Iringa. Residents of Tungamalenga Village in the Iringa Region have thanked the government for the Resilient Natural Resource Management for Tourism and Growth (Regrow) project, which assists those who living outside of parks by offering scholarships to various colleges across the country. Residents of Tungamalenga Village, say the project had benefited the locals both monetarily and educationally for the benefit of their children. Anjelika Kasimba, who is a beneficiary of the Regrow project said it is among the best projects that once completed will leave an indelible mark as he believes his son who got scholarship at Pasiansi Wildlife Training Institute will be financially independent once he graduates. She continued by saying that in addition to his son receiving a scholarship, the initiative had also helped him academically by enabling him to receive seed money, which had helped him build his own business by cultivating a sizable area where he expects to get a good crop yield this year. She further said that ever since the project started to make an impact on the lives of the people of Tungamalenga, he and his fellow ladies have been inspired to work hard in order to be able to recover the returns and also benefit from various economic ventures like cocoa and beekeeping. Another resident of Tungamalenga , Devota Mgesi praised the government for making sure the project provided enough money to execute beekeeping projects in the community and predicted that beekeeping will soon quadruple their income. "With what is happening now, we have every reason to be proud of this project, because through this project our children are being educated at universities. We want other projects like this that touch poor children because I am absolutely sure that without this project my child would not have gone to Mweka Wildlife College" has said Aneth Kyaulilo who is the Community Facilitator of the Regrow project said that the project has improved the lives of the people in Tungamalenga village. So far there are seven groups that have been given Sh48 million for economic development through the Regrow project. According to her, the Regrow Project has been a great help to the people and the response of the community has been great and that has helped the groups once they were formed, they have been given training on how to start strategic economic projects And, Fedrick Funzila, who is the chairman of the village, said he is proud of the Regrow project because it has been a blessing to his people and has broadened their imagination on how to take advantage of economic opportunities. On his part, the Coordinator of Regrow, Dr Aenea Saanya has said that one of the criteria for the implementation of the Project is to ensure that the people are the number one beneficiaries in all areas where the Project is implemented. The Regerow project was started in 2017 with the aim of expanding the scope of tourism products geographically by developing the Tourism Industry in the Southern regions. The project is implemented through soft loan funds of 150 Million US Dollars from the World Bank.
