Millenium Villages Project

Wow! We know that Gemma Sisia thinks big. We know that Jeffrey Sachs thinks big. But how big is big? ‘Don’t ask little of me’ certainly applies to these people!

Gemma is growing the school at a rapid rate and has the long term aim of reproducing the hugely successful formula across Tanzania and East Africa. Jeffrey has identified the key factors that maintain the cycle of extreme poverty. He has established a project that will break this cycle in a five-year timeframe for the cost of US$110 per person per year. He believes that after five years of help (sufficient to leverage the threshold effect) poor villages can function sustainably without sinking back into extreme poverty.

Millenium Village, Bonsaaso, in Ghana

To put his ideas into practice, he has established the Millenium Villages Project which is run under the auspices of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. Millenium Villages started in 2004 with the Sauri village of 5,000 people in Kenya. In the first year, food production quadrupled with the help of fertiliser and new seed varieties, the health clinic re-opened and a midday meal was provided at the three primary schools.

To extend the Millenium Villages project, Sachs drew on his formidable support network to found Millenium Promise. In the first year, 2005, Millenium Promise raised US$100 million and now Millenium Villages is working in 78 villages in 10 African countries.

Sachs is a very persuasive man. He has the evidence to support his views and the heart to care.

There are many questions to answer about what happens next to these villages in the complexities of a whole economy, but there can be little doubt that this on-the-spot assistance to the poorest of villages will make a life-and-death difference to the 500,000 people who won’t have to watch one in four of their children die before the age of five.

Gemma Sisia and Jeffrey Sachs are both people to watch. They have big hearts and big goals. You, like George Soros who gave US$50 million to Millenium Promise, can help by giving money, encouraging others to give, and lobbying your government to meet its promise to lift foreign aid to 0.7% of GDP.

Ours can be the last human generation to know extreme poverty.

Don't ask little of me

Don’t ask little of me, you might get it.

Aphorisms can say it all. Large ideas and big goals have a force that lifts us with energy. When I was growing up the problem of world hunger seemed massive and unsolvable. Jeffrey Sachs reports that a generation ago half the world’s population lived on less than $1 a day, but now this proportion has shrunk to one-quarter. At the same time, world wealth has grown massively.

Students at St Judes with gifts for orphans and hospitals

What was once an overwhelming problem has become a large-but-manageable problem. Let’s redefine it like this, big-but-doable, and give ourselves the energy to tackle it meaningfully.

And while we are re-orienting our thoughts so that we are prepared to give some of our surplus to helping the poorest people get a foothold on the ladder of prosperity, let’s keep in view the courage and hard work of the desperately poor. They do not have the luxury to ask little of themselves.

The children who attend the School of St Jude come to school eagerly. They stay after school and come again on Saturday for extra tuitition. They are ready to learn.

The most exciting thing about St. Jude's is that the kids LOVE it! They love going to school and they take pride in everything they do. I have watched my sponsor kids go from very shy, hesistant kids, to outgoing, enthusiastic students! I enjoyed the opportunity I was givien while working with Students for International Change, to find children within the community who would fit the profile. I love that the school is the best in town, but strives to reach out to the less fortunate.

Laura Hartstone, USA

So, I would encourage you to open a window to new perspectives and new ideas. Let the energy of new challenges refresh you.

Help the next generation of Tanzania children get a foot on the ladder of prosperity. Their own hard work will take them up the following steps, if only they have the chance to start.