News and Resources
Welcome to the Maasai Stoves & Solar Project. We are the primary focus of the International Collaborative, also known as the International Collaborative for Science, Education, and the Environment. ICSEE is a non-profit organization based in the U.S. and Tanzania and ICSEE (T) is a non-profit organization based in Tanzania.
Save the dates-Bob and Kisioki on a U.S. Tour
Bob and Kisioki at water tank
We’re delighted to announce that Dr. Robert V. Lange, ICSEE Founder and Brandeis Physics Professor Emeritus, and Kisioki Moitiko, Maasai leader and ICSEE Project Manager, will be touring cities in several U. S. locations this fall. They are focusing on sharing the ideas and actions of the International Collaborative with the public.
Do you live near one of these areas? Let us know if you might be interested in hosting or planning an event or sharing an announcement via social, broadcast, or print media. Our planning committee can provide you with support and materials. Please get in touch, with your interest.
Climate Change News
People everywhere are seeking ways to lessen global warming. But in Tanzania, a “least-developed country,” the damage wreaked by climate change out-scales any capacity for prevention. In light of this, climate change adaptation has become the most urgent requirement, and a unifying theme for the International Collaborative.
Rift Valley herders can no longer completely depend on open grazing for their cattle, as that explores them to the most serious impacts of drought.
Programs Feature New Approaches
Weighing the cows
Livestock Program Background
In July of 2017, the International Collaborative announced the launch of the Manyara Feedlot, offering an excellent alternative to open grazing. This was followed by the establishment of the Fodder Factory, providing high-quality feed for cattle, especially critical in times of drought. We also established a hay farm on 45 rented acres of land. The purpose is to demonstrate how herders can exploit rain, when it comes, to grow and store food in the form of hay for when it is too dry for grazing.
New Approaches
In 2024 some herders are already familiar with these new approaches. After this year’s rainy season, using the International Collaborative Manyara Feedlot and Hay Farm we will soon resume teaching our herding colleagues about how to invest in approaches to keeping livestock healthy and valuable during drought.
This season raw materials for our fodder factory are of low cost and we are producing cow fodder very inexpensively. We’ve put out the word and news is spreading quickly about the inexpensive, very high-quality supplemental cow fodder for sale for only 30,000 shillings per 60-kilogram bag (about $12.00).
We are developing multiple ways for the Rift Valley herders to keep their cows in very good, fat, high-priced condition throughout the droughts, to be able to sell them at good prices.
Smart Farm
The International Collaborative announced the launch of its new demonstration farm in August of 2023. Called the “Smart Farm,” it is a six-and-a-half-acre plot next to the Selela Forest.
Working at the Smart Farm
We had the land surveyed for water and drilled an 80-foot-deep borehole to access groundwater and added solar-powered pumps to distribute the water to the Smart Farm and beyond.
We will be sharing the water from our borehole with nearby farmers who are developing their own irrigation distribution systems and show that investment in ground water development can be profitable if the water is used in the best cooperative ways.
This is an important way to partner with farmers to achieve independence from rain, and have successful agricultural businesses in increasingly extreme conditions.
Women’s Groups and Fodder Initiatives
This can also be an opportunity for The International Collaborative’s organized Women’s Groups to participate as fodder retailers.
The groups are located in villages throughout Monduli district, and are helping to get the information out about the availability of the excellent supplemental feed.
There is no need for the women to store the fodder as the ICSEE delivers it to them on demand.
Collaboration news
Cypress Hill
Cypress Hill is the International Collaborative campus, located on the southern edge of Monduli in the village of Lachaine, not far from headquarters.
The ICSEE received Cypress Hill as a valuable gift from the Association for Community Empowerment and Development (ACEDE) and their British colleagues. We have added a dining hall, expanded the boarding capacity, put in a computer center, and with the help of the American Friends of Tanzania, we added a library building.
For the past five years we have held many interesting workshops and events at Cypress Hill. We recently assisted the Arusha College of Administration to open a second branch of their institution in Monduli at Cypress Hill. Women students in residence study vocational and academic subjects there. Arusha College is planning a student body of two hundred resident and non-resident students. The International Collaborative is delighted to see this new use for Cypress Hill.
Humanity for Children and the Olmoti Project recently added a key dimension to their life-improvement work.
The people they serve in clinics and schools and sewing centers are going home to very unhealthy homes. These groups are finding the resources to invite the Maasai Stoves & Solar Project to their work areas. These collaborations are bringing healthier homes to the people through the Project.
