Burundi:

Projects against hunger

October 2023: The project developments of both partner organizations ARAME and UMUCO Foundation are making great progress. Another hundred microfinance projects in the areas of pig breeding and rice cultivation were launched. In this context, the rice mill operated by ARAME is of great use. Milling the rice usually costs a fairly high fee. ARAME only charges a very small fee, which goes towards maintaining the mill and building.

Bremen:

General meeting 2023

August 2023: This year's general meeting took place outside again in bright sunshine and summer temperatures.

The annual report started with a warm welcome and an overview of this year's central topics and trends by the initiator and first chairwoman Anneli-Sofia Raecker. Ms. Raecker then gave the floor to all department heads and country coordinators, who presented their work areas themselves in the second part of the report.

What developments shaped the past year and point to the future?

KETAAKETI is growing! We are financially “healthy” and work with committed and competent teams. The overall workload at management level is very high and we would like more experienced people for country coordination, among other things. This is necessary because more and more NGOs are expanding our network and there are constantly new requests from existing NGOs for cooperation, especially from African countries.

The NGO conference led by Yembeh Mansaray (Sierra Leone) has become a stable body for the exchange of NGO leaders - if the internet connection allows it.

Interest in the KETAAKETI model is growing on various levels. This is clear from various important political invitations for discussions and the interest of foundations in the KETAAKETI way of thinking and the interest-free microfinance model with passing on.

We are also happy about a good one mixture of generations in the management of the teams and in the teams themselves, which will lead us well into the future!

Varel:

Summer concert for KETAAKETI

Ecuador:

Good news from our partner organization

June 2023: Our partner organization “MAKIPURANA” is now officially registered as an NGO! After Niza Aragundi, founder of MAKIPURANA, and her team had to fight for months against bureaucracy, the registration process has finally been completed. We are very happy for MAKIPURANA and especially for the poorest women in Ecuador, for whom registration means that from now on we can more easily start microfinance projects in Ecuador.
To support indigenous women who want to start their own businesses, MAKIPURANA recently initiated an extensive workshop in the town of Cayambe. The aim was to impart knowledge about setting up self-employment in Ecuador. In addition, the concept of sustainable, fair trade, which is intended to be an important cornerstone for various micro-enterprises, was deepened together. A total of 8 groups with a total of 60 women took part in the workshop.

Gambia:

Kunek di Kunyil wants to break the vicious circle of poverty

May 2023: In order to break the vicious cycle of poverty, lack of education, high birth rate and poor health care in rural areas, Wenus Ann founded her NGO called Kunek di Kunyil, which is intended to express that this NGO works for the well-being of women and children want to care. She was inspired to do this by our long-time partner and friend Yembeh Mansaray from Sierra Leone.

Wenus Ann will locate her projects away from the coastal region, in the south of the country. This part of Gambia is predominantly populated by Jola, an ethnic group that also makes up the largest population group in neighboring southern Senegal. Wenus Ann comes from this region and she is very familiar with the problems of the people in this rural area.

Burundi:

UMUCO - another NGO starts the work

May 2023: A newly launched NGO called UMUCO Foundation began its work a few months ago - initially with 10 microfinance projects for women. There are now dozens more who keep both pigs and rice. There are even already the first piglets!

The head of UMUCO, Donatienne Niyonizigiye, is the sister of the head of our partner organizations ITERAMBERE IWACU and ARAME. She has already achieved a lot: the women have enthusiastically begun to take 100 children, including many orphans, who rely on begging to survive, from the streets and to teach them. Plans for sewing training for older young people are also taking shape. A separate solution was developed for the annual costs of school materials that cannot be provided by oneself: the proceeds from each 7th piglet should go into a school fund, from which school materials are then paid for. KETAAKETI was able to provide good support for this autonomous project idea and is supporting the development.

Nepal:

The new school year begins - Social classes make access to school education easier

April 2023: The new school year begins in Nepal - also for the many children in the “social classes” of our partners SPOWC.

The “Social Class” model enables the poorest children in Nepal to achieve basic school skills in one-year school familiarization and preparatory classes, thereby giving them subsequent access to state school as well as protective and supportive support throughout their entire primary school years.

In a “social class” around 30 children are supported by a “school mother”. These very motivated women contribute greatly to the success of the model. They are not trained teachers themselves, but they do a very good job and are in close contact with the parents and the respective school principals. Support from student parents plays a fundamental role. This is the only way to convince parents to send their children to school and to build trust.

The Social Classes have been a successful model for many years!

Sierra Leone:

New microfinancing - without outside intervention!

April 2023: During the current conference of all partner NGOs of KETAAKETI, Yembeh Mansaray (head of the NGO “Mindokatie Salone”) emphasized that the goal of his work was to ultimately become independent of financial support with the help of microfinance, which is becoming increasingly effective.

Because the €100 of microfinancing is passed on after one year, over the years more and more families benefit from the opportunity to start a business offered by this start-up aid.

And since the return rate is very high, close to 100%, an automatically ongoing process is created.

Both partner organizations in Sierra Leone were able to award almost 200 microfinances at the beginning of the year without needing a single euro from Germany.



This is a great success and an important step towards more self-determination for everyone involved in Sierra Leone!

Burundi:

Rice harvest in one

Batwa settlement

February 2023: Here our own rice was harvested for the first time, which could be planted with the help of microfinance. The women worked hard for this success. They also had to wait a long time because the weather was dry. Nevertheless, the seeds grew well and the yield was high. Now the rice is milled in the rice mill of our Burundian partner organization ARAME. Only for very little money. This income then flows back into future microfinance projects. This creates a new cycle of microfinance for other families - without any outside intervention.



Our partners’ vision for “A Burundi without Hunger” is always in sight and people are now feeling real relief. For the first time, expensive imported rice can now be dispensed with!