Cultivating Rural Resilience: AFARI Fellows

The goal of the Tarr Fellowship Program is to build the capacity of rural leaders by cultivating supportive relationships with NGO peers and community members and developing leadership skills to build their capability as grassroots leaders and community builders.

Twenty-six Fellows applied from 15 countries including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cameroon, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Myanmar, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, and Zambia.  The fellowship began on July 1, 2022. Alemla Samuel from Nagaland, India and Cecilia Mpinga from Malawi were selected as this year’s Tarr Fellows.

Alemla’s project is a Demonstration Center for Training and Learning. She focuses on training community members, with an emphasis on youth and women, about agro-based livelihoods. She provides training to farmers and community members—teaching them how to make Bokashi, how to grow kitchen gardens for healthy food, and how to practice sustainable farming techniques. She is also teaching about reducing food waste through proper fruit preservation and promoting home-based confectionery products. Attached to this overview is an interim report on Alemla’s progress. In October, she trained 60 college students in sustainable agricultural practices from a local university. The university was so impressed with this training that they entered into an MOU with her organization to provide future training to their students. 

Cecilia’s project is called the Hygiene Village Project in Limbe, Malawi. The goal is to improve the nutrition and livelihood of rural women through goal and crop production.

These fellows have trained more than 200 women and 60 students on organic farming, composting, and food processing. Fellows work with their community to establish kitchen gardens. They provide training on nutrition and healthy eating. Fellows apply their learning from the Asian Rural Institute locally to help communities be more self-sufficient and resilient.