Work with the Project gets the smoke out of the houses and lights them with solar-powered electric light, far from the grid in these locations.
The Project trained new members of the Maasai Women’s Installation Team in Simanjiro district and in the remote Olmoti village at the eastern base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. They are installing the ICSEE stoves into the houses of the people.
Women’s Groups and Collective Businesses
The International Collaborative first organized nineteen women’s groups in collaboration with the Global Fund for Widows (GFW). Many more are now established, some in collaboration with the GFW and others independently. Whenever possible, we help the women establish collective businesses to bring real wealth to their villages. They sell fattened livestock outside the village and bring money in from the outside.
There are dozens of groups of women here in Maasai land, that are reaching out to us. They phone our Project Manager and Women’s Organizer daily. They seek capital and collective village bank management training. They value sharing their money constructively once they learn how to do it well and learning how to manage their collective businesses. There is no hesitation, and women everywhere here have the desire to adopt these practices.
Bringing More Benefits to Developing Villages
Humanity for Children, working in Simanjiro villages, and the Olmoti project, devoted to bringing benefits to the people of Olmoti, added a key dimension to their life-improvement work. The people they serve in clinics and schools and sewing centers had been going home to very unhealthy homes.
These two programs are finding the resources to invite the Maasai Stoves & Solar Project to their work areas. These collaborations are bringing healthier homes to the people through the Maasai Stoves & Solar Project. Work with the Project gets the smoke out of the houses and lights them with solar-powered electric light, far from the grid in these locations.
In Olmoti, we have also brought our expertise in organizing women’s groups, and four groups of 25 women each are already benefiting from their funds-sharing-bank and their livestock businesses.
The Project trained new members of the Maasai Women’s Installation Team in Simanjiro district and in the remote Olmoti village at the eastern base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. They are installing the ICSEE stoves into the houses of the people.
Collaborating with Canada
The International Collaborative announced a new collaboration with the Mto wa Mbu Folk Development College. The Canadian government, together Canadian and Tanzanian colleges invited the ICSEE to become a partnering Community Based Organization.
The Canadian collaborative entity aims to empower women and adolescent girls with educational opportunities in Tanzania. They wish to spread training into the communities so the women and girls can participate, enter into business, and thrive.
These new educational opportunities do not necessarily involve full degree programs in Tanzania. Folk Development Colleges, (FDCs) and Community Based Organizations (CBOs) partner with each other and with the Canadian colleges.
Folk Development Colleges are developing short, effective courses. The Community Based Organizations, including the International Collaborative, are involved in training to help Maasai groups of men and women appreciate the importance of opportunities and support for women’s enterprises and ideas.
Archived News Stories
A Historic Visit to the Project
Read excerpts from VP Dr. Bilal’s speech, “Spread the technology all over the country”
Enguiki village, Monduli Juu, Arusha, Tanzania—Tuesday, February 25th, the Maasai Stoves & Solar Project of the International Collaborative hosted His Excellency, Dr. Mohammed G. Bilal, Vice President of the United Republic of Tanzania.
Together with Minister of the Environment Dr. Binilith Mahenge and officials of Arusha region and Monduli district, Dr. Bilal toured the Project for an in-depth look at the health, environmental, and economic benefits.
The group visited the Maasai village of Enguiki, located in the plateau of the Monduli Mountains just west of Mount Meru, 100 miles west of of Mt. Kilimanjaro. This region, extending west to Mto wa Mbu and the famed Rift Valley with its salt lakes and live volcano, is one of the areas where Maasai live today. The Vice President also visited Project Headquarters and the Factory located in this region in Monduli town.
“Difference is like night and day”, said the VP
Vice President Bilal experienced a smoke-filled Maasai dwelling where the traditional three-stone fire is still being used, and also visited homes with the new stove, and witnessed the difference the stove makes for the health and quality of life of the Maasai people. “I visited two homes, one with and one without the new stove and the difference is like night and day.” He met 80 members of the Maasai Women’s Stove Installation Teams and observed them at work. Afterwards the entire community congregated for his speech, remarks by the Regional and District Commissioners, music performance by the children, and an exchange of gifts.
Photography and Illustration Acknowledgements
Thank you to Philip Lange for the marvelous photography selections throughout the website.
International Collaborative for Science, Education, and the Environment