13
Global Grassroots 2011
On Finding Stakeholders*
On March 27, 2006, Innocent Baguma founded his literacy project, Let Us Build Ourselves, under a tree in Rwezamenyo. He borrowed some books from a local primary school, and the Ministry of Education gave him two texts more appropriate for his adult women pupils. When the rainy season came, Innocent begged the local authorities to provide a room for his classes.
“Local authorities, they came to start thinking, ‘Okay, they are helping the people.’ They think that, ‘This is an achievement for our sector.’ We… received the different women from different sectors here in Nyarugenge. So they come to say, ‘Ah, this is a good initiative.’
Some local government offices gave Innocent chalk. Others gave pens. Another provided a bare but sturdy room beside the local market. “That’s how they come to see that it’s a good initiative,” Innocent explains. “Helping people – it’s very good. We are teaching people; they are now developing; they are moving from one place to another; they are feeling their value.”
photo by Laya Madsen
photo by Gretchen Wallace
photo by Gretchen Wallace