Teaching conservation in Kinangop plateau

Dominic Kimani, one of the students who received a fellowship in 2012-2013 has sent me some photos taken in the primary schools of Kinangop plateau, where he has been teaching about conservation and biodiversity to the young pupils.
Kinangop is a vast plateau about 70 km north of Nairobi. It is one of the of the most important sites in Kenya for Sharpe's Longclaw and for several other rare and threatened specie. Unfortunately, Kinangop is also a densely inhabited area, and agriculture is expanding at fast rates - between 2008 and 2013 alone, 25% of the natural habitats have been destroyed and converted to agriculture - and this adds to substantial habitat losses in the previous years.

Field class

Watching a nature film in Purple Hearth Academy

Ecco le proposte per il 2013! (English version below)

Ciao a tutti!

con l'avvicinarsi del Natale, ho preparato una serie di nuove proposte per il 2013. Ebbene sì! anche quest'anno salveremo il mondo, o per lo meno daremo il nostro contributo per renderlo un pochino migliore...

Spero che a tutti voi piacciano queste piccole idee, che proseguono le attività iniziate negli scorsi anni. Anche quest'anno ci concentreremo su studenti delle scuole e dell'università, su specie di animali minacciate, e su piccole attività di commercio ecologico che creano posti di lavoro e contribuiscono a proteggere l'ambiente.

PER DONARE UTILIZZATE IL LINK PAYPAL QUI DI FIANCO (NECESSARIA CARTA DI CREDITO)

1) Borse di studio per studenti delle scuole primarie e secondarie del Samburu District, Kenya. Il Samburu District è una delle regioni più povere del Kenya. Per molti studenti e studentesse, le spese scolastiche sono semplicemente impossibili: troppi ragazzi abbandonano la scuola o non la frequentano perché le loro famiglie non possono permettersele. Propongo di istituire 7-10 borse di studio, di circa 150-200 Euro l'una: questa somma paga le spese scolastiche di un intero anno. Gli studenti saranno scelti dagli anziani dei villaggi, con l'unica richiesta di assegnare il 50% delle borse a studenti dei due sessi.

2) Borse di studio per studenti in collaborazione con i National Museums of Kenya. Il Museo Nazionale del Kenya è l'istituto demandato a studiare e conservare la biodiversità del Kenya. Vogliamo istituire borse di studio annuali per studenti che in collaborazione con il Museo lavorano per la conservazione delle specie animali del loro paese. Sammy Bakari lavora nell'altopiano di Kinangop per conservare l'habitat dell'Uccellino zampagrossa, uno degli uccelli più in pericolo del mondo.  Lawrence Wagura sta cercando di salvare la Taita Apalis, un uccellino la cui popolazione è ridotta a soli 200 individui arroccati in cima una montagna nel Kenya meridionale, dove la deforestazione supera il 99%.

3) Didattica per la conservazione ad Ol Bolossat. George Ndungu è un ornitologo autodidatta che vive ad Ol Bolossat, uno dei siti più importanti per la conservazione dell'ambiente in Kenya. Ol Bolossat è minacciato dall'espansione incontrollata delle attività umane, ed uno dei problemi più gravi è che la gente del posto semplicemente non conosce il valore dell'ambiente e perché sia importante proteggerlo. George ha scritto una proposta per insegnare la conoscenza dell'ambiente nelle scuole di Ol Bolossat. Riusciremo ad aiutarlo finanziando il suo lavoro?

4) Una terra per Njabini! Il laboratorio di filatura e tessitura di Njabini è una piccola cooperativa che contribuisce a salvare le praterie indigene del Kenya creando posti di lavoro in un villaggio dove poche persone hanno un reddito fisso. Dopo anni di lavoro con questo gruppo, abbiamo ottenuto buoni risultati: la qualità dei prodotti e la quantità di lana acquistata sono nettamente cresciute, e il laboratorio ha contribuito a salvare oltre 20 ettari di prateria, che è l'unico habitat di specie minacciate, fra cui il ben noto Uccellino Zampagrossa. Ora siamo pronti per un passo ambizioso: acquistare un pezzo di terra per costruire un nuovo e più moderno laboratorio dove la cooperativa di Njabini potrà espandersi. Durante il 2012, ci siamo dati da fare per individuare diversi appezzamenti di terreno adatti allo scopo. Il 2013 sarà l'anno del grande salto! Vi faremo sapere!

