Project Proposal - Concept paper
(Village House Project)
1. The Applicant:
Small Enterprises Foundation (SEF), SEF is an NGO not for profit making.
Street address: House No. MBR/MKJ/280, Keko Juu, Temeke
City: Dar es Salaam
Country: Tanzania, Phone number: +255 22 2851173/+255 744 762426, Fax number: +255 22
2850467
E-mail address: seftz@bol.co.tz
Contact person: Joel Mwakitalu E-mail joelmwakitalu@yahoo.com
2. Experience with Donor Funding:
SEF-Small Enterprises Foundation is a local Non Governmental Organization registered in 2000.
SEF has been providing Microcredit and entrepreneurship skills training services to farmer’s
microentrepreneurs and active poor in Tanzania for the past five years. Among the successful
projects include, Microcredit project for women in Mkuranga district funded by McKnight
Foundation of United States of America, the entrepreneurs’ microcredit project in Temeke district
funded by Stromme Foundation of Norway and African Development Fund of USA and the Cocoa
farmers microcredit project in Kyela district funded by Cordaid of Netherlands.
3. Project Title: Village house
4. Problem and Population target:
The problem:
The speed of cutting trees in rural areas of Kyela district is increasing to disastrous level because
of the absence of alternative source of energy. Villagers use firewood and charcoal as their main
source of energy for household need. Being poor families earning less than 2 UD a day, farmers
cannot manage to meet cost for other available sources of energy such as kerosene. Also the low
income makes it difficult for them to properly maintain their grass-thatched grasses as they
require to be replaced at least twice a year. Failure to properly maintain their house roofs makes
their houses to become inhabited during rain season because most of the houses become water
lodged. Being grass-thatched houses their houses don’t qualify for electricity use.
Evidence of these problems include, increase in number of trees cut for charcoal, firewood and
burning bricks, many village are unable to access electricity services since their houses are roofed
with grasses. As a result of these setbacks women waste much of their time walking long
distances to fetch firewood and water instead of engaging in other economic activities. Drought is
increasing due to environment damage making farming to be very difficult with decrease in crop
yield/production.
Kyela district is among the leading district in Tanzania for producing quality rice and palm oil;
farmers produce more than 40,000 tons of rice a year but the rice husk aren’t well disposed and
threaten to start creating environment problem. In Morogoro district (Tanzania) Rice bran’s are
widely use as source energy for burning soil bricks, the same technology can be used in Kyela
district to dispose rice husks creating a solution to increase in un-disposed rice bran’s and palm
husks i.e. use briguetting machine to make renewable energy blocks.
Population targeted:
The project target about 500 villagers/farmers in 11 villages of Makwale, Mpunguti, Mahenge,
Ikulu, Kiingila, Ikolo, Njisi, Kilasilo, Kabanga, Kasumulu, Isaki, Ushirika and Ngana in Kyela
district. The targeted communities are members of the 13 credit councils operating in the
district. Each council has 30 – 70 members. The councils have already received farm inputs
loans worth more than TZS. 150,000,000.00, the average loan repayment is 97%.
5. The General Objective to be attained by the project.
The general objective of the project is to improve farmers housing conditions, introduce
use of alternative energy for burning soil bricks and accelerate use of clean energy
for lighting houses and for income generating activities. This will enable villages to
improve their housing structures, reduce environment damage, access low cost and clean source
of energy, increase their income, reduce women suffering, increase chances for women to
engage in economic activities, create new economic activities which uses solar power. The
benefiting community will have good chances to improve their crop sales, which will lead to
increase their income and use the increased income to better their living standards. These added
benefits would strengthen the importance of the on-going farm inputs loan scheme.
6. General approach to be used to change or improve the existing situation:
The project will use integrated approach to implement this project. Project components will
include, provision small loans to buy of house building materials (iron sheets and cement), loan
acquire loan energy generating facilities and planting of trees. The project will:
- Use farmers credit councils system to provide the services. The existing credit councils
will implement this project; the success will be replicated to the new developed councils.
- Introduce alternative technology of burning soil bricks of using Rice Bran or Palm oil
husks instead of firewood
- Develop and issue loans to purchase roofing materials (iron sheets)
- Develop and issue loans to purchase and install solar panel and its facilities.
- Train local technicians to provide repair and maintenance services and create
employment for them
- Establish solar energy and rice bran & palm oil husk soil bricks burning technology
demonstration centers
- Train farmers how to use rice bran and palm oil husk to burn their soil bricks and for
home cooking.
- Engage farmers to plant and care trees – planting and care trees becomes be part of
loan conditions
- Buy tree seedlings and distribute to farmers
- Provide awareness raising & education on environment protection will be provided during
monthly council meetings
- A total of 500 villages are estimated to benefit from the project.
- A total of 2,500 trees are expected to be planted and grow.
7. Organization current activities
SEF is currently providing microloans and business development skills training to farmers,
microentreprenurs and other active poor groups in districts of Temeke (Dar es salaam Region,
Kyela (Mbeya Region) and Mkuranga (Coast Region)
7. Organization capacity
SEF as an organization has adequate capacity to implement such projects. The capacities
available include,
- Field offices in the project areas
- Well trained, professional and competent personnel in service delivery (8 Field officers and 2
accountants)
- Sound loan trucking, accounting and internal control systems in place and is externally
audited.
- Accounting software in place (Loan Performer)
- Adequate field work transport facilities (5 motorcycles and 2 vehicles)
- Adequate information processing equipments (4 desktop computers, 2 laptop computers,
photocopy machine, fax and 3 printers)
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