Kenya 7: The Log(frame) Cabin
One last story from Kenya …
Kilonga, Kenya – In my country, everyone knows the “log cabin” as a symbol of life on the frontier. Made by stacking uncut logs, settlers built these cabins as they moved across our continent long ago. Today, families build them in the woods as vacation getaways.
In my industry – the international relief and development industry – everyone knows the “logframe.” That term is short for “logical framework” and it is a systematic way to describe a development project. It starts with an overarching goal, and describes the activities, outputs and outcomes necessary to achieve a desired impact. That might sound complicated, but it is not. It is a useful tool to make clear what needs to be done by whom and when to accomplish something important.
In Kilonga village, the log 
cabin and the logframe have merged into what I am calling “The Logframe Cabin.” This structure, shown in the photograph, is a community building in the center of the village on which has been painted a logframe that describes the project the community designed to improve its health and development. In the photograph, the MAP Kenya program director, Safari (left), and the village chief, Joseph, are explaining the logframe to visitors.
I have seen a lot of buildings and I have seen a lot of logframes, but I have never seen the two combined like this. The point, the chief told us, is to keep this plan in front of the village members. With the MAP team serving as a catalyst, the villagers themselves sat together to plan the kind of community they wanted in the future and what they would do to achieve their vision. This is the foundation of MAP’s Total Health Village strategy – a community owning its own future. So, what message does the Logframe Cabin tell us? It says this:
- The village’s goal is to improve the quality of life by improving socio-economic status.
- To achieve that, residents believe they need to reduce the incidence of disease, increase surplus food production and income generation for families, and reduce the degradation of their soil.
- Some of the activities needed to achieve these outcomes include improving access to medicines and health education for families, training in clean water, sanitation and hygiene, preventing HIV/AIDS, utilizing sustainable agricultural practices, implementing small-scale irrigation solutions, building entrepreneurial skills and accessing microfinance loans.
The residents of Kilonga developed the plan. They own it. So why not paint it on the wall?
I am a planner by nature. I wonder how my wife, Sandy, would feel if I repainted the side of our house with my plan for the year? Our home could be the second Logframe Cabin!
