The Harambee project develops from the collaboration between the Brownsea Foundation, the Kenya Scouts Association and the World Scout Bureau. The Foundation started in 1961 on the initiative of some scout volunteers. In 1965 it was made into a Charity (DPR 944 - 22.3.1965). In Kenya the Brownsea Foundation (B.F.) has co-operated with the Passionist Fathers, located in South Nyanza, from 1971 to 1983, financing and completing several social works supporting the missions and the local communities; among them: a maternity ambulatory, a rain-water tank, a religious school. Since 1983, based on the positive ten years working experience and the achieved knowledge of the population and the environment, the B.F. has started a wide development help programme, in co-operation with the with the Kenya Scouts Association, and with support from the World Scout Bureau - Africa Regional Office. The Programme is called ITALIAN - KENYAN SCOUT DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (I.K.S.D.P.). The site which was chosen for the first intervention was the Nyandiwa peninsula, on the Victoria Lake - South Nyanza.
	The South Nyanza district is mostly populated by the LUO tribe, and it is one of the poorest regions of Kenya. The extention of the site selected for our project is about 500 Km2, from the lake-shore into the hilly inland; the average population is 140 per Km2. The main, if not the only income of the coast population is fishing; but the lack of equipment for cold storage prevents a profitable trade. The inland populations live by precarious agriculture, subject to the inclement weather (long dry periods alternated with torrential rains that wear the ground away). The nutrition is meagre, and characterised by a monofood diet. The sanitary situation is heavy, due to the poor education to hygiene, and presence of endemic diseases.