to store equipment and to shelter themselves on rainy days, when they have to wait until the weather clears before going back to sea. With these improvements in mind they turned to FOSIS and were able to execute the projects they proposed. Nowadays the 56 fishermen testify that their situation is much improved: they can spend up to 2 hours under water (instead of the previous 10-20 minutes) and in their new shelter they can wait until the rain stops instead of being forced to go home and lose a day's work. Thanks to the new nets the fishermen are harvesting between 50-100 kilos of fish compared to the previous 15-20 kilos.