5) The Mbara Community Project. Le scuole di Temow, Chopotwo e Kapsor Schools, Vicino al villaggio di Mbara , nel Kenya occidentale, sono tre scuole elementari dove manca tutto. Niente aule, niente banchi, niente posto per giocare ... Con il mio amico Terry John Hummerston, che da anni lavora in questa zona vogliamo aiutare queste scuole a diventare  un posto dove i piccoli studenti potranno avere una vera educazione. Ce la faremo?

Notizie dai Monti Aberdare / Updates from the Aberdare mountains

TREE PLANTING IN KIBURU FOREST (WESTERN ABERDARE)

By the Kawama Youth Group

The 1^st June is a public holiday that is cerebrated nationally in Kenya. Members of Kawama Youth Group cerebrated the holiday in style, they woke up early to load the seedlings to the waiting truck waiting some 100m away. It would not get any further.

After loading the tree seedlings, the members took a matatu (local bus) to the site. This was not the end. The truck could only climb up to some 1 km away from the site that had been chose to plant the trees. Therefore, the seedlings were again to be loaded in cart pulled by a donkey that would be able to maneuver along the rough terrain. It was fun.

But even the donkey needed assistance and we were there to!

Three trips up and the seedlings were to the site, at last!

With help from rangers of the Kenya Forest Service, the trees planting started earnestly. We distributed the seedlings into the already done holes while others started planting.

It was not until 2 pm that planting was through. This day saw more than 3,000 tree seedlings planted.

It was a good day.

DIdattica per l'ambiente a Kinangop - Teaching conservation in Kinangop

NOTA DI LUCA. Dominic Kimani e' uno dei tre studenti che nel 2010 hanno ricevuto una borsa di studio annuale con la nostra sponsorizzazione in collaborazione con il Museo Nazionale del Kenya. La specialita' di Dominic e' la didattica ambientale e l'area di lavoro e' l'altipiano di Kinangop, uno dei siti chiave per la conservazione della natura in Kenya. L'altipiano di Kinangop e' costituito da praterie naturali di alta quota, che ospitano numerose species endemiche, tra cui il ben noto Uccellino Zampagrossa (Sharpe's longclaw). Putroppo le praterie vengono rapidamente distrutte a causa della rapida espansione agricola, ed e' quindi importante sviluppare e propagandare tecniche di coltivazione piu' sostenibili e compatibili con la conservazione dell'ambiente.

Di seguito potete leggere un resoconto scritto da Dominic sulle sue attivita'.

NOTE BY LUCA. Dominic Kimani is one of the three students based at the National Museums of Kenya that we are helping with a one-year long fellowship that enable them to complete their studies and engage themselves in research and conservation activities in Kenya. Dominic's field of expertise is teaching environmental conservation in one of the most biodiversity-rich sites of Kenya, the Kinangop plateau, were natural high-altitude grassland is rapidly being converted to agriculture endangering many species of wildlife, among which a bird, Sharpe's longclaw.

Dominic just sent me this report on the activities he's carrying out in Kinangop. 

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Report on teaching conservation in Kinangop

By Dominic Kimani

Water conservation and Harvesting - World Wetland Day

Kinangop has changed a lot especially in the last 2 decades and it has become very dry in most part of the year. Water conservation and harvesting is therefore inevitable.

This year’s World Wetland Day was commemorated on second February 2011. We selected Ndaracai-ni Primary school to host the event. The schools within this area came here for the days’ activities. This event attracted the parents, teachers and students of this area to mark this important day worldwide. The occasion was used to create public awareness on the importance of wetlands in the area and how they are connected to the large water bodies like Lake Naivasha and even oceans.

Young students from Kinangop on the World Wetland Day

The farmers and general public expressed their worries about the declining treads of waters quality and quantity in the nearby Turasha river. We used the event to explain the alternative water harvesting techniques that people could use. Roof and small ponds catchments were highlighted as the most applicable in the area.

Threats facing the riparian land in the middle catchment where Kinangop plateau is found were explained to the people gathered. The threats are mainly caused by poor cultivation close to the river banks. Results from previous research that we have been involved before indicates that the Sharpe’s Longclaw prefers nesting close to the river riparian land especially in Ndaracai-ini area. The conservation of riparian will protect the soil erosion and preserve the habitat for the endangered Sharpe’s Longclaw among other biota.

Teaching conservation in Kinangop grassland must be holistic, touching most of the life aspects that affect people in Kinangop. Having worked in Kinangop before, I have realized that the problems here need local solution that are well integrated with best examples and practices that have worked well in other parts of the world.

