MEAP was established in 2007 to catalyse community consciousness and action to enthusiastically participate in their development processes. It was formally registered in 2008. Its primary purpose is to awaken people’s consciousness on self-worth and aspiration and cultivate necessary attitudes, values, perceptions, abilities and capacity to work towards achieving self and collective aspiration, meet social, cultural and economic needs as well as ensure ecological integrity for current and future generations.
MEAP’s development perspective is informed by its name, Maendeleo Endelevu which is a Swahili term for sustainable development. MEAP was founded in order to inspire communities to drive their own change based on their wants and needs, not those decided by others. In this way they have encouraged communities to vocally participate in any development processes affecting them. Their work uses participatory processes to engage communities around issues relating to their environment, biodiversity and land use – with specific emphasis on food security, management of natural resources, response to social issues and advocacy against pertinent issues that affect ecosystems, biodiversity and livelihood sustainability.
