Giraffes? Giraffes!

A shout out to those lovely long-necked creatures I saw not too long ago, and in honor of that great book of that title: http://www.amazon.com/Giraffes-Dr-Doris-Haggis-Whey/dp/0743267265

So the SWAHILI WORD OF THE DAY is twiga = giraffe

Champions for Change

Last week I went to some regional meetings, but the highlight was getting to attend a leadership conference that was also in town. As part of the effort to support the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program, the U.S. is helping to facilitate workshops that bring together leaders from across the region (in this case, East Africa), who are actively working to address food security. It was invigorating to watch the final session when the groups from each country presented on the food security situation, and the strengths and opportunities within their country. I must say I was a bit biased, but the Tanzanian presentation was excellent, including a chant, PAMOJA TUNAWEZA TUJENGE UWEZO (which means: together we can, so let's build our capacity). Every participant was beaming as they announced that they were Champions for Change. The group included everyone from district government officials to university professors to private sector leaders in agribusiness to extension workers to farmers organization leaders to nutritionists. It is incredible the energy that was there as they got to know colleagues from their own country, and counterparts from surrounding countries - they were already talking about forming a Facebook group. It was really exciting to get to participate in this event.

Wandering through Nairobi

Unfortunately, the majority of my time in Nairobi was spent in the hotel where the conference was held. But I decided to extend my time on Saturday so I could actually experience the city a bit. The fun actually began on Friday night, when I went with a couple of colleagues to a local restaurant with live music - a band with at least 10 members with lively trumpets, guitar, keyboard, and loud voices belting out the best of Congolese and East African music, but recent and older classics. And the dance floor reciprocated the enthusiasm.

On Saturday, I walked all over downtown Kenya and even found some local public transportation routes that made for interesting rides. A couple of highlights were the Kenya National Archives, the first picture here, which had a range of art and artifacts from Kenya and across the continent. What made it such an enjoyable visit was that I happened to arrive at the same time as a high school group, and the tour guide found excellent ways to keep it lively and engaging. Meanwhile, I was amused as students tried oh-so-slyly to snap a picture with the mobile phone that included this foreigner in the background.

I also stopped by the memorial garden for where the U.S. embassy was bombed in 1998. In the picture to the left there is a sculpture made from some of the rubble. Another part of the garden had a fountain and list of names of those who were victims. Sadly, the vast majority of those who died were Kenyans who were in or near the embassy when the bombing took place.

I could share more about the tourist market maze I found myself in, or the crowded meat market I stumbled upon, or the little agricultural shops I snooped around, or the city park I found myself in when the rainclouds burst open, but that's all I'll write about today.

SWAHILI WORD OF THE DAY: "ndege" - the word for both bird (there were huge 4' tall crane-like ones near the hotel) and airplane (which got me safely home on Saturday night)

Visiting Amani Ya Juu

So I seized the opportunity while in Nairobi to stop by an organization that I have been familiar with for the past several years. Amani Ya Juu is a sewing and reconciliation project for marginalized women in Africa that began about a dozen years ago from a tiny operation with women sewing place mats in a tiny space to a well developed business, with both a local market and exports (including a boutique in Washington, DC: http://amanidc.wordpress.com/). I was privileged a couple of years ago to meet a few of the women who came to the U.S. to showcase their latest clothing line and share their stories though a fashion narrative. It was great to finally get to visit them at their workplace and hear about their stories of perseverance, hope, and community.

I was also encouraged to talk with the director and hear about some of her vision for the next year, which includes working more closely with the women to discern their hopes and dreams, and how Amani can serve as a platform to help the women move forward with their own initiatives and expand the scope of work. At Amani, it is important for these women to learn and develop skills, and as well as living out the message of peace and reconciliation in the work that they do.

So if you're looking for a great place to buy gifts and support some incredible ladies, I encourage you to take a look at Amani Ya Juu.

SWAHILI WORDS OF THE DAY: Amani ya juu means "higher peace"

Jacaranda Trees

I've heard of them, but this is the first time I've gotten to experience them. Jacaranda trees in full blossom, with vibrant hues of purple, richer than a periwinkle, intense in their beauty.

Moving from "we lack" to "we have"

Over the past couple of days, I've been in Nairobi participating in regional donor-sponsored meetings on addressing food security. But today began the conference I've been waiting to attend. One of the major principles we've been promoting has be a country-led and country-owned process. Great. But what does that actually look like and mean? Is it actually happening?

So this conference is put on by the African Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme ( www.caadp.net ), as well as the regional economic community COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa). It's actually more like a work meeting, with specific breakout sessions and tasks to address key issues along value chains. And the delegations include diverse stakeholders - government officials, producer associations, trade associations, development organizations, civil society, etc, etc. And I've been hearing some great things:

"Before, the government just made their own policies, but now, because of the CAADP process, they are involving the private sector"

"We have found that if we organized ourselves and explained our situation, and the government worked with us to change the regulations to what we need."

"All 10 ministries related to the agricultural sector agreed to this one plan, which is amazing"

We then broke into working groups to discuss different agricultural commodities, and the specific opportunities and challenges in each sub-sector. There are definitely opportunities, but we expressed many constraints and underlying causes, ranging from political will and interests to lack of capacity and lack of standards.

Afterwards I spoke with someone who helped put some of the session in perspective for me. He has been working with every East and Southern African country represented at this conference to move this country-led process forward. He said he was getting so discouraged in our session because he kept hearing "we lack...", "we lack...", "we lack...". He doesn't want them to see a tremendous gaping hole, but rather to identify the specific gap. It isn't that we lack standards, it's that the standards aren't enforced. Do we really lack capacity? So much has been invested in each of the leaders that are represented at the conference. Have they not received quite a bit already that can be claimed?

The man also shared a couple of other stories. He has cone to these countries and asked, who is the maize expert or the cassava expert, and has found it difficult to have people step forward and say, "yes, I am". Or when he was working with papaya farmers, they tremendously increased their yields and capabilities. Yet when the donor organization came by, the farmers shared, "we lack...", including "we lack capacity." I was so inspired by this man's firm believe that, yes, we have something to offer. We need to believe that.

I must confess that after talking with this man I realized that I too was guilty of seeing things through the "lacking" perspective. Even in this working session, I had been so quick to see gaping holes. I think part of it comes down to "the one with the hammer sees nails everywhere" (or however that proverb goes). We as Western educated people see all the areas where our expertise should come in. When can those who have traditionally been in power get to a point of humility and willingness to listen, and when can those who have been traditional recipients stand with confidence and belief in what they have to offer and share their vision of the way forward?

I think that's what is exciting me about this conference and the paradigm shift that I believe is beginning to take place. With these CAADP country-led plans for food security, we in the donor community are saying yes, we will listen to what you have developed and use that as a context for moving forward. I feel like I'm beginning to witness a change in perspective that has the potential to be revolutionary.

SWAHILI WORD OF THE DAY: "maendeleo" means "development"