Kaya

= "the African concept of ‘Kaya’, significant to various Bantu-speaking populations, representing home, clan, or society, including sacred forests, governance, all shared resources, and all parts of the community integral to its well-being". [1]

Context

Will Ruddick:

"When working with communities, GrE started adopting what is called the Visionary Process from 2020 based on the work of the Uganda Rural Development Training (URDT) Program. This involves assessing the current realities of individuals and groups through an asset-based well-being survey. The survey encompasses the six assets of Integral Human Development according to Heinrich (2009), namely: Political, Spiritual & Human, Social, Natural, Physical Infrastructure, and Financial/Economic. We find that this approach aligns seamlessly with the African concept of ‘Kaya’, significant to various Bantu-speaking populations, representing home, clan, or society, including sacred forests, governance, all shared resources, and all parts of the community integral to its well-being (Spear, 1978). Moreover, Kaya’s multi-dimensional definition is crucial in our understanding of the interconnected nature of the resources in a society.

Based on this understanding of the Kaya and asset mapping, GrE assists people in developing their vision and subsequently producing an action plan with Specific, Measurable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) steps. Within this plan, the assets or resources of the family or the community are organized for a common use towards their individual and collective visions. The core methodology GrE has learned and disseminated is aiding in defining and formalizing commitments of the people, agents or organizations toward their various resources. Pooling of commitments to providing resources acts as a method of mutual service that can produce fairness and multiplier effects across all six asset classes of Integral Human Development named above.

This process of commitment pooling seems to be part of a virtuous upward spiral— as visions are fulfilled in groups and objectives are met, more assets become available to commit to and pool. This enables the realization of further visions, continuing the cycle of resource coordination toward greater and greater well-being."

([2]