 Everybody, my name is Joy Mochacha, as you all know. Welcome very much to Tuesday Entrepreneurship at Y in the Morning. Remember that you can reach us and talk, sorry, and actually fill in your thoughts and your views about the discussion that we're about to have. Let me leave you with our handles first before we begin and before I introduce our guests. Remember, those handles are Facebook Y254 channel and also on YouTube. You can watch this interview much, much more on Y254 underscore channel. And you can also find us on Instagram at Y254 underscore channel. I'm always at Joy underscore Mochacha. Today is Tuesday Entrepreneurship and we focus on different people who are doing different things, both for the families and for the communities, mostly in business manners. And who we've got on the, who we've got on stage today is Mr. John Coonrod. Hello, Joy, thanks for having me. Welcome on stage. Thank you. And we hear that you are into community development and community empowerment. Yes. Yes. And so your title would then be? Well, I coordinate the movement for community led development, which is a global civil society initiative of organizations that really believe strongly in empowering grassroots people to take charge of their own lives and destiny. Okay. Oh, to empower grassroots people to take charge of their own lives and destinies. Correct. That's amazing work. It's exciting work. Yes. And your program, well, you first came to Kenya in 1989. Yes. Is that the first time that you decided to start working with community development or did it come later on? I started working with community development in the 70s. So it's been a lifelong passion of mine to, you know, one of my heroes was Mahatma Gandhi. And on, tomorrow is his death anniversary and he left behind on his desk, one little slip of paper. And it said, no matter what action you're contemplating, think of the face of the poorest person you've ever seen and ask whether the action you contemplate will restore that person to control over their own life and destiny. He didn't say make sure they're fed or clothed or housed. He said, make sure that they are in charge, that they have real voice, decision-making power in their own lives. Because that's what human beings want and need, it's the dignity that comes from being able to affect the issues that you care about. Yes, that's very true. And so what you're doing is important work. I'd like to know the name of your organization so that, because I don't know if our viewers are aware. Okay, well, I work for The Hunger Project, which is one NGO. And there's several. Yeah, there's thousands, millions of NGOs. I didn't know which one to start with. Mine is called The Hunger Project, but why I'm here is because we are providing the secretariat for this global movement of NGOs. So there are 10 NGOs here in Kenya, such as the Africa Capacity Alliance, FHI 360, Global Communities, Heifer International, Newer International, the Johnator, Vecocap and VAP to local groups and PACT. And these groups have been working for the last year to launch a Kenya chapter of the movement for community-led development. I see. And when it comes to The Hunger Project, how was it formed? How did you first start off? Well, The Hunger Project was started in the wake of the mid-70s famine in Bangladesh and the first World Food Conference. And we, like a lot of other people at that time, felt that traditional charity models weren't gonna solve the world's problems. We needed more of an empowerment model that would really recognize that the solutions to the challenges lie in the creativity of every human being, of young people, of women and men, and everyone can make a contribution. And so how can you transform those top-down models of development into a real bottom-up empowerment process that, as Gandhi said, puts people in charge? Oh, of course. And that's what's exciting about Kenya, because Kenya, under its new constitution, has moved real power and real resources down to the county level. Almost no other African country has done that. And so I and others around the world have been rooting for the success of Kenya's county government system because in other parts of the world, this is what has succeeded in places like Korea and Brazil and Indonesia and the Philippines. Rapid, broad-based progress has been achieved through community-led development. So seeing Kenya go this route has been really inspiring around the world. Okay, and I've noticed you've said something that I think will pique the interests of people who are listening. Every single person has a part to play in community men, women, even the youth, like you said. No, especially the youth. And we'll touch on that a little bit later on. And also another thing you've said is that Kenyan counties have actually made, put measures in place for people to be able to find development in all sectors. And so I think that's part of what we call the SDG goals that are coming. I'm wondering whether you are also incorporated into that. Yes, I have my little SDG pin on. There it is, the 17 goals of the Sustainable Development Goals. And we launched this movement on the day that the SDGs were launched in New York in September 25th, 2015. So we seized that opportunity of the launching to remind the world community and everyone that the challenges of this era can only be solved through people taking charge of their own lives. And that women, youth, every marginalized group has to be empowered to