A symposium held in Tanzania with ECHO East Africa and World Vision Tanzania
Dear Colleagues from World Vision Tanzania and Amaranth Institute/Empower Tanzania,
ECHO East Africa, Amaranth Institute and World Vision Tanzania successfully held a joint symposium on improving nutrition in dry land areas from August 7-9th at Naura Springs Hotel in Arusha, Tanzania. The event was blessed with 135 participants from East and Southern African countries (Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo,Zimbabwe) and USA.
Challenging morning devotions were enjoyed each day from Pastor Joseph Mayala. Morning plenary sessions and afternoon sessions were clearly appreciated by the participants, mainly centered on improving nutrition, producing quality food in drylands, post-harvest processing,mainstreaming gender and changing one’s mindset in relation to development issues.
Together with these sessions participants learned about the promotion of Grain Amaranth, how to grow it and the utilization of this under-utilized crop. Cross cutting issues in relation to best agriculture practices and nutrition were also presented.
Presenters came from various countries andinstitutions across Africa and a few from the US. All of the edited Powerpoint presentations are being uploaded onto the ECHO website: www.ECHOcommunity.org, and thereby can be accessed and viewed by all our network partners, both those who attended the event, and our worldwide network.
Videos of the morning plenaries and select afternoon breakout sessions are also being edited and will likewise be accessible by all on the same website within a few weeks. An accounting of the funds received and expended at this event will be forthcoming to share with the co-organizing institutions within this week.
ECHO East Africa would like to take this opportunity to express our deep appreciation especially to the directors and management staff who assisted in the planning of this event, for the high level of collaboration in the planning and execution of this event, for the high quality presentations given as per the recommendations of the partners, and for the encouragement which this event gave to each participant by knowledge-sharing, networking and mutual support and camaraderie.
It is our hope that this will be the first among many future collaborative symposia, and that we will be quick to forgive any disappointments or unrealized expectations, as we work to make the next events even better.
Respectively submitted,
Erwin Kinsey
Vice President, ECHO East Africa Impact Center