KENYA: Missio Invest Africa Briefs AMECEA Secretaries General On New Developments
At the meeting of the AMECEA Secretaries General which has taken place at AMECEA’s Secretariat on 4th October 2019, the Missio Invest Africa regional team which is based in Nairobi, Kenya, gave a progress report highlighting the appointment of investment managers responsible for Conferences as one of the new developments since the initiative started.
The Regional Coordinator Rev. Fr Celestino Bundi informed the Secretaries General that the Invest Africa initiative begun in 2013 following Pope Francis’ call to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome ‘to give a voice to those who suffer from hunger and to care for their common home’.
“Following this call, a network of the Catholic Church’s Pontifical Missionary Society noticed that here in Africa the Church has plenty of under-developed land that can be transformed into ecological solutions to food insecurity through an investment of funds and technical assistance,” he said adding that the ultimate goal of Mission Invest Africa is to support a farm’s role as a community benefactor rather than a beneficiary.
Five years down the line, Missio Invest Africa has learnt from experiences on the ground that there is need to free the hands of National Pontifical Missionary Society (PMS) who coordinate the initiatives in the country by appointing investment managers who will be directly involved in giving support to the investment projects in the respective Conferences.
“We are also making a shift from giving the purely academic support through scholarships to providing for hand-on skills on how to ecologically manage the farms so that they can be more efficient, productive and profitable. In other words, Missio Invest Africa wants to help dioceses and Religious congregations to become agri-prenuers so that they can help more people in need,” said Fr Bundi who indicated that in so doing, the farms will not only provide for food security to the surrounding communities but also serve as a resource to improve their livelihood.
“We are moving from running these projects as start-ups of US $50,000 to making them bigger stable business-like project worth US $ 1 million and more,” he continued.
Missio Invest Africa has requested the Secretaries General in AMECEA region to support the initiative as they strengthen the regional office as well as the national offices through the appointment of the country investment managers, saying that these are the officers who will be bringing project proposals to the regional office for screening, and the regional office to the team in New York.
Fr Bundi requested the Secretaries General’s help to spread this message so that it reaches out to all dioceses as well as to the Religious Congregations in their respective Conferences.
On his part, Mission Investment Africa’s Chief Lending Officer, Keith Polo emphasized the same saying, “What is very new as of now is our presence on the ground through the country investment managers. These are investment managers will relieve the burden from the National PMS directors who are the coordinators of the initiative and are often very busy with so many other activities in the Conferences.
“We started off with smaller projects but now we want to work on bigger projects. In order to do these types of projects, that is where we need people line these managers,” said Mr. Polo.
Missio Invest Africa has a regional office team in Nairobi comprising of five officers: The Regional Coordinator Fr. Bundi; the Chief Lending Officer and Regional Director, Mr. Keith Polo; the Country Investment Officer for Kenya/Uganda, Ms Albertina Muema; the Country Investment Officer for Malawi/Zamba, Ms Mulenga; and the Office Secretary, Ms. Regina Kathambi.
In the region, Mission Invest Africa is already working 21 active projects: 12 in Kenya; 3 in Uganda; 4 in Malawi; and 2 in Zambia. These projects add up to an investment of approximately USD $3 million. According to the report, the initiative is interested in building the capacity of the existing projects of Nyeri farm in Kenya as well as the coffee farm of Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC); and to make further investments in the Conference and even in the other AMECEA countries such as Ethiopia.
“We are ready to expand and make further investment projects. On our part the task is to build up our team and in all this, the relationship with the National PMS Coordinators and the Conferences is very important,” said Mr. Polo.
The Secretaries General who came together from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan/South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi and Zambia appreciated Missio Invest Africa’s initiatives in the region as well as the progress report as they acknowledged that indeed about land, the Church in AMECEA region cannot complain.
However, they pointed out some challenges to Missio Invest Africa to help them address such as how to address the market issues and how to process the farm produce. They concurred with Mons. John Baptist Kauta, Secretaries General of Uganda Episcopal Conference (UEC) who raised concern about the 8% interest on Missio Invest Africa’ loan which he said is probably too high given the inflation rate affecting Uganda.
On their part, the Secretaries General of Zambia and Malawi Episcopal Conferences Rev. Frs. Cleophas Lungu and Henry Saindi requested Missio Invest Africa to formalize their way of updating the Conferences on any shifts and new development by writing to the Conferences through the Bishop Chairman.
“This is because in as-much-as you deal with the individual dioceses and Religious Congregations, these matters eventually come to the bishops’ Conferences,” said Fr Lungu.
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By Fr. Andrew Kaufa, Coordinator AMECEA Social Communications Department
