A little girl in a dark red dress runs around laughing. Her mother tries to catch her, before she trips on her ruffles and falls. Florence picks up Nicole and dries her tears. A tender and loving moment between a mother and her young daughter, who is learning to discover the world. A sight like so many others. But this scene has a twist to it: Florence is HIV+ and Nicole is not.
The pair lives in the Millennium Village of Sauri, Western Kenya, and made the trip to Nairobi -- Nicole's first into the big capital city -- to share . . . [more]
Located in Western Kenya, Sauri was the first Millennium Village (MV) to see the light in 2005. Five years on, the project area has grown to nearly 70,000 people and has registered numerous successes in its multi-sectoral approach.
The MV team and the community celebrated this at the inauguration of new classrooms at the end of October 2010.
[caption id="attachment_1457" align="alignright" width="150" caption="The Sauri . . . [more]
Lunch time in Ruhiira? Look no further. 'Fang Fang' is the place to go for yummy matooke (bananas) and beans. The woman behind this thriving micro-business is Tumushabe Boneconcila, whose entrepreneurial spirit is doing much to both improve the quality of her own life and radically shake up ideas of traditional gender roles in the community. Before the arrival of the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) in 2006, Boneconcila had begun building what would become Fang Fang and . . . [more]
What an amazing week this has been! I’m leaving Iowa today with an enhanced perspective on the role of agriculture in not only feeding families, but as an economic activity. For my friends and family still in Uganda, agriculture is more than a way of life; indeed, agriculture’s obvious role is to provide necessary nutrition. Crucially, we need to begin reorienting our thinking about agriculture, particularly in places like Africa, where agriculture is an opportunity to prosper if we are open-minded about scientific farming practices and embracing new technologies. Most importantly, I’m leaving today with a profound sense of pride . . . [more]
At the World Food Prize symposium in Iowa today, I’ve been listening to renowned experts, practitioners, and innovators from around the world discuss critical issues of food and hunger and how each intersects with the global development agenda. In a session called “Take it to the Farmer: Reaching the World’s Smallholders,” speakers shared strategies of boosting household food production, including the imperative to improve and expand Africa’s infrastructure in order to enable Africa’s farmers with the marketplace.
In both the formal presentations and in the hallways between sessions, I have been very much struck by the fact that there is widespread . . . [more]
I'm writing today from Des Moines, Iowa, where I have just arrived for the annual World Food Prize. As the Outreach Coordinator for Millennium Promise, I'm here to share our stories of impact and to be inspired by the great work of so many dedicated individuals and organizations around the world. On a more personal note, I'm also here to support and congratulate my good friend Jo Luck, the president of Heifer International and the co-recipient of this year's World Food Prize.
The World Food Prize is a very big deal, and for many, it's the equivalent of . . . [more]
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The discussion around evaluating large-scale development projects is an important one. Michael Clemens and Gabriel Demombynes offer a critique of the Millennium Village Project (MVP) and its research methods. Their paper misunderstands the MVP's aims and evaluation methods. We respond briefly here, to clarify some of those basic misunderstandings about the project's goals and approaches to evaluation.
1. Goals of the Millennium Villages Project
The MVP is a ten-year project running through 2015, the deadline year for the Millennium Development . . . [more]
Not long ago, next to the Ruhiira Health Centre was a relatively unassuming looking building surrounded by scattered building blocks and cast in the shadow of a towering radio mast which usually had the ICT facilitator Elly Nankunda tinkering at the top of it.
Come July 2010, however, and the place was unrecognisable, transformed into a Community Resource Centre (CRC) which Jeffrey Sachs deemed to be 'the first of its kind in . . . [more]
The first time that US Ambassador Earl N. Phillips heard about Marenyo, a community within Sauri Millennium Village (Western Kenya), was four years ago during a conference. Touched by the story, he decided to support the villagers to fulfill their objective of lifting themselves out of poverty and reaching the Millennium Development Goals. But little did he know then . . . [more]
'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 . . . [more]
Agriculture • Business Development • Health • Sauri, Kenya
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