Alakira Maasai Economic Support Initiative NFP (ALMASI)

Maasai economic situation: The Maasai of Tanzania and Kenya one of the best-known tribes in East their livelihood is based on livestock keeping. They are well known all over the world for their long-existing cultures and traditions. However, the economic and social condition of the Maasai is deteriorating because of several calamities.

Livestock such as cattle, goats, and sheep the principal source of income for the Maasai communities, are traded for other livestock, cash, or livestock products such as milk, meat, and skin and hides. The Maasai sell livestock in the short terms immediate family needs such as buying other types of food, schooling, and hospital emergencies. Individuals, families, and clans have created close connections through the exchange of cattle.

To confront the income diversifications challenges (refer the problem statement), ALMASI works to facilitate the mind shift of the Maasai by introducing income diversification resilience strategies that support Maasai without depleting their traditions. The initiative makes sure that the households have an alternative source of income to rely on if a major shock like drought and consequent loss of livestock occurs and affect the current dependent income generating strategies.

Problem statement: In recent decades, the influence of the government, monetization of the traditional/indigenous economy, formal education, formal religion, land tenure changes, climate change, demographic changes have all influenced the culture, traditions, and place of Maasai, thus putting their social and economic livelihood at higher risk. Most of what used to be land owned by Maasai has already been taken over, with less compensation, for private farms and for government investment projects and, even worse, by wildlife parks or private hunting privileges. The Maasai are mostly left with the dreariest and slightest fertile areas for livestock keeping. If all these problems will not be addressed by using sustainable, amicable, and bottom-up approaches, the noble Maasai tribe and their prestigious long-life tradition will become extinct. ALMASI works to bring economic survival initiatives, making sure the livelihood of the Maasai is sustained in a way that absorbs shocks in the current situation where dependency to livestock is high.

The stress produced by the COVID-19 pandemic magnified the problems in rural communities in Tanzania. Their livelihood has dramatically changed, and if the pandemic continues, it will cause severe effects. This is because of the lack of enough resources and knowledge about prevention and treatment. The focus of ALAMSI is to support women, girls, children, and their communities and to brighten their lives by bringing in-depth skills and knowledge that promote awareness, sharpen skills, and overcome the ongoing devastating development issues holding them back – especially the climate change effects and diminishing of livelihoods that put their communities in unimaginable risks. ALMASI believes that women, girls, and children have a notable role within their communities. Women economically empowered through income generating activities and simplified initiatives while children and girls are supported through a Scholarship program that aim to support bright and poor girls, who never had thought of obtaining a formal education because of economic barriers within their families.