Litowa is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

which served as a testing ground for Julius Nyerere's vision of

Ujamaa Ujamaa ( in Swahili) was a socialist ideology that formed the basis of Julius Nyerere's social and economic development policies in Tanzania after it gained independence from Britain in 1961. More broadly, ujamaa may mean "cooperative economics ...

. Located near

Mbeya Mbeya is a city located in south west Tanzania, Africa. Mbeya's urban population is 620,000 according to the 2022 census. Mbeya is the capital of the surrounding rural Mbeya region (population, with Mbeya, totals approx. 2 million). Mbeya is sit ...

, Litowa was "the first Ujamaa village", and attracted attention during Nyerere's campaign for achieving "agricultural development within communal forms of production", and was upheld by Nyerere himself "as a practical example of ujamaa where I can send people to see it in practice".

Ujamaa village

The concept of an

village in Litowa was first devised in November 1960, when a group of locals, who did not want to travel to the country's coastal areas for work, attempted to create a sisal estate in the village. This effort failed at first, due to wild animals and an insufficient food supply. However, the next year, the locals tried again, with support of a local

TANU Tanu may refer to: People * Malietoa Tanumafili I (1879–1939), Samoan prince * Tanu Nona (1902–1980), Australian pearler and politician * Tanu Roy (born 1980), Indian actress and model * Tanu (born 1997), a Finnish/Assyrian rapper Places * Ta ...

party secretary, who cleared the way by resolving a land dispute, and a man from

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally kn ...

with experience in cooperative farming. Locals began a communal plot in nearly Njoomlole, but continued to live in Litowa. The village shortly began seeing success. In 1962, the villagers began constructing new houses, and invited their relatives to join the village.

Government

Litowa began holding village elections around 1962, electing a chairman, manager, a secretary-treasurer, and nine management committee members. Members of the management committee would serve three year terms.

Education

Litowa was one of the villages which attempted Nyere's rural development and education reforms, which aimed to "educate the children to stay in these communities and carry on the work their parents have begun" through

primary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...

designed to help students prepare for a rural communal life, as opposed to advancing towards

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

. Litowa's school, first established in 1963, was self-governing, and attracted pupils from other villages, who boarded in Litowa to school. Per a 1968 article written by an instructor at the school, the village's school enrolled 245 students. Curriculum in the school included construction activities, farm work,

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, selective breeding, and the raising of livestock. Husbandry has a long history, starti ...

, nursing, and craft skills such as

spinning Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

and

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal th ...

. Pupils at Litowa's school were also asked with forming their own decision-making committee, studied politics, and held seminars.

Evaluation

One American professor who researched the village called Litowa's model "

participatory democracy Participatory democracy, participant democracy or participative democracy is a form of government in which citizens participate individually and directly in political decisions and policies that affect their lives, rather than through elected rep ...

" and "a form of progressive education", and likened it to

Amish The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churches ...

and

Hutterite Hutterites (german: link=no, Hutterer), also called Hutterian Brethren (German: ), are a communal ethnoreligious group, ethnoreligious branch of Anabaptism, Anabaptists, who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Refor ...

communities, and the vision of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

. Multiple researchers have compared Litowa to

kibbutzim A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming ha ...

Reception

Neighboring villages began sending delegations to visit Litowa and ask for advice. In response, village officials collaborated with a regional commissioner to create the Ruvuma Development Association in 1963. Around this time, governing officials in neighboring

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

would invoke the example of Litowa to try to stimulate peasants, but often failed due to general apathy.

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Julius Nyerere Julius Kambarage Nyerere (; 13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian anti-colonial activist, politician, and political theorist. He governed Tanganyika as prime minister from 1961 to 1962 and then as president from 1962 to 1964, aft ...

visited Litowa in 1965, and praised it as an example of Ujamaa. That same year, the main leader of Litowa was elected to the

National Assembly of Tanzania The National Assembly of Tanzania ( sw, Bunge la Tanzania) and the President of Tanzania of the United Republic make up the Parliament of Tanzania. The current Speaker of the National Assembly is Tulia Ackson, who presides over a unicameral as ...

References