BACKGROUND
Masindi Community Foundation, MCF, is a nonprofit organization created by the communities of Masindi district in the year 2011 to nurture and strengthen community philanthropy so as to build social capital for promoting and facilitating asset based development as an approach that enables local citizens establish and manage sustainable social enterprises capable of improving their liveli
hoods and helping them achieve poverty relief. A social enterprise is basically a self-help group of people who work together to improve their livelihoods. poultry enterprise but meet regularly to share and learn from each other’s best practices, undertake collective marketing, meet regularly to save part of their earnings and receive low interest loans from the savings pool so as to invest into their businesses, venture into other micro-enterprises or meet other needs and also undertake collective marketing. And to benefit from diversity or to venture into other micro-enterprises like apiary, rice production, cassava production etc, members meet and learn other production skills/knowledge from members of other social enterprises eg. learning about effective maize pre and post-harvest management from members operating maize enterprise. MCF organizes such learning and sharing meetings between two different social enterprises upon requests by members. Vision:
Making Masindi a better place to live for everyone. Objectives:
1. Promote asset based development model that enables communities establish and manage sustainable social enterprises capable of improving their livelihoods and helping them achieve poverty relief.
2. Support through grantmaking initiatives of formally established community based organizations, CBOs directed towards tackling issues which negatively impact on the social enterprises.
3. Establish, promote and maintain sound community-rooted growth funds, to facilitate and promote asset based development as a model that enables communities establish and manage sustainable social enterprises capable of improving their livelihoods and helping them achieve poverty relief.
4. Facilitate establishment of saving schemes for social enterprises to enable members access very low interest loans to invest in their enterprises and hence increase income levels.
5. Facilitate linkages between social enterprises and prospective markets like agricultural companies, schools and other agencies.
6. Work in partnership with other development partners to ensure that key services like extension services, inputs, access to finance and business development services are availed to the social enterprises.
7. Engage other development actors like the government to create favorable environment for social enterprises. OUR THEORY FOR POVERTY ERADICATION
Masindi Community Foundation works on the principle that for communities to move forward towards achieving sustained socio-economic development, they need to define themselves by their assets (human, social, financial, natural and physical assets) and capacities (skills and talents), rather than by their problems. In so doing, energy is directed toward opportunities at the community level, while remaining conscious of how the policy environment could be changed to further strengthen citizens' capacity to drive their own development out of the poverty cycle. However, most community development organizations often ignore the fact that communities have capacities and assets. Without prior knowledge of community capacities and assets, community development organizations often impose their own policies on communities and allocate development aid to projects that do not address the core issues in communities. These projects often do not achieve the intended objectives and are thus simply a waste of financial resources. This raises question of ‘’Who is actually benefiting from development aid?’’ in a region where poverty relief is not forthcoming. Masindi Community Foundation exists to bridge the gap between community capacities and opportunities that will strengthen and expand their asset base. We strongly believe that building the asset base is the only sure way to establishing sustainable social enterprises capable of improving livelihoods and moving communities out of the poverty cycle. GOVERNANCE
The General Assembly is the supreme authority of MCF, which is attended by the Board of Trustees, and the secretariat; with the secretariat doesn’t have voting rights. The Board of Trustees consists of 12 persons; whereby each of the twelve (12) subcounties is represented by one (1) trustee. The trustees elect amongst themselves the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and Secretary. The elections are conducted after every two years in the Annual General Assembly, following nominations of candidates for each post by members present and voting. The Board of Trustees holds and manages all the assets of the foundation. The Board of Trustees also acts as a link between the foundation and its constituent community groups. The secretariat of MCF is headed by Chief Executive Officer; the other staff members being Social Development and Research Officer, Program Associates under all the four programmatic areas, Fund and Account Manager and Receptionists. CONTACT
Masindi Community Foundation ,
Plot 54 Persee Street,
P.O. BOX 368, Masindi, Uganda. Email: [email protected]
Web: www.mcfuganda.org
Tel: +256465420090
Fax: +256465420090
