The name ZanaAfrica comes from the word "Zana", which means “tools” or “essential items” in Kiswahili, and "Sanaa", which means "a work of art" or "craftsmanship": ZanaA’s key mission is to help craft and scale up African-led tools to empower individuals, communities, and nations to be the agents of their own change to fight this war against systems of poverty.
These tools must be in the nexus of health, education and environment – for in this area one begins to address root issues of poverty. They must be either a unique blue-print model or a market-based solution, with key measures of sustainability and replicatability across nations.
The inspiration for ZanaA’s name and ethos comes from Scripture. In the story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17), the Israelite army was fitted for war, with their armor and swords and machines of war; however, with all that they had they could not defeat the giant before them. It was only when a shepherd boy, David, equipped only with his slingshot and several smooth stones, stepped forward that he – using the tools he had been working with throughout his life – defeated the giant. His solution defied the "traditional" and accepted approach of his time, and yet was the best solution.
In a similar way, the West approaches “development” with their armor of Poverty Eradication Strategies they've written, helmets of the World Bank and IMF, shields of big NGO names and swords of capital, and attempts to slay the giants of poverty, hunger and disease. Too often we (the West) underestimate the solutions that others have found, particularly others from within Africa, others from the communities we are seeking to serve. Rather than importing solutions that are ineffective and unsustainable, if we would listen to the people on the ground, we would find better tools to fight the giants, a more genuine partnership would emerge, and the giants would be slain. ZanaA is therefore formed with people from both the West and Africa, but based in Kenya. Together, when we sit down as equals with mutual respect, we can find better solutions for scalability and replicability than any of us could find on our own.
The image, then, which spurred the birth of ZanaA, was that of a slingshot. This forms the logo of ZanaA, which is both a slingshot and a person, a tool and an individual, because we are the ultimate tools intended for the world's transformation.
