KOMAZA

KOMAZA is a Non Profit Organization that develops eucalyptus with smallholder farmers living in East Africa’s unfertile and drought-prone regions. It was founded in 2006 by Tevis Howard.[1] Komaza is registered as an official non-governmental organization (NGO) in Kenya and a 501(c)(3) charitable organization in the United States. It is incorporated in the State of California.

History

Komaza was founded in 2006 by Tevis Howard while he was carrying out a research project with the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Labs, a medical research facility in Kilifi, Kenya, a coastal town of 100,000 people.[2]

Howard launched Komaza and has dedicated more than a decade to growing and strengthening the organization to the point of planting 1,000 hectares over this time.[3]

Tree Farming Project

Komaza's has a small scale sustainable tree-farming project. The organization’s model is a combination of microfinance, sustainable forestry and conservation being implemented in Costal Kenya. Working through a village-based farmer extension network, Komaza identifies interested farmer groups under the advice and consent of community leadership and then provides them with appropriate agriculture inputs and tools on credit – such as improved seeds and fertilizer, on-farm training and support, and complete vertically integrated value chain services so that they can access markets and transform their previously unproductive land into valuable tree farms. Farmers can then reinvest this profit to start their own business, pay school fees for their children and receive improved healthcare.[4]

Komaza structures allows it in recovering its costs and earning a small profit from each farmer, which is then supposed to be reinvested in program expansion and holistic community development. According to Komaza, this allows the organization to become a "self-sustaining” and “self-scaling” partner for rural development. The organization's are of influence is the Kilifi Region of Kenya.

Accomplishments

As of 2016, Komaza had partnered with nearly 7,000 farm families to plant more than 2,000,000 trees in Kenya’s Kilifi County.[5] In 2008, Komaza was awarded grants from The Mulago Foundation[6] and The Draper Richards Foundation and chosen to enter their highly selective portfolios of social enterprises.[7] During the same year, Howard was awarded a Rainer Arnhold Fellowship, which provided a two-year stipend to pursue Komaza full-time.

Funding

Komaza has received funding from the Mulago Foundation,[6] Draper Richards Foundation,[7] and Jasmine Social Investments.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "Popcasts : Tevis Howard: Microforestry". PopTech. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  2. ↑ Archived February 2, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ "Tevis Howard turns his passion from science to fighting poverty in Kenya through a self-started microforestry program". Abroadview.org. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  4. ↑ "Our Solution". KOMAZA. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  5. ↑ "Accomplishments". KOMAZA. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
  6. 1 2 "Komaza (portfolio page)". Mulago Foundation. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
  7. 1 2 Archived January 16, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ↑ "Who We Fund (click KOMAZA for more details)". Jasmine Social Investments. Retrieved 2012-08-14.
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