The founding of the « Dar Reality Projects » association is undeniably linked to an encounter with the Tanzanian organization “AfriRoots” whose venture “Dar Reality Cycle”, led us during a family visit to Tanzania in December 2009, on a bicycle tour of some of the poorest areas of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s economic capital. To see the reality of urbanization for a majority of Dar es Salaam’s local population is something one cannot forget or ignore.

AfriRoots specializes in eco-tourism, offering exciting outdoor sporting and recreational adventures. However, they also make a point of trying to give something back to the local communities where they operate. The “Dar Reality Cycle” tour is an eye-opener and offers an opportunity to meet with inhabitants of some of Dar’s very poor areas, where incomes average USD 100 per month, yet determination despite precarious conditions, is impressive. Thus, some of the proceeds of the cycle tour are invested in helping to improve the conditions of the local community. To give an example, a bridge was urgently built after the previous one was swept away by heavy rainfall.

Dar Reality Project was established with the intention to contribute to these bold initiatives. Our principal objectives are to identify, finance and set-up sustainable development projects for the local communities who hardly benefit from local authority financing, finding themselves on the margins of society.

Our approach consists in selecting projects that can be conducted by the local community and with the support of local businesses.  The aim is to identify projects that can be sustained independently of our association.

We deliberately chose to focus our efforts on simple, low cost ventures that will have an immediate positive impact on the quality of daily life and the environment. Four priority projects have been identified in the densely populate area of Mkunduge, a district home to 16’000 inhabitants (in 578 lodgings).  We intend these initial projects to serve as examples for deployment on a wider scale.

Please visit the section Our Projects for details.