Who and What is boNGO?

boNGO Worldwide was established in Malawi in 2007 by an international team of volunteers from the Czech Republic, Malawi, Switzerland, and the USA:

 

David Leflar(USA): Managing Director
Justin Namizinga(Malawi): Malawi Program Director
Tereza Mirovicova(Czech Republic): PR Director
Simone Fuchs(Switzerland): Education Director

 

In Malawi, boNGO is currently facilitating Programs with two Community Based Organizations (CBOs):

 

Umodzi-Mbame CBO (All One-Mbame)
and
Tiyende Pamodzi CBO (Let’s Go Forward Together)

 

boNGO is a nonprofit civil society organization which operates and promotes community development efforts around the world. In Chi-Chewa, the official language of Malawi, the word ‘bongo’ means ‘brain’, and the name is further detailed in the acronym ‘based on Need-driven Grassroots Ownership’.

When and Where is boNGO?

boNGO is right now with two members facilitating Programs in Malawi, and two more embarking on The 2007 boNGO Worldwide United States of America Promotional Tour in October and November.

Why and How ‘based on Need-driven Grassroots Ownership’?

boNGO Worldwide was initiated with the recognition that sustainability within community development organizations and programs must be ‘based on Need-driven Grassroots Ownership’. Therefore, boNGO partners with community organizations which are already operating on a sustainable foundation; though they may be neglected by their local governments and other development agencies, they are actively pursuing development in their communities because of a sincere need or desire for positive change.

 

Too often in cultural development efforts, the initiative and the agenda for positive change is supplied not by the community and its members, but rather by an external agency such as an NGO or even the local government, whose priorities are independent of the community’s needs and desires. In this unfortunately all-too-common situation, the community and its members are not instilled with the sense of ownership and learning which arises from internalized efforts, and frequently the development effort ends when the external agency concludes its program, leaving only a shadow of its initial intentions. This detrimental practice of many foreign aid and development agencies has forced a sense of dependency on many developing communities, so much that it is frequently sensed that a community cannot initiate positive change on its own, without the assistance and ‘expertise’ of an international agency.

 

How?

With your financial support!

and by working together their capacity is increased through transformative participatory approaches. In Malawi, boNGO aims to empower such Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and other community groups in the areas of education, health, food security, and social wellbeing through the development of a ‘model community’ which will serve as an example learning community and a catalyst for other CBOs’ development endeavors.