solve these problems. And so that has gotten real traction. There are now more than 60 NGOs that are members of this movement around the world. We've launched seven chapters, national chapters so far in Africa and some in Latin America, Asia. So we really see that this is the only way to achieve the SDGs is by mobilizing the energy of every citizen in partnership with their local government for a sustainable solution. That's true. And so let's look a little bit at the future. Now that we've looked at the present, when it comes to Kenya as a whole, you've said that these measures that have been put in place by county officials that this is a good area to start with. And so what do you foresee for Kenya if you're looking at community development, how can I say, community development, the focus on it. And you're seeing that it's going to be a success in conjunction with the SDG goals. What do you find or what do you see for Kenya in the next few years? Well, I think the big four push that's going on, these that the president has stated of working for food security, working for affordable health, affordable housing, for increasing manufacturing, these are things that touch everybody's life. We all have to eat, we all have to be housed. This is something that, but solving those in every village is going to be different. That's true. What will secure food security in this county or that county is going to be very different. So the creativity of people, the engagement of youth are going to be the pathway to solutions. All right. And when it comes to the youth, what are your plans for them? When it comes to the hunger project, is there something that they can do to maybe assist if they're interested in it and as well as what will the hunger project do for our youth people? Well, the movement members in Kenya, a lot of them have a lot of experience mobilizing youth and creating space within communities for the voice of youth to be heard. Heifer International, for example, has a big youth entrepreneurship development program. And they're one of the key members of the movement here in Kenya. The other groups, FHI 360, the Africa Capacity Alliance, global communities all have been working with youth. So there's really two parts. One is to develop the leadership of youth and develop their own organizations. And the other is really get us non-youth. I'm a non-youth to listen and respect and support the initiatives of youth. So if those two things go hand in hand, then, and I think, frankly, even if we non-youth fail to create space for youth, the youth are going to demand their own space. That's true. You know, I have enormous faith in the creativity of youth, but everything we can do to create more space for their voices to be heard and decision-making for them to organize their own spaces, their own organizations, set their own priorities in partnership with local government. That can go a long ways. And you will be launching the sea-elding movement. On January the 30th, here in Kenya. And what are some of the areas or gaps you find that the CLD will address when it comes to advancing development, community development? Well, you know, county governance is new. So some of the counties have, and the Constitution also calls for directness and engagement in county government. So some of the counties have been very successful in that. McQuainey County, for example, is this week hosting thousands of village-level meetings to develop local plans and bubble those up through the clusters and wards to the county level. Other counties are still learning how to do that. So it's, you know, it's a bright new day in Kenya with these counties, but they're quite new. So how can we help them? How can the diverse local organizations in Kenya really support counties in achieving those goals of mobilizing communities? This is the community mobilization is the special expertise of civil society. You know, that's, we have a lot of experience in mobilizing communities and in working in partnership with governments to really create sustainable solutions at the local level. Right, okay, and another important thing is also allowing people or encouraging them to be in charge of the destinies, as you said. Right, and that requires a change in mindset. Yeah, I was going to ask because this is not about putting something in somebody's hand, okay, in some areas, yes. This is something that has to do with actually changing people's mindsets. And that is something that's quite difficult to do. Yes, you don't teach a man to fish. You actually cut the barb wire off the pond, removing the obstacles to people's creativity, removing the obstacles to people's full participation and development. But it's what everybody wants. Yeah. Everybody wants voice in the decisions that affect their lives. Everybody wants to move forward. Everybody wants to learn how to take charge of their destinies in fact. And to contribute. Everyone wants to contribute. That's true, but they don't know how in some cases. But this is the time to learn. Yes. If we're gonna achieve the future we want in the villages, in the wards, in the counties, then this is the time for people to really step forward. Change, stop waiting. Stop thinking someone else is gonna solve this and step forward and make it happen. Stop expecting someone else to do it for you. Yeah. And so moving on, I noticed you had mentioned that in some African countries, this kind of community development movement has not necessarily