The Beginnings:
The roots of the MCF took hold when 2 clients of Warrior Trails safari company travelled from Canada to Tanzania to witness the country's iconic wildlife. Cathy and Valerie soon became good friends with their safari guide, Clamian Kitesho, and loved their safari experience, and when Clamian took them to visit his home village of Makuyuni, they fell in love with the people. At the time, Clamian was the only person from his village to have attended school. His education enabled him to eventually establish and run a successful safari company, and he worked exceptionally hard to ensure each of his guests experienced their dream vacation. He worked just as hard to improve the lives of the people in his village because they were, unfortunately, struggling. Their pastoralist lifestyle was no longer sustainable because of things beyond their control: climate change, land conversion, unsustainable grazing, population growth, and new economic pressures. |
Cathy and Valerie decided to do what they could to help Clamian help the villagers but being outsiders, were very cautious about imposing their ideas on the Maasai. They offered to fundraise, even though such things were well out of their comfort zone, for projects the villagers identified as being important. Their enthusiasm captured many others, including 3 other relatives who eventually went on safari with Clamian. Today, four Canadians and Maasai village elder Clamian form the Maasai Conservation Fund (MCF), an organization created to raise funds for projects identified by Makuyuni villagers as important to them.
Since 2012, the MCF has been working in partnership with the people of Makuyuni Maasai village in Tanzania to help them gain control over their future through community-based, sustainable development projects.
Since 2012, the MCF has been working in partnership with the people of Makuyuni Maasai village in Tanzania to help them gain control over their future through community-based, sustainable development projects.
Our Vision: A world without poverty.
Our Mission: To reduce poverty for the Maasai people of Makuyuni Tanzania through sustainable education, food security, and health solutions.
Our Mission: To reduce poverty for the Maasai people of Makuyuni Tanzania through sustainable education, food security, and health solutions.
In order to be effective, the MCF will:
1. address the changing needs of the Maasai in Makuyuni village in northern Tanzania while maintaining their unique culture, and
2. help uplift the Makuyuni Maasai out of poverty while protecting their precious land and resources.
1. address the changing needs of the Maasai in Makuyuni village in northern Tanzania while maintaining their unique culture, and
2. help uplift the Makuyuni Maasai out of poverty while protecting their precious land and resources.
Our Approach:
It is our responsibility to take a sustainable approach to the management of the Earth and ourselves. The MCF works in partnership with the Maasai people of Makuyuni village in Tanzania, in response to challenges and opportunities in the following areas of development: 1. Creating opportunities through education by: - building and maintaining Maasai educational institutions for children, youth and adults. Education is a key part of this process, and at the expressed desire of the Maasai villagers for their children to have an education, Nashipay Maasai School was built. - developing a Maasai Leadership Centre for basic skills and trades training for adults. 2. Establishing food security by: - developing a permaculture and educational demonstration farm at the Nashipay Maasai School site. - providing permaculture training for Maasai villagers 3. Increasing economic sustainability through: - establishing a Maasai Women's Co-operative that maximizes existing skills and resources. - training Nashipay Maasai School teachers in permaculture farming, and integrating permaculture training into the school curriculum. - consulting a permaculture specialist to design a permaculture-based educational training and demonstration centre to benefit neighbouring villages while, in turn, Makuyuni Maasai villagers develop and implement their own permaculture plans. 4. Improving health by: - establishing a mobile health unit and/or village clinic which will provide basic healthcare services to thousands of Maasai residents and the surrounding community, emphasizing health education, prevention, treatment, vaccination, nutrition education, and support for mothers and their children. |
The MCF supports sustainable development projects in which:
- Maasai communities are willing to invest their time and skills, and provide any resources they can in order to make a project succeed,
- projects are accomplished in an environmentally and culturally sensitive way, while promoting conservation and the use of natural resources,
- there is a benefit to the broader community, and
- the project outcome can be sustained beyond the duration of the MCF involvement.
- Maasai communities are willing to invest their time and skills, and provide any resources they can in order to make a project succeed,
- projects are accomplished in an environmentally and culturally sensitive way, while promoting conservation and the use of natural resources,
- there is a benefit to the broader community, and
- the project outcome can be sustained beyond the duration of the MCF involvement.