Welcome!

Welcome to the African Initiatives' Talking Stick Blog Where staff, volunteers and African partners will contribute their ideas and take on the issues which matter to us in Africa and the UK.

Why Talking Stick? African Initiatives was founded in 1997 underneath a mango tree in Ghana and since then has worked in Tanzania and Ghana on rights-based issues with community based NGOs. Since time immemorial (to us) our annual newsletter has been called the Talking Stick - and it was only recently that we realised exactly why...

We work with pastoralists in northern Tanzania, including the Maasai and when the Maasai conduct meetings they have "talking sticks". You can only speak when you are holding it. All of the work our partners- the Community Self Reliance Centre (CSRC) in Ghana, the Pastoral Women's Council (PWC) in Tanzania, the Ujiima Community Resource Trust (UCRT) in Tanzania and Community and Small Enterprise Consultancy (CASEC) in Tanzania- is based around talking with and to the communities in Ghana and Tanzania they work with. Every voice is valued. Every voice is listened to. 

This then is the at the core of African Initiatives' values and the way that we, and our partners work.