Mkombozi believes that: “people are beings who transcend themselves – who move forward and look ahead… for whom looking at the past must only be a means of understanding more clearly what and who they are so that they can more wisely build the future.” Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
How we work:
We believe that we can only build a more just society if participation, collaboration and communication in their truest forms are the touchstone of our work. In order to make a lasting difference to children and society and in order for our work to be sustainable, we endeavour to involve children and the wider community at every stage. We strive to practice our values in our work and lives, and to develop people’s skills by capturing local knowledge and scaling it up for wider application. At all times we try to be creative and innovative, transparent and professional.
Learn more about Mkombozi’s approach to "organisational development and effectiveness".
Core values:
- Capturing Tanzanians' potential: through opportunities for the development of children and young people.
- Facilitating the transformation of individuals' knowledge, attitudes and practice: through collaboration with people locally, nationally and internationally to work towards a common goal.
- Facilitating sustainable change: by transferring our innovative and creative good practice to others.
- Life-long learning: by shared commitment to new action and by building inquisitive learners.
- Promoting social justice: by behaving with integrity, fairness and non-discrimination.
- Building a caring society for all: where the dignity of vulnerable groups is upheld and respected.
- Commitment: as demonstrated by professionalism, seriousness, honesty, communication, motivation and initiative.
Participation:
Child participation is a key principle and practice in our work. When children actively participate they express their own needs, consider those of others and develop skills of co-operation, negotiation and problem solving. Participation develops children’s sense that decisions are their own and increases their commitment to making them work.
Justifications for child participation tend to group themselves into two broad categories: those whose starting point is a “rights analysis” (based largely on the Convention on the Rights of the Child); and those whose orientation is much more practical, whereby participation has benefits for children, and for wider society. The benefits referred to by the practical approach include both short-term (immediately observable improvements in the particular project in which the child is involved) and long-term (giving the child an apprenticeship in becoming an active citizen). Importantly, these two schools of thought around child participation converge around the common concern for “the best interests of the child” - it is in these interests that we aim to foster active child participation in all programmes at Mkombozi.
Sustainability:
We know that in order for our work to make a long-lasting difference to children and society it must be sustainable; moreover, a sustainable response must include capacity building. This includes building the capacity of civil society, local government and volunteers to more effectively respond to vulnerable children in the community well into the future. Mkombozi strives to strengthen the performance of civil society actors and to harness the potential of motivated community members to bring about sustainable change from the grassroots. Lessons learned from programmes are documented in user-friendly and practical handbooks to serve as an ongoing support and learning resource.
Mkombozi also believes that building the capacity of its staff is an essential component of the sustainability of our work. Since the staff largely comes from the local community, they have local knowledge that is invaluable to our mission. Thus, all Mkombozi staff agree to the following code when they begin working with us:
- Commitment and practice of social justice, human and children’s rights;
- Ability to be creative and imaginative;
- Commitment to mutual respect, tolerance and team work;
- Desire to take initiative, reflect, learn and ask questions;
- Willingness to take on extra responsibilities and work long hours when needed; and
- Adherence to the highest ethical standards.
Knowledge:
Mkombozi monitors its own work through Participatory Action Research (PAR), the guiding principle of which is to create movement for personal and social transformation. We believe in the need to test the success of our work and to advise future interventions in the light of its learning. For instance, since 2004, Mkombozi has been working closely with ten target schools performing PAR. The targets schools are researching why children are dropping out and playing truant, given Mkombozi’s finding that there is a direct link between truancy, dropping-out, and child migration to the streets. The research is participatory, including active participation of school committees, teachers, students, District Education Officers and community leaders. It is hoped that this research will lead to a reduction in number of children coming to the streets, improved attitude and practice amongst parents, and improved teacher morale.
Learn more about Mkombozi’s PAR approach.
Creativity:
Mkombozi knows that children respond best to creative and innovative ideas. When they are having fun and are being creative children want to participate. We also know that children need professional responses and for their voices to be listened to. As such, we strive to make a long-lasting difference to children and society by means of a creative, innovative, transparent and professional approach.
For instance, Mkombozi’s “Theatre for Development” taps the potential of our children - it enables them to analyse problems they encounter on the street and come up with practical solutions to deal with them through drama. By playing the roles of different characters, children can say things that would not be possible in their own voices. In fact, Mkombozi has been pioneering the use of theatre in local villages to advocate and educate the communities about the needs of street children and about children’s rights. Local communities’ members are often encouraged to take part in the plays so they can have a say about decisions made in the situation.
Consider also Mkombozi pioneering efforts in implementing Tanzania’s first “Big Brothers / Big Sisters” program. We have introduced this innovative programme to match wise, trusted, caring, and compassionate adult volunteers with Mkombozi children in one-on-one relationships. This offers vulnerable children friendship, support, guidance, and encouragement.
