LOOCIP's approach is to work with the community to create and implement
initiatives that bring about positive social change and empowerment
to the entire target population. The work we do is structured
across these 5 thematic areas or programs and through the support
of our international partners, we have been able to make good
progress in implementing a range of projects. Funds-pending, LOOCIP operations
and projects are designed to reach all the 32 villages in Longido District.
- Advocacy and Gender Issues: Leadership capacity-development,
gender advocacy and human rights advocacy
- Education Development: Education capacity and
infrastructure development and information communication technology
development
- Integrated Health: Health infrastructure and
primary healthcare capacity-development, HIV/AIDS, malaria and
TB prevention and control
- Sustainable Livelihoods: Micro-business development,
agri-business development & marketing, livestock–based
business development and marketing, and access to savings mobilization
and micro-credit
- Environmental and Natural Resources Management:
Water development, eco-tourism, biodiversity conservation and
mining of precious stones
- Girl-Mother Support Project. This is a cross-cutting
project covering the areas of health, advocacy, and education.
It seeks provide support to and advocate for school-enrolled
Maasai girls who face unplanned pregnancies.
- Longido Early Childhood Education (LECHE).
LOOCIP has started 2 early childhood education classrooms in
Longido and Otepesi villages. The classrooms use the Montessori-style
of childhood education to foster healthy early development.
- LOOCIP Scholarship Fund. LOOCIP is providing
education support for a number of students in secondary schools,
teachers colleges and other institutions of higher learning with
support from partner agencies both locally and internationally.
- Vocational Training School. LOOCIP has initiated
a vocational training project that is currently providing tailor
training to vulnerable women in the community, and is expanding
to include training in other vocations.
Community Leadership Training. LOOCIP is training community members
and leaders in the fields of Leadership Skills, Community Development,
and Micro-Business Development
- Community Conversations (CC). LOOCIP is currently
conducting a community dialogue and collective action project
that seeks to build understanding and stimulate local responses
to HIV/AIDS in the Mairowa village. It will initiate the same
project in Longido village in 2008.
- Access to Treatment & Care for People
Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). This project assists PLWHA to gain
access to viral load testing and Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ARV).
In addition, it seeks to provide nutritional supplement support
and psycho-social support to PLWHA.
- Small Grants Program for vulnerable people
in the community. This project trains individuals and disburses
small grants to people in the community to help them start small
businesses and overcome the extreme poverty experienced by many
families in the Longido District. In many cases, this program
assists people living with HIV/AIDS, who are among the most vulnerable
in the community.
- LOOCIP Micro-Credit Project. This project provides
micro-loans to local residents of Longido District so as to help
them strengthen their livelihoods.
Rural Water Source Development. LOOCIP is
assisting Engoswak Village to develop their water sources in
order to ensure better management of this resource.
Rainwater Harvesting Project. This project is
using pilot measures to educate the community about the benefits
of rainwater harvesting strategies.
Computer
and Internet Resource Project. This project will provide computer
training to Longido community members as well as access to internet
resources. The focus of the project will be to educate the local
population as well as strengthen capacity of government and civil
society agencies/groups in Longido Village. Read More...
Through community dialogue, Community Conversations gives people an understanding of how to prevent HIV, and develop strategies to support community members who are affected by HIV. This effective and sustainable approach starts at the grassroots: local people take the lead as positive agents of change, bringing a healthier future to Maasai communities. Read More...
Identifying injustices and extending opportunity are at the heart of LOOCIP’s mission. With the generous support of a strong network of donors, including MWEDO, PANGEA, Sauti Moja, and TEMBO, LOOCIP is helping young mothers, who were expelled from school for getting pregnant, complete their secondary school education. LOOCIP facilitates school transfers and sponsorships, and gives young women the support they need to excel in school and care for their children. Read More...
Each year many Maasai children drop out of school or fail their Grade 7 exams which are a prerequisite for secondary school. After investigating the causes underlying this problem, LOOCIP has found that poor performance in grade school is related to malnutrition, lack of previous exposure to Kiswahili (the language used for primary school education)’ and starting grade school without having mastered the basic fundamentals for learning. In Oltepesi, the sub-village of Longido community alone, over half of the children that enroll in LECHE School are malnourished and are significantly below the normal height and weight for their age. LOOCIP is committed to finding solutions to these problems and helping as many children as possible successful in grade school and beyond. Read More...
Vocational education offers students training in practical trades that provide income. Founded in 2008, LOOCIP’s vocational school, LOCOVOTCO, provides Maasai youth training in agriculture and livestock, cooking, electrical installation, mechanics, tailoring, masonry and carpentry. The valuable skills learned at LOCOVOTCO enable the young adults to start small businesses that will provide for their families. Read More...
The Maasai of Longido live in an arid landscape near the border of Tanzania and Kenya and do experience frequent droughts. LOOCIP in partnership with Friends for African Development (FAD), a non-profit development organization based in the United States, initiated a project to address the need for water in the Ngosuak village--one of the neediest communities in the Longido district. FAD responded to this need by raising funds to support LOOCIP to drill the first bore hole ever in the Ngosuak community. Read More...
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