Skip to main content

My Story about the BAREFOOT EDUCATION FOR AFRIKA TRUST... FOUNDATIONS AND FUTURE

In my own Words, Barefoot means, 
"simplifying every complex and exclusive system to solicit and harness the contributable value from a rich and broad range of stakeholders (for Afrika particularly the vast rural)… It is breaking the walls of class, language, race and even geographical location and creating new platforms of freedom, rebuilding confidence even in societies’ ‘least’ sophisticated groups. It is reengaging, collaborating, rebuilding capacity of rural Afrika to challenge contemporary knowledge based on the rich Afrikan experience and wisdom.” 

The basis of the Barefoot Principle is: "Knowledge Exists only at the Point of Action and Decision Making"

 Now, about BEAT

In 2009, a long conceived idea of pursuing a “Holistic Afrikan Education Model” took its first step to life by the establishment of the Barefoot Education for Afrika Trust (BEAT). This was the beginning of a journey; a journey starting from a confluence of people and ideas of similar belief, values and a united envisaged destiny of an Afrikan “Barefoot” University.

After working with some of the people who have laid the foundations of BEAT, such as Prof Mandi Rukuni (Director) and Dr Mabel Hungwe (Chairperson) I have developed my own understanding of this Barefoot philosophy.

In a paragraph, I would say, "Barefoot" is the code-name for “simplifying every complex and exclusive system to solicit and harness the contributable value from a rich and broad range of stakeholders (for Afrika particularly the vast rural)… It is breaking the walls of class, language, race and even geographical location and creating new platforms of freedom, rebuilding confidence even in societies’ ‘least’ sophisticated groups. It is reengaging, collaborating, rebuilding capacity of rural Afrika to challenge contemporary knowledge based on the rich Afrikan experience and wisdom.” 

It may be education, it may be technology, it may be agricultural research and extension, it may be business management and entrepreneurship… whatever it is, I believe it can go higher for Afrika by “going Barefoot” (a phrase I will constantly use on this blog).
So, here is the BEAT philosophy and how BEAT works…

BEAT Beliefs (taken from the BEAT Profile Document 2009)

BEAT operates on the belief that knowledge exists only at the point of action and decision making…  That is, the point where information is converted to knowledge.
BEAT operates on the principles of:
1. Action learning; 
2. Participatory approaches to developing content (be it technical content, policy content etc.); and, 
3. Co-creation of knowledge.

BEAT Activities

Over the past years BEAT has been growing steadily. The past two years however have shown great prospects for accelerated growth of BEAT and the “Barefoot Revolution” in the coming decades. The African Union declared 2013 "The Year of African Renaissance" indicating significant political will to “Go Barefoot.” In partnership with organizations such as the Swedish Cooperative Centre, BEAT has played a pivotal role in the establishment of peer-learning activities as a community development tool as well as for professional development. 

Fore more information on BEAT visit: www.BeatAfrika.org 

Go Barefoot! 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

And they lived dairy ever after...

The Story of Kiambaa Rural Dairy Cooperative The Fin4ag International Conference held in Nairobi from the 14th to the 18th of July 2014 set in motion a number of evolutionary processes, especially among young people whose impact on agriculture in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific is going to be revolutionary. A recent news article by the main organizers of the conference, the Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) supports this.  As a young African agriculture enthusiast, one of my encounters with destiny at the Fin4ag conference was during the field trips when we visited Kiambaa Rural Dairy Cooperative and met two happy couples that are living "dairy ever after" in rural Kenya, Mr and Mrs Nyaka and Mr and Mrs Njeka.  The two couples shared their life stories and how dairy farming through the network of a Savings and Credit Cooperative (SACCO) is impacting positively on their families and communities. I was astonished by how these hum...
Post a Comment
Read more

My best 2 minute lecture on Agricultural Development so far...

"When we invest together, good things grow" IFAD, 2014 I have never heard it expressed in a simpler and more powerful way before. I happened to bump into one of IFAD’s videos on the Year of family farming, and I must say, this short video is one of the best lectures I have had on agricultural investment and development so far. You can watch the video here  (right click to open it in a new tab or new window). A screen shot from the video Below, I share with you three main insights from the video and my short homework exercises on “what I learnt.” Insight Number 1: One third of the global population have their livelihoods dependent on small farms, that’s approximately 2.3 billion people and they work extremely hard for long hours every day, struggling to feed their families and educate their children. What I learnt: I realized just how important productivity and profitability increasing technologies are to helping change the world. The need for more...
3 comments
Read more

Zimbabwe’s limited fiscal space is constraining agricultural growth and development

Photo Credit: M. Granados - CIMMYT Defining fiscal space Fiscal space is defined by the balance between government revenue (i.e. tax), denoted by T and government expenditure, denoted by G, through time. For instance, if G < T, then there is a fiscal surplus, but if G > T, then there is a fiscal deficit. A sustained or perpetual deficit through time results in build-up of annual deficits, leading to an unsustainable high debt. With a high level of debt, the government cannot borrow on the international market, and its ability to finance future deficits, i.e. the fiscal space is limited.  Zimbabwe currently endures very limited fiscal space since debt distress is undermining the capacity of the country to service its debt obligations. Accumulation of external payment arrears since 2000 (including interest charges) has resulted in public and publicly guaranteed debt reaching 51% of GDP and was projected to reach US$7.2 billion by December 2014 (Chinamasa, 2014). F...
Post a Comment
Read more