The KISS Training and Education Center is a space where individuals and families from the nearby village of Kasisa, Mwanza Region, can learn how to implement cutting edge, affordable and sustainable farming and living technologies that will allow them to be better informed and educated and ultimately improve the standard of living for themselves as well as the entire village community.

The Center’s development philosophy encapsulates three core principles. First, development must be predominantly a bottom-up process. Thus, the Center’s development programs are primarily village-based in the sense that it is up the members of the village to implement any of the techniques and learning modules taught by the Center. The Center’s main role is that of an educator and advisor to the members of the village.

Second, the Center subscribes to the view of achieving development through a “big push” approach rather than a series of small initiatives that follow each other chronologically. The big push approach of development in lowincome countries or communities attempts to simultaneously improve labor productivity (that is, household income), housing needs, infrastructure (e.g. access to clean water), health care and education services, among others.

Finally, the Center strongly adheres to the principle of sustainable development. Sustainable development initiatives are the only programs that can reconcile the quest for higher living standards of today’s poor with the need to preserve the world’s finite resources while maintaining or even lowering each person’s carbon footprint. While there are many different development initiatives within the ‘Big Push’ approach, the Center will focus initially on the focus areas that can be found here.