IrkiRamat Foundation

Organisation Background

RAMAT IrkiRamat Foundation (RAMAT) is a registered CBO in Arusha – Tanzania that was established in 2004 and was established to improve the rural livelihoods of the pastoralist communities in Ngorongoro district through enterprise development, education and women leadership development. It is assisting the community to acquire skills, knowledge, tools and resources they need to eradicate poverty.

In so doing, we hope to achieve both the goals of National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction and Millennium Development Goals.

Management

As a membership organization, RAMAT has currently 360 members and operates in Ololosokwan and Soit-Sambu wards within Ngorongoro district, but with increased capacity the service will expand to other areas in the district. The main office is in Ololosokwan village.

The members therefore run the organization with an elected chairman and subsequent board who regularly make decisions to ensure smooth running of the organization and its programmes.

Activities and Programmes

The current main activities that RAMAT is engaged in are the developing of rural enterprise skills using the Village Community Banks (VICOBA) strategy where community members organize themselves and meet weekly for savings and also to issue loans to members of the specific groups and developing functional literacy. There are currently six (12) enterprises established as a result of this effort in the areas of jewellery, beekeeping, poultry, livestock fattening, milk processing and better housing project. Also RAMAT is providing leadership skills to women as part of women empowerment to ensure holistic approach in addressing the root causes of rural poverty.

RAMAT has also established Loliondo FM Radio – a community radio station to create and/or open spaces for citizens to effectively engage in dynamic dialogue/community conversation on quality service delivery and public resource accountability. The radio station will be a platform for addressing social and economic justice issues. Loliondo FM Radio is the only radio station in the entire district