been successful, maybe because county governments have not included these measures in place. Well, first of all, they don't have money. So in most of the budgeting of most African countries, you know, here 20% is reserved for the counties. In a lot, in other countries, it might be only two or 3%. In Ghana, which is one of the more decentralized, it's 7.5%. But we think 20% is the absolute minimum share of a fair share of public resources that local government should have. Because even if you get everybody all mobilized, if they don't have any public resources, they're not gonna get much done. Exactly. So this devolution of public resources, a fair share of public resources into local communities is really what's needed. Oh, I see an image. Yes, there you are. What was happening here? Well, this is the International Food Policy Research Institute. They're a member of this movement. And so this was one of the introductory presentations of the movement. We had, at that movement, we had Relief International Speaking. We had Heifer International Speaking. We had a number of groups that are really committed to this approach. Coming together, the Aga Khan Foundation is there. The Aga Khan Foundation. Care International is there. All right. So this was a launching event at IFPRI in Washington. In Washington. Investing in communities, key to the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, movement for community-led development. That was in 2016. Right. And as you're going to launch the movement for community-led development in Kenya on the 20th, sorry, on the 30th of January, since you've already mentioned that in other African countries, the percentage that is allocated for such ventures is quite low, what is the next chapter after Kenya? Great question. We want every country to have one. And Heifer International, for instance, has a young woman who's very passionate about this in Rwanda. So she's coming to this launching to see how to launch a chapter in Rwanda. So I would bet that'll probably be the next chapter. Rwanda. Yes, but Tanzania, we would love to have a chapter there. We have a chapter in Uganda. They're going to be represented at the launch tomorrow. My colleagues from Ethiopia are going to be there. We really think that this is the pathway for everyone. And since everyone, there's lots of groups already working in every country. So if they could just come together, meet with their government, really just start the conversation. Because this has moved slowly. Governments change slowly. That's very true. We need to get going on this. We need to take some time. And so winding up our discussion, I'd like to know for anyone who is interested in joining your movement, what is their criteria? How do they go about doing it? Because someone may be watching and thinking, I'm really interested in this. I would really love to. And especially because we focus on youth, this is a good chance to get the youth in. Exactly. So let's say there's a young person watching. What is the criteria they have to follow to get to work with your movement? Very good. So the movement is made up of organizations, civil society organizations. So you have to first join one of those. There are individual members. They're organizational members. They have to be a legitimate registered organization in Kenya. They have to have a public commitment to community-led development. And they have to be willing to work together. You know, it's been a very competitive environment for civil society groups, but we are calling for them to really work together. So the groups have to be willing to work together. Those three things, legitimate, committed, and willing to work together. Legitimate organization, committed to that organization, and willing to work together with your movement. Right. Oh, that's amazing. And if you go to the website, community-leddev.org, slash Kenya, you'll see the first 10 organizations that have joined. So that would be a good starting place for anyone who wants to get involved. Okay. So a good starting place for anyone is to visit the website. I would like for you to repeat it again, actually. So community-leddev.org, all one word, community-leddev.org slash Kenya. Community-leddev.org slash Kenya is where you're going to find a list of organizations in which you can join and start off with when it comes to community-led development. So we've had a wonderful guest, Mr. John Coonrod, who is a community development leader, and he has come to launch his program here in Kenya, his chapter here in Kenya, and we wish him all the best from Y254 Kenya. Remember, this has been Tuesday's entrepreneurship, why in the morning to be exact, if there's any views and any thoughts you have on Mr. John Coonrod and what he has to say and the work he has to do, you can always reach him or you can reach this channel and also we'll find a way to tag him because unless you're comfortable sharing your social media handles. Oh, absolutely. Okay. At community-leddev, we're on Twitter, we're on Facebook, community-leddev, you can find us anywhere. Community-leddev on Twitter, on Facebook, everywhere. So all you have to do is hashtag, why in the morning, hashtag Tuesday entrepreneurship and speak to this wonderful man if you're interested in working with his movement. My name is Joy Mochache, this is Y254 channel, and remember you can reach me on joy underscore mochache. Thank you so much, Mr. Coonrod. Thank you, Joy, for having me. Thank you.