The Ecology of Gibb’s Farm

Development & Poverty Relief

Gibb’s Farm employs 150 employees and 95% of them are members of the local Karatu community. All of them receive equitable wages and benefits. 99% are from East Africa or the immediate community including:

• General Manager
• Assistant General Manager
• Board of Director’s members
• Executive committee members

•Gibb’s Farm Academy - The mission of this program is to develop compassionate, inquisitive learners and leaders prepared for local responsibility and a life of continued learning. All Gibb’s Farm employees are eligible to participate in this academy training. GFA prioritizes the needs of the whole individual and promotes a balanced education opportunity for each participant. Classes are held in the staff village, Mikahawani, in a facility called Uhai (which comprises class rooms, clinic and staff dining). Gibb’s Farm focus is on the acquisition of life skills and healthy social, physical, and emotional development:

oTeaching basic life skills (reading, writing, math)

oEnglish

oIndigenous Knowledge

oCertificate professional course work

oCommunity health (through the Osero Clinic)

oTechnical vocation skills (culinary and carpentry)

•Karatu Education Fund – A community school support fund, KEF is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in the community of Karatu was begun by Gibb’s Farm. Proceeds of the fund are used strategically to build and restore education facilities, and to improve the quality of learning in local schools. KEF also provides support to existing organizations with social service projects in the areas of healthcare and environmental preservation www.karatu-edfund.org.

Recently, the fund has upgraded electrical systems for a local girls’ dormitory (Karatu Secondary School); built a classroom, toilet facilities, and desks for Tloma Primary School; built teacher’s housing. The fund is currently engaging in projects to help establish the first nursery schools in the Karatu area; add classrooms at Tloma Primary School; providing materials and restoring facilities for Ayalabe Primary School and Ganako Secondary School.

The Karatu Education Fund often receives support from guests at Gibb’s Farm, but it has always been a part of the community and received support from Tanzanians, Gibb’s employees, and foreigners alike. The Fund goes hand in hand with the farm’s mission.

•Employee Benefits -

oHealth Care Coverage for employees and families exceeds the state insurance scheme. Through the Osero Forest Clinic access to integrated health care is free to the employee and immediate family.

oRetirement Program called Better Life Fund, provides retirement moneys better than the state requirement. Long serving employees can access their retirement fund for basic the basic building blocks of life: family schooling fees or construction of its primary dwelling. A employee committee administers the fund.

oEducation through the Gibb’s Farm Academy

oHousing for some employees not from the Karatu community. Over night bed rooms for employees not wishing to walk to work twice a day.

•Community Water – Gibb’s Farm has helped to bring year round drinking water to the area. After years of supplying water to people living nearby, a major bore hole well was dug on the estate and clean water now goes to the fast growing town of Karatu, supplying a vast portion of its water. The community water supply is augmented by a dam built by the Farm years ago.

•Micro Loans - The management ethic is to help people help themselves, to be there for its community as a supportive organization, a helping hand, a teacher, a friend not a provider, a supporter not a supplier. This guiding principle encourages people to have faith in their own abilities. For instance, the staff have now independently organized their own internal bank.

•Village Road Maintenance - For years Gibb’s Farm has maintains roads that would otherwise be simply eroded, muddy or dusty tracks.