Action in Kimuri secondary school

Students are the best ambassadors and vehicles through which conservation messages get to reach a wide coverage. Together with their teachers they have a higher multiplier effect because they interact with many people. Teachers, especially in Africa, command respect among their communities.

In our teaching, we are targeting the issues that affect the local people in Kinangop, and the most prone i.e. the farmers. In Kimuri secondary school, we are liaising with wildlife club patron and his counterpart from the young farmers club (YFC) to demonstrate the best practices in farming. The main practice is the organic farming, this is because it utilizes small piece of land for maximum yield. This helps the majority of the students who come from the Kinangop farming community to learn the best farming techniques that are sustainable.

By so doing we are able to explain why it is important to leave some patches of grasslands for soil conservation, livestock grazing fields and for birds’ habitats.

Livestock rearing is proving to be more economically viable especially in spreading and coping with risks that farmers face in their undertakings. Our goal is to change the behaviour and general perception of the local farmers and enable efficient sustainable land-use.

Kimuri School has set aside a portion of land for demonstrations. The school has also allowed other schools and group of farmers to use it. This will ensure that once the students learn the best practices, they will teach their parents and the whole population will change for better. In this activities, Mr. Andrew Mwangi, who is the Sharpe’s Longclaw reserve manager is helping in coordinating and making follow-ups of the demonstrations in Kimuri.

Dry season grassland birds monitoring in Murungaru with selected school’s students

On 19^th February 2011, students from various schools participated in this years’ dry season grassland bird monitoring. The schools were; Murungaru, Kimuri, Hajo and Ndaracai-ini. Seven students from each school were selected. The students learnt the monitoring techniques and census methods that the Friends of Kinangop Plateau (FOKP) monitoring team uses during the biannual grassland birds monitoring. This kind of teaching is aimed at passing basic research principles to the youngsters who will be helping the FOKP group to ensure sustainability of this important activity.

Three sites were visited, namely; Kirima, Githunguri and Ndaracai-ini. The next monitoring exercise will be done in August this year.

Environmental Game

Most of the activities in School were conducted outdoors. Environmental game was introduced in three schools namely; Murungaru, Kienjero and Wheatland secondary school.

Demonstration of environmental game

This game is an improvement of a traditional game called “Bau” which originated initially from central Africa . Two or more people playing using beads/ grains and dice. The beads or grains represent different natural resources. The game demonstrate how resources to be utilized sustainable without depleting others.

The student in these schools liked the game and its meaning hence more schools will be involved in future and do regular evaluations to measure the effectiveness on the game as a teaching aid.

A new activity: Teaching conservation in the Kinangop plateau

NOTE BY LUCA. Dominic Kimani is receiving a small fellowship for 2010-2011. His project consists in teaching about conservation and endangered species in the schools of the Kinangop plateau.
Dominic wrote a proposal for his project, which you read here below (click on "Ulteriori Informazioni" please)

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Updates from Njabini: the Fox family visits the workshop

David handing over education books

The computer donated by David's Family

Njabini wool spinning has continued to play a very important role in the conservation of the Kinangop Highland Grasslands. This could have not been possible without help from foreign donors from Italy and the UK. Outstanding among them is Mr David Fox and his family who have made huge and frequent contributions towards addressing the challenges at our Workshop. In July this year, the Fox family visited Kinangop together with Luca. During their visit, they met with the Njabini workshop, where they donated a computer, two digital cameras and a pair of binoculars. They later visited the Kinangop Nature Reserve and the Eco-resource Center run by the Friends of Kinangop Plateau Association. Mugumo-ini Primary School was also visited as a representative of the Education programme. (Post written by  the Njabini Woolspinning Group)

 

Three-months report (Feb-Apr 2010) from Njabini

Dear everybody – Sammy Bakari just sent us this update on the activities of the Njabini woolspinning workshop, one of the projects that we are supporting.
As you know, the Njabini workshop is an eco-friendly small business that aims to save the habitat of Sharpe’s Longclaw by creating a market for the wool produced by the sheep grazing in the highland grasslands of Kenya – the only habitat where Sharpe’s Longclaw lives.
As part of our agreement with Njabini, every third month Sammy sends to us updates on the development of the activities of the workshop. This is the third update, covering the period from February to April 2010.
I hope you will enjoy reading Sammy’s report – and I also hope you will feel proud of our good results. Think that for each 100 kg of wool that the workshop buys, one hectare of grassland is preserved, and one hectare of grassland is the home to two pairs of Sharpe’s Longclaw!

