Mboni ya Vijana Group Tanzania
Commonwealth Point of Light 95. Benedicto Hosea
Benedicto Hosea, representing Tanzania, founded the ‘Mboni ya Vijana Group’ (MVG), to create sustainable agriculture and employment opportunities for over 500 people across the Kigoma region.
Having studied environmental planning at university, Benedicto returned to his home village of Zeze with the dream of creating a community that could support itself sustainably through land and agriculture. His organisation, MVG, now provides training in local agriculture, introducing new strains and varieties of crops to suit local conditions and improving irrigation systems. Benedicto has also been instrumental in developing low cost drilled boreholes, improving access to clean water in 15 locations in the Kigoma Region. He is now working towards developing a small plant to ensure that crops from the community are able to be processed, stored appropriately and marketed from their remote location.
Sarah Cooke, British High Commissioner to Tanzania, said:
“I would like to congratulate Benedicto Hosea for being named the Commonwealth Point of Light. Benedicto has been recognised by the Her Majesty The Queen for his exceptional voluntary service with his organisation Mboni ya Vijana Group, (MVG), a youth run community organisation in Zeze village, Tanzania, that promotes sustainable agriculture and food security. Through his organisation, Benedicto has trained more than 347 people in the community and given starting loans to invest in their farms.”
Benedicto said:
“My life history did not determine that I could have been recognized in the world community as an award contender, however, I am the subject to it. Now I believe, growing in poor family/society does not hold a person in a hide but living with great future determination and hard working for the prosperity of the majority makes a person seen.
“It is a great pleasure I feel from the recognition of my voluntarily contributions in the efforts of making rural people live better. This Points of Light Award is prestigious to me, my community and my country as a whole. It sparks and motivates my passion and commitment toward the future prosperity and well-being and make a better earth.”