OUR IMPACT
Maasai Partners, under Ngorongoro Community Network, Inc. was founded in 2011 by Judith Lane. Since then, our network has served as a connection between our Tanzanian communities and other non-profit organizations. By finding, supporting and collaborating with other non-profits, we have helped to organize and fund a variety of projects within the Arusha region.
With the help of a $15,000 grant from Sisters for Peace, we built our third kindergarten in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in 2018. Children, who would otherwise enter primary school unable to write, can now have a chance at a more effective education.
Prior to 2018, children did not manage pass the National Exam, which allows them to continue on to secondary education. Maasai children, who speak only Maa (which has no written langauge) and were unable to hold a pencil, leave the kindergartens able to read, write, use numbers, and speak Swahili (official language of Tanzanian schools).
This project was community-requested and high up on the priority list of the Maasai community. Correctly identified by them, the benefits have been tremendous, and quantitatively impactful.
In 2016 Maasai Partners teamed up with Sisters for Peace and AMSO to build this crucial kindergarten in the conservation area
We have given out hundreds of goats to village women, providing a much needed source of food and income.
Reduced CO2 levels by 90% in 100 Maasai homes.
Working with Maasai Stoves and Solar, this initiative gives skills and jobs to the initial 20 women trained to build the stoves, which virtually eliminated smoke and toxins from inside homes and drastically reduced local deforestation and fire-related accidents involving children.
This was a pilot program for us, but unfortunately we found that transportation issues were too much (due to the remoteness of the area) for it to be an ongoing, sustainable program.
We have supported dozens of Maasai women and their families through direct buying and selling of their beadwork (thank you to those who have supported this effort!) and also by connecting them to other supportive partners.
We have given out thousands of microloans to Maasai women through collaborations with various microloan program community-based organizations such as WMI (Women’s Microfinance Initiative), AMSO (Alailelai Maasai Sustainability Organization) and ReCAF (Resilient Communities Africa Foundation), offering them an opportunity to start or expand a business, support their families and gain important skills and training.
AMSO has given out nearly 500 loans to 160 Maasai women. Along with WMI (Women’s Microfinance Initiative) this has totaled to approximately $40,000 given out in loans.
We have also given loans to more than 200 borrowers in Karatu, through our partnership between GWOCO (Ganako Women’s Community Organization) and WMI.
We have sponsored 12 students through secondary school (and many more through primary), have put 4 students through University, and several more through vocational school. We are currently sponsoring 26 students in total! Without these scholarships, the students would not have been able to continue (or finish) their education.
Twelve of these primary/secondary students are at Tumaini, an English language-based private school in Karatu that is one of the top performing schools in the district. All twelve students are successfully progressing in the school.
We sponsored over 500 medical visits to FAME Medical in Karatu, where patients receive top-level medical care.
We sponsored 150 families to receive health care access before the Tanzanian government ended the program.
This means those who might otherwise not have the financial means or physical access to medical attention were able to visit either a local dispensary or health center.