All the best, Luca

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The Njabini woolspinning workshop: Three months update February to April 2010

By Samuel Bakari

INTRODUCTION
The Njabini Wool Spinning workshop has continued to grow. The growth has continued to economically empower the youths working in the workshop as well the sheep farmers.
However challenges has persistently occurred one after the other.

WORKING WITH THE FARMERS
After a long period of prolonged drought, across most of the country, for the whole of 2009, Kenya has received heavy rains as from November last year to now. This has been a blessing to all of us. However, due to the rain, shearing has not been possible. Fortunately, this did not affect our supply of wool as we had stored enough wool to take us through the hard times. Now many sheep are ready for shearing and are waiting for rains to subside. We are looking forward to that as our fleece stock is running down.

PRODUCTION
Spinning
Spinning underlines the quality and the type of product. This is dictated by the skill of the spinner, the quality of wool and to a large extent the type of spinning wheels and carders in use. Spinning and carding equipment has always been a challenge as the wheels used at the workshop are of low quality and are not very efficient as compared to professional equipment. We have continued to learn new spinning techniques and tricks from Janice who have everyday continued to come with new ideas [LUCA’S NOTE: JANICE IS THE AMERICAN FIBER ARTIST WHO HAS BEEN WORKING WITH US SINCE LAST YEAR AND IS TEACHING TO NJABINI NEW WEAVING AND SPINNING TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE THEIR PRODUCTS]. Janice has given us a lot of literature materials for reference including magazines. This has gone a long way in motivating the spinners and providing new ideas.
We have been lucky to receive two new super spinning wheels! One we received from friends through Janice and the other was Janice’s, who was with us for a period, this was very kind of she as she uses and she let us have it for more than four months. The wheels have given us another perspective and we have been able produce a wide range of fine yarns. For the first months of this year we have been able to supply wool yarn to shops in Naivasha. Unfortunately, most of the other shops have not been able to buy yarns due to the economic crisis that is hitting Kenya. This has affected our income from sale of yarns, which has continued to be one of the challenges. On the other hand end user products has improved.

Photo below: Margaret and Regina spinning using the new spinning wheels-Regina is with Janice’s wheel. Emma, in the front, is using a Kenya-made wheel.

Weaving
Rug weaving has continued to improve in design, texture and colour. Janice has relentlessly taught us new techniques and design, she has also bought us very informative books for reference. Our big loom has been repaired, thanks to Janice’s skills, and it is now operational. This has moved us to greater heights in weaving. New product has hit the market and is doing well so far, woven scarves. This has proved to be a good line and cuts across a broad class of buyers including even the local market, which is not easy with the rugs. The combination is one of our strengths that we have lately achieved.



MARKETING AND SALES
Marketing is one of the areas that we have not been to achieve to our best; due to a number of challenges that we have not been able to overcome. Although we have been able to improve the quality of our products, we realise the need to improve also on our capacity of production and accumulate working capital. We have been in many cases forced to sell yarn instead of weaving it into products such as scarves or rugs that could fetch a higher price on the market. This is because selling of rugs at current set up takes relatively long time to as compared to yarns, which are in most cases easy to sell. However, yarn processed to a final product fetches more money due to the value added and involves more people thereby creating more employment. The challenge now is to pay the labour force, as they have to wait until the product is sold, thereby affecting the production and taking of more weavers. We are building on savings to tackle this such that the weavers can be paid timely even if the products they have woven is not sold. This is taking long however.
Sales of rugs has gone up, we attracted orders from several customers. We also benefited from another sale bazaar at the US embassy where we sold seven knitted scarves and five rugs. We also introduced the woven scarves and all the woven scarves that we had sold out immediately though we had only five as we had just learned how to weave them from Janice and this was the first lot.
We have continued to make one-on-one, marketing to potential buyers. The contacts from Goodie, Cheli and Peacock and African Pro-poor Tourism Development Center (APTDC) are still followed. We are looking for a potential order from APTDC while a recent visit to Cheli and Peackock shows hope of potential purchase.
We are following a contact for sale of scarves and we are meeting the first potential long time buyer in two weeks time. We are also moving around to potential clients.
We managed to participate to Roslyn’s Spring Fling on 17th April where we were able to interact with new people and got some contacts.

APPRECIATION
A lot of thanks go to all you who have contributed and have been always concerned with the welfare of the Njabini Wool Spinning Workshop as a tool for conservation of the Kinangop Grasslands. Particularly David Fox for your generous support, Charlie Moores and Luca Borghesio for your continued devotion. We cannot fail to thank Janice Knausenberger for her motivation throughout the time we have been in contact.

