Millennium Villages Blog

This March Prof. Masayuki Tadokoro, a well known professor of International politics at Keio University, Tokyo, Japan, took two weeks off to visit the Sauri Millennium Village Project (MVP) with Millennium Promise Japan staff. With the intent of looking at ways the university could cooperate with the MVP in the future, the Professor was interested in understanding how sustainable the project is. He was pleased to learn that sustainability of the Millennium Villages was inculcated in the project processes right from the start. The project has been consistent and firm on the strategies adopted and approaches employed. Local capacities have been built, community members empowered, linkages with existing institutions have been created and all interventions have been aligned to Government of Kenya structures. Ms. Jessica Masira, the Sauri Deputy Team Leader and Community Development Coordinator, explained that the project looked at the existing community structures and sought to fill gaps. She noted that working in a homogeneous community has been an advantage and community members look at development individually.

The professor presents a gift

The team brought with them a gift; two art frames of Japanese hand-made chigirie which was given by the Cooperate Social Responsibility team at the bank Mitsubishi UFJ, the biggest bank in Japan. The art frames were presented by Prof. Tadokoro and Rieko Kitaoka of Millennium Promise Japan to the Health Management Team of Yala sub district hospital. Dr. Benjamin Esiaba, the medical officer in charge, thanked the team for the gift. The frames will be hung on the wall to brighten the wards and to give patients hope. The team brought an internet donation of $300 to be used for parasite treatments. $200 will go towards the purchase of malaria drugs and $100 towards the purchase of de-worming drugs for community members, including children.

Learning about the medical records system

Asked what they thought about the project, one of the team members remarked, “..Its amazing. when you read the reports and watch videos it’s not the same as when you visit the villages and see it for yourself..”. Professor Tadokoro reiterated that programs such as school meals and mobile phones for Community Health Workers were very effective. The Millennium Villages Project works with the community to provide a hot and balanced lunch in 33 primary schools feeding 21,348 pupils. The villages have 108 community health workers, each assigned 200 households and a toll free mobile phone for communication.

After their successful visit to Sauri, the team was off to the Ruhiira, Uganda Millennium Village.

Possibly Related Posts (automatically generated)