Who are we
Local Initiatives Support Organisation (LISO) is a local non-governmental organisation set up by people who realised that often lack of guidance, specific training or financial support were causing an otherwise good initiative to fail. LISO facilitates planning of development projects and tries to find useful contacts and/or funding for a part of the activity that the requesting party really cannot afford.LISO'S CREDO
Sustaining People's Projects
LISO'S MISSION STATEMENT
Local Initiatives Support Organisation (LISO) believes in the resourcefulness of people and their ability to find creative solutions for their problems. It therefore seeks to stimulate initiative taking and solid planning and therewith increase people's problem solving capacity.
The long term aim of all our activities is poverty reduction through capacity building, as stressed in Tanzanias Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and the first of the Millennium Development Goals (eradicate extreme poverty and hunger). As can be seen in the mission statement, we believe that the key to this lies with the people themselves, and that with some support they can reach their goal of poverty reduction (and eventully eradication!).
LISO'S objectives
From the mission statement the following objectives can be derived:
- To facilitate and support development projects on local request, aiming at self-sustainable activities
- To search for information, expertise, training opportunities and/or funding, for those parts that really can not be financed by the requesting party
- To cooperate with other organisations, groups and individuals in an exchange of ideas and experiences, for mutual benefit
- All activities shall be sensitive to gender issues, local custom and operate within the laws of Tanzania
- To be answerable to donors supporting the organisation and/or the projects and be their eyes and ears locally. The organisation shall ensure proper and timely reporting, both narrative and financially
OUR LOGO
LISO's logo depicts a public meeting, as inherited from traditional custom. Decisions are made by consensus, which is why they take a long time but effectively keep the peace in the community by taking all opinions in consideration.
WHO IS WHO
LISO is governed by an advisory board of currently 9 people, the secretary of which is the Executive Director of LISO. He is the only paid person in the board as he is executive rather than advisory.
The chairman is Dr. Michael Sanka, a medical docter in the local hospital.
The secretary and Executive Director is Walther de Nijs, M.Sc., a Dutchman and the only foreigner in the organisation.
The other members (4 women and another 3 men) are a docter, two senior nurses, two business women (both of whom used to work for an international development organisation that has since pulled out of the area), a priest and the principle of a nurses training school.