www.ujamaakenya.org

Ujamaa Center is a non-governmental, not for profit organization registered by the government of Kenya in 2001. The Center was founded as an experiment in volunteerism in constructing alternative systems to the dominant mainstream ideologies. The Center looks at life from very close quarters and believes in working with the most marginalized; the character of mainstream processes that eludes the comprehension of most people drives the Center to work on the search for alternative systems in a region that is stalked by poverty every year. To succeed in achieving sustainable development the Center maintains that efforts must ensure that the poor who directly depend on the natural resource capital for their survival are key players and that their creative capabilities are exploited in any solutions that are developed.

The overall goal of the Center is to challenge entrenched systemic exploitation of local communities and the entrenched social inequities in the Coast. To this end the Center implements vibrant programs that aim to effect the greatest change in the lives of communities and their organizations in Kenya’s Coast region based on relationships, which capitalize on the use of alternative systems and spirituality in order to build social capital. Pursuant to the foregoing goal the Center is currently implementing a capacity building program whose goal is to establish Coastal peoples’ rights and control over, and efficient, sustainable use of local livelihood resources. The Project’s core purpose is to build individual (knowledge/ skills), organizational (planning/ project management), and institutional (process and policy) capacity to enable poor people in rural communities of Kwale and Kilifi to more effectively utilize and sustain local natural resources.

The project will be implemented in 150 villages in Kwale and 150 villages in Kilifi that is a representative sample of 15 locations in each District. To be able to implement this project, 30 community mobilizers are required. Each Community mobilizer is expected to facilitate this process in at least 10 villages. Ujamaa Center embarked on a knock down drag out process in selecting the CMs to live true to its vision of alternative approaches. This process of selection began in December 2003 and was concluded in March 2004. This report captures all the steps taken during the selection process and documents some of the lessons that have been learnt to facilitate experience sharing.

1. Identification of potential Community Mobilizers

The process of selection started with the identification of potential Community Mobilizers from both Kilifi and Kwale Disricts. For each of the two districts, a resource person was engaged to carry out the task of identifying potential CMs and carrying out a mapping task in the two districts under the following terms of reference.

a)    To find people recognized by the community as development/opinion “leader”
b)    To ascertain that those proposed show understanding of participatory methodologies and ability to put them to use.
c)    To ensure that those the potential CMs show no partisan connection to any political party.
d)    To find persons who exhibit a reasonable level of understanding of policy/macro-economic issues ( e.g. past involvement in local policy discussions )
e)    To propose persons that a range of local figures would easily endorse     (Chief, District Development Officer, Leaders of community groups)
f)     To ascertain if the potential CMs have existing skills/knowledge either as a mobilizer/trainer/facilitator or have done some work in natural resource issues.
g)    To propose a fair balance of women and men, and of indigenous people and incomers.

Using these criteria the resource people managed to identify a total of 46 potential Community mobilizers.

Please read or download the who document from the Library

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