Update on the activities of the Njabini woolspinning workshop (01 November 2009 to 31 Jan 2010)

NOTE BY LUCA: WE ARE HELPING THE NJABINI WOOLSPINNING WORKSHOP AS PART OF OUR 2009 ACTIVITIES. WE WILL CONTINUE OUR SUPPORT TO NJABINI ALSO IN 2010.
TO READ MORE ABOUT NJABINI AND HOW IT HELPS PRESERVING ENDANGERED BIRDS AND HABITATS CLICK HERE (SORRY, IT'S IN ITALIAN...)
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By Sammy Bakari, one of Njabini's workers

This period marks the end of the year 2009 and the beginning of 2010. This has been a very difficult year for every one in Kenya due to the prolonged drought. This drought heavily affected the farmers and all the people of Kenya, including here in Njabini and on the Kinagop plateau, which is a traditional agricultural and pastoral area. Up to now, the rains have not yet resumed and the situation is getting very bad for everybody, even though we all hope that good rains will eventually resume in March, with the next rain season. [LUCA’S NOTE – YES THE RAIN EVENTUALLY RESUMED IN MARCH ]


But on the bright side, despite the drought, over the last three months, spinning and weaving have undergone a tremendous improvement here at our workshop in Njabini.
Our spinners – Emma, Margaret, Regina and the others - have been able to improve the speed, quality and at the same enjoy spinning. Washing the wool before working on it is one of the big tricks that the Njabini is practicing, this is after getting a wonderful training session with Janice who has been visiting us regularly in these last months, and her experience and teaching has brought much improvement to our work! Our workshop now produces an increasing amount of fine wool yarn that comes in many bright colours and that we sell as it is to other workshops, or we weave or knit it into our own products.


This period has also seen us learn a number of things regarding the market requirements, because we now produce a range of very good products, but we still are not able to sell them to our customers. In mid-November, Janice introduced us to the American community here in Nairobi, and we were allowed to display a sample of our new colourful rugs. Over a period of two weeks, more than half of them were sold. This was the first mega sale that the Njabini workshop experienced! It gave us an opportunity to understand what the market needs. We are now adjusting to the market taste.


We also continued to explore other outlets. We have advanced our contact with Goodie, a Nairobi shop where we have our products on display. This has attracted one order from the shop. Other contacts have been established and the most promising is with the African Pro-poor Tourism Development Centre. This is a recent contact and we are pursuing to see if we can make a deal with them. Our wall hangings are also displayed in the shop at the National Museums of Kenya at Nairobi.

Over the same period, our workshop enjoyed media coverage from the Kenya National Broadcast Television. These involved visiting the Nature reserve and some of the sheep farmers that we work with.

Salviamo l'uccellino Zampagrossa! Con il laboratorio di tessitura della lana di Njabini

Dunque, si diceva in uno dei post precedenti che per dare una mano allo Sventurato Uccellino Zampagrossa ci sono varie idee che bollono nel pentolone. Questa è una delle più interessanti a cui sto lavorando con due organizzazioni ambientaliste Kenyane (Nature Kenya ed i Friends of Kinangop Plateau), ed il blog 10,000 Birds che collabora alla raccolta dei fondi.

Njabini, nel mezzo dell’altopiano di Kinangop, circa 60 km a nord di Nairobi, è una delle ultime roccaforti dello Sventurato. Trent’anni fa la zona era una sola immensa prateria alpina, ma in breve tempo è stata quasi completamente trasformata in campi di cavoli, che nella zona purtroppo crescono piuttosto bene.

Dato che nell’altopiano di Kinangop il territorio è interamente di suddiviso in migliaia di piccoli appezzamenti di proprietà di privati agricoltori, è evidente che per proteggere Zampagrossa occorre convincere i proprietari dei terreni a non convertirli in campi di cavoli, ossia bisogna proporgli un’alternativa di uso che sia economicamente valida e che salvi non capre e cavoli (non sia mai!) ma bensì pecore e Zampagrossa. Sono infatti proprio le pecore che stanno al centro di questa idea.

