Village Aid

An imaginative Third World aid project is being piloted by the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA), whereby a Westerner contributes a regular sum monthly or annually to sponsor a particular village activist in Kenya, receiving in return regular reports describing the self-help development work in the villages. So far there are about fifty sponsors, and more are sought. The ICA is already co-ordinating the work of 'Village Volunteers' in 500 villages in Kenya.

'A Westerner contributes a regular sum monthly or annually to sponsor a particular village activist in Kenya'

Village Volunteers are those who have dedicated themselves to the building of a better future for the villages of Kenya by working alongside fellow villagers. The ICA provides up to six months' intensive training in development approaches, and practical and leadership skills, and then the Village Volunteers work in teams of two or three in the villages helping to draw up action plans and to organise neighbourhood task groups.

There is a growing attitude among many villages that the government or other aid agencies will bring about development for them, often resulting in the stifling of local initiative and a dependency on programes that are inappropriate and unwanted. Village Volunteers offers an alternative.

'A spotlight needs to be placed on the successes in development. A means must be found for massively accelerating the development of approaches that work'

The ICA have also produced a series of three volumes of an international directory of 'What's Working in Rural Development'. The first contains the names, addresses and descriptions of 290 projects, sponsored by various agencies, ending with an analysis of the key factors that these successful projects share in common. It costs L15 from the ICA. As they write: 'A spotlight needs to be placed on the successes in development, so that hope in the future can be founded realistically on past experience. A means must be found for massively accelerating the development of approaches that work.'

Institute of Cultural Affairs, PO Box 505, London N19 3YX, (please write, tel media only, 081 567 9883).

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