Lord Michael Hastings visits Micheweni Millennium Villages Project Pemba

Five years ago, Kiuyu Mbuyuni, a village of nearly 10,000 people in the Micheweni region of Pemba Island, part of the Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar, was a clear example of the extreme poverty faced by one billion of the world's poorest people. In stark contrast to the natural beauty of the island, villagers faced a daily struggle to survive without access to even basic sanitation and healthcare or sustainable livelihoods or reliable markets for their produce.

Over the same five year time period I have led KPMG's support for this community through the Millennium Villages Project (MVP). The MVP's purpose is to help sub-Saharan rural communities end extreme poverty by working towards the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on poverty, health, gender equality and disease. I also sit on the global Board of Millennium Promise which oversees the MVP.

I'm pleased to say, that as a result of our support, Kiuyu Mbuyuni has a new maternity ward and an improved primary healthcare unit with infant and child mortality now close to zero. We have also laid over 3km of water pipes giving over 90% of the village access to clean water for the first time; we have installed an electricity grid which has reduced the health, environmental and financial costs associated with kerosene lamps and cookers; and we have unskilled the local credit union which now manages over US$120,000 of loans to support enterprise and livelihood development in the community. Also seaweed farming, once considered a nuisance to fishermen, in high season now employs over 2000 people.

When I first visited Kiuyu Mbuyuni over seven years ago there were few shops, no electricity and no sanitation, with health and education services insufficient to meet the acute needs of the community. Mobile phones were unheard of. Now they are everywhere. Our biggest achievement, however, is that we have affirmed the people of Kiuyu Mbuyuni with dignity and supported their ambition to improve their lives. Our total investment exceeds US$2m. It's a proud commitment.

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This year will be my final visit to Kiuyu Mbuyuni. Since we started our commitment, I have had the annual privilege of visiting the village to see how the community is growing and how an integrated approach to helping some of the poorest people on the planet is having an impact.

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