Le pecore sono animali pascolatori, e dunque vivono molto bene nelle praterie naturali. Fino a 20-30 anni fa infatti l’altopiano di Kinangop era quasi esclusivamente usato come pascolo per pecore e bovini. Le pecore venivano tosate e la lana venduta sul mercato. Purtroppo negli anni recenti il mercato della lana in Kenya è crollato a causa dell’invasione di prodotti di bassa qualità ma estremamamente economici provenienti dai mercati asiatici. Le pecore stanno quindi sparendo, e con loro i pascoli – che appunto ora vengono arati e coltivati nel tentativo di ottenere un maggiore profitto (tentativo abbastanza vano perché a quanto pare negli ultimi tempi è crollato anche il mercato dei cavoli).

L’idea del Laboratorio della Lana di Njabini è quella di comprare la lana di Kinangop pagandola un prezzo più alto di quello del mercato, e trasformarla in prodotti (filati colorati, borse, tappetini, indumenti) che possono essere commerciati con un margine di profitto interessante, in particolare vendendoli ai turisti stranieri. In questo modo, i proprietari dei terreni ricevono un incentivo economico a mantenere le proprie greggi, le praterie dove le pecore pascolano e soprattutto l’habitat naturale dello Sventurato Uccellino.

Il Laboratorio – nato da un’idea di Nature Kenya e dei Friends of Kinangop - ha iniziato le proprie attività nel 2005 ed al momento impiega una decina di persone, di cui tre a tempo pieno, le altre part-time (o meglio, quando c’è lavoro). La maggior parte dei lavoratori del laboratorio sono donne sposate e con prole.

Personalmente, credo che questa sia un’idea semplice e geniale. Commercio equo e solidale, prodotti naturali, salvaguardia di specie minacciate, formazione professionale, lavoro per fascie sociali svantaggiate – c’è tutto!

Purtroppo però c’è un problemino che rischia di mandare tutto all’aria: i prodotti del laboratorio stentano a trovare un mercato, per due ragioni principali. Da una parte i prodotti sono, diciamo così, un po’ rozzi, e non è che puoi andare nei più eleganti negozi di Nairobi a vendere tappetini spelacchiati e guanti mal cuciti, in quei negozi occorre avere roba di qualità. Dall’altra i lavoratori di Njabini come venditori sono una frana, il che peraltro è piuttosto logico perché se per tutta la vita hai coltivato cavoli e pascolato pecore, non è che da un giorno all’altro puoi diventare un piazzista fenomenale, noh? A questa situazione si aggiunge la crisi economica mondiale, che in Kenya sta mordendo peggio che in Italia (figuratevi un po’ che cosa significa!).

Occorre dunque dare una mano alla gente di Njabini, perché qui siamo sull’orlo del naufragio.

E veniamo al dunque: le mie proposte per correre in soccorso al Laboratorio di Njabini sono due:

1) MIGLIORARE LA QUALITA’ - occorre fornire ai tessitori di Njabini una formazione professionale specifica. Io di tessitura e filatura non so nulla e non posso insegnare niente, ma ho individuato una persona che lo può fare. Si chiama Janice, è un’Americana che vive in Kenya ed è un’artista della tessitura (cliccando qui potete vedere il suo sito). Janice ha incontrato la gente di Njabini insieme a me, e si è resa disponibile ad insegnare loro le tecniche necessarie per migliorare la qualità dei prodotti. La proposta che faccio è dunque di pagare a Janice dei rimborsi spese (600 Euro in tutto) che le permetteranno di andare a Njabini in media due volte al mese per sei mesi a tenere delle lezioni di filatura, colorazione della lana, tessitura, creazione di disegni e rifinitura dei prodotti
2) MARKETING PIU’ AGGRESSIVO – occorre una persona che si occupi a tempo pieno di smerciare i prodotti sul mercato. Per questo ruolo ho pensato a Sammy Bakari – un nome ben noto perché ha già ricevuto borse di studio da noi negli anni passati. Sammy è uno dei miei migliori assistenti di ricerca, vive a Kinangop, e conosce molto bene il laboratorio di Njabini, perché sua moglie Margaret ci lavora. Proporrei di pagare a Sammy un’altra borsa di studio (100 euro al mese per un anno = 1200 euro), con l’obiettivo preciso di occuparsi dello smercio dei prodotti, battendo in maniera sistematica tutti i possibili sbocchi commerciali (alberghi, negozi, centri commerciali, Musei, sedi di organizzazioni non governative, ingressi dei Parchi Nazionali). Il lavoro di Sammy, come al solito, sarà seguito personalmente da me – che per l’occasione mi trasformerò da Naturalista & Esploratore a Direttore Commerciale, non vedo l’ora!

TOTALE PROPOSTA 2009 PER IL LABORATORIO LANA: 1200+600 = 1800 EURO