::MVIWATA -Strategies

Strategies

The main strategies of MVIWATA are the following;

Capacity building of small-scale farmers on lobbying and advocacy through training and self organisation in groups and networks under one umbrella so as to influence decisions
Economic empowerment of small scale farmers through creation of projects such as savings and credit, cereal banks, rural tourism and other rural enterprises.
Affiliation with national and international networks and organisations for lobbying and advocacy purposes.

Key thematic areas

Lobbying and advocacy: To build the lobbying and advocacy capacity of small-scale farmers.
Economic empowerment: to enable small scale farmers become economically empowered through initiatives such as savings and credit, market linkages and development of entrepreneurship skills
Building knowledge of farmers on cross cutting issues (HIV/AIDS, Gender and Climate change)
Institutional development of MVIWATA

Organisational Structure
The structure of MVIWATA provides for four categories:
• Annual General Meeting (AGM)
• The Council which comprises of the representatives from middle levels and members
of board of directors • Board of D irectors is constituted by 9 elected members who are elected every three
years by the Annual General Meeting (AGM).
• Management (Secretariate) headed by the Executive Director.
The Middle Level N etworks (intermediary levels is composed of farmers’ networks at regional and district level, while the Grass root level are networks of farmers groups and local producers at village and ward level.
Currently there are 15 middle level networks in 12 regions and 2 districts in Chunya, D odoma. Iringa, Kagera, Kilimanjaro, Manyara, Mbeya, Monduli, Morogoro, Rukwa Ruvuma, Shinyanga, Tabora, Tanga and Zanzibar.

Activities
1. Facilitating organization of small-scale farmers into groups, local and middle networks to form a sound and strong national farmers’ organ.
2. Lobbying and advocacy for issues of interests to the small scale farmers and ensure representation of farmers’ views in the policies that affect them.
3. Capacity building of small-scale farmers on leadership, economic skills such as marketing, savings and credits and income generating activities and on cross cutting issues such as HIV/AIDS and Gender.
4. Collecting and disseminating of information on experiences and knowledge of farmers through publications such as Pambazuko quarterly N ewsletter ‘The Voice of Farmers’, weekly radio program ‘Voice of MVIWATA and other publications.
5. Develop participatory economic projects for the purpose of economically empowering farmers
6. Organising farmers’ dialogue and forums such workshops and meetings, study tours, exchange visits and facilitation of farmers to participation in agricultural shows to market their products and enhance learning.