Millennium Villages Blog

Prof. Sachs and Mrs. Sheeran in the grain warehouse

‘Welcome visitors, welcome today, we’ve all been waiting so long!’ Coming over the crest of the hill into the Millennium Village of Ruhiira, Uganda, children’s singing voices gradually become louder, intermingled with bursts of clapping and laughter. The long-awaited visitor, Jeffrey Sachs, is due to arrive at any moment, and the anticipation is palpable. Sachs, Head of the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, was paying his first visit to Ruhiira in 4 years to launch the MVP-World Food Programme Country Action Plan with Executive Director of WFP Josette Sheeran.

For the people of Ruhiira, the visit proved to be about much more than the WFP partnership. It was testament to and a celebration of the fact that today, their story is different. Today, the community was living proof to the world that despite all the scepticism, great stories and dreams can be made a reality as a result of effective synergy between well targeted aid and community empowerment. ‘We haven’t done it, you have’, proclaimed Sachs, to tumultuous applause and ululation from the crowd of hundreds; babies and grandmothers who had walked from far and wide to catch a glimpse of their hero. But today, asserted Sachs, they were the heroes.

The principle of the MVP is to demonstrate how the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) can be achieved in the most isolated and rural of communities through a set of holistic, integrated interventions which combine the best science and experience with local expertise. Therefore, for Sachs to come and voice his belief that Ruhiira, one such rural village, had managed to get its foot on the ladder towards achieving the MDGs, was a momentous cause for celebration.

Prof. Sachs addressing the villagers

‘Four years ago, I was with you here. Now I come back, and can see the changes that have taken place’, began Sachs who is also Special Adviser to UN Secretary-General on the MDGs. As he listed some of the key successes of the project - access to safe water with a piped water scheme in the works, a dramatic decrease in the rate of maternal mortality (once amongst the highest in the country and now one of the lowest), and electricity in the largest health centre, he carried the crowd far beyond the hills of Ruhiira as he relayed the very tangible role that they as a community play in the international sphere. ‘People around the world are inspired by what you do; they know about it, they’re studying it!’ He urged them to continue inspiring people through their transformational progress.

Mrs. Sheeran welcomed by school girls

This idea of the community’s wider impact was endorsed by Sheeran, as she gave a speech following the official launch of a new grain warehouse managed by a local women’s cooperative. Addressing the delighted crowd with greetings in the local language Runyankole, she assured them that, thanks to the MVP-WFP partnership which in this past year has resulted in the purchase of 250 metric tons of beans and maize from the warehouse, Ruhiiran beans are continuously used to feed hungry children in the various UNHCR camps in the area. Describing the effect of this partnership as being akin to ‘a revolution of hope’ for everyone involved, she pledged to double WFP’s purchases from Ruhiira, matching Kampala market prices in order to give smallholder farmers a fair price for their crop.

Outlining the immediate priorities, Sachs reaffirmed the imminence of piped water installation and village-wide electrification, listing increased access to secondary education and business development as key focuses for the next phase. Aware that the project is drawing towards the close of the initial 5 year funding period, Sachs pressed the importance of government-assisted scale up of successful interventions. He called on the crowd to cheer loud enough for the assembled leaders at the African Union Summit in Kampala to hear if they were in agreement with him. As the cheers echoed across the sprawling hills, the feeling amongst the community couldn’t be clearer: the ‘revolution of hope’ has only just begun. ‘Take the initiative’, urged Sachs as he spoke to a wider audience on the community’s newly established radio station ‘Millennium Voice’: ‘now more than ever you must take the lead, and we are so honoured to be able to support you’.

Villagers cheering as Prof. Sachs speaks

Pledging support to the community until 2015, he promised that when that day comes, Ruhiira will be ‘a shining example to the entire world…having shown how this community achieved all the Millennium Development Goals.’ As the UN convoy made its way out of the village, the sun began its descent and this momentous day drew to a close. The crowd gradually dispersed as families made their way back to their homes to resume ordinary life. A young girl falls asleep in her mother’s arms, the traces of a smile etched on her face; for one as young as she, this dramatic day will surely fade into a distant story in the years to come. But as Sachs asserts, the transformation that has occurred in this community is anything but a story. When she wakes up, the hopeful future that she faces is finally becoming a reality.

Possibly Related Posts (automatically generated)