Of all global aid given in 2022, over a quarter of it went to Africa. Each year, charity organizations, individuals, and governments seek to aid Africa. But what is the end goal of these efforts? On the surface, the answer may seem to be “feed the hungry” or “bring medicine to the sick.” While this is true, the goal is ultimately to create sustainability in East Africa.
At Okoa Refuge, we serve East Africa and aid its people through the power of the Gospel. To achieve this, we believe firmly in sustainability for East African communities. Today, we’ll go over what this looks like at Okoa.
Have you ever heard the following phrase? “Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” While this phrase holds wisdom for many different situations, it’s especially true for charity. At Okoa, we want to see self-sufficient, independent communities in East Africa—this can only be accomplished when we build sustainability into our community development programs.
But our definition of sustainability goes beyond just the independence of the community. We also encourage our programs to use the natural resources around them, whether that’s building a house from the mud on their property, using the trees that grow around them as walls, or growing their own food or products to sell. East Africa is abundant in natural resources, and we want its communities to learn how to thrive using the things they see every day.
To ensure we’re creating self-sustaining communities, all our branches follow a similar process for sustainability.
The first step is to identify a need in a community. For example, Collaborative Community Initiatives (CCI), a branch-off organization Okoa works with and who follows this process, identified that young, single mothers needed prenatal care and job education to support their children. This launched their Maternal Health Program. Other needs could include skill education, establishing a church, or medical needs.
Once the need has been identified, it’s time to implement the program in the community or communities that need it most. Frequently, when these programs settle into communities, residents will share the news that there is a program in their village that genuinely provides the assistance they promise. If word of mouth is not enough, we also have workers seek out people who would benefit from the program and offer them help.
The key to success for these programs is local empowerment. While we love our mission teams, we work hard to ensure the majority—if not all—of our workers, pastors, missionaries, and community initiative volunteers are locals to the area.
People are more receptive to help when it comes from someone who understands their culture, language, and customs. Plus, by empowering locals to work in these initiatives, we set the program up for long-term success, as the locals who are already involved bring more of their friends, family, and community into the program.
With each of our community initiatives, our ultimate goal is for the local church to sustain the program as it’s still needed. That’s why we only support these programs for a few years before we let them thrive on their own. In this time, we teach the program how to be self-sufficient and empower the community to take ownership of the work. Furthermore, we’ve found that by putting a time limit on our presence in a community, we can create a deeper impact with the time we have.
When we’re gone, the church takes over and ensures the success of the program and the community. The local church will be responsible for keeping the community accountable to each other and fostering an environment where neighbors care and help each other. For example, if we give a family a pig for farming and that pig has a litter of piglets, the family is required to give one pig to another family in the community and one pig to the church. This model not only incentivizes raising good, strong pigs, but it also creates a community that can rely on each other rather than outside help.
Whether it’s helping survivors of gender-based violence, creating sustainable communities, or even starting a church, we believe in the power of equipping individuals for success through their local church and community. Sustainability in East African communities can only be achieved through the power of God and the work of the church.
If you’re passionate about empowering local communities to live self-sufficient lives, you can join our mission by becoming a monthly partner. Your generous donation will play a crucial role in starting these programs and securing long-term success for the people of East Africa.
