From Proposal Trapping To Rain Trapping: Sawadogoism And The Lesson On Proposal Writing For All African Universities -Part 2

They taught us Proposal Writing Skills in Harare.

They teach a version of the same course in Ghana. In Lagos. In Nairobi. In Johannesburg. In Dakar. Only the course code changes.

Topic selection. Concept Paper. Problem Statement. SMART Objectives. Literature Review. Methodology. Ethics. Gantt Chart. Budgeting. Logframe. Theory of Change. Devex.

On paper, it looks neutral. It is not.
It teaches us one unspoken lesson, from Accra to Zimbabwe to Kenya:

Nothing moves until someone far away says yes.

In many departments, we did not fully decolonize the African university. We changed many lecturers' accents, but we kept the permission system.

THE MAN WHO HAD NO PROPOSAL
In Yatenga, northern Burkina Faso, there was a man with no degree, no donor, no tractor. They called him crazy.

Yacouba Sawadogo.
White experts arrived in Land Cruisers in the 1980s. They looked at the cracked laterite, the dead soil, and declared it finished. Desertification had won.

His father taught him something older than any university. _Zaï._

Dig a small pit. Put manure. Put dead leaves. Let the termites come. Trap the rain when it falls. Plant the seed in the pit.

He did it. Alone at first. For years, people laughed.

Result: About 30 hectares of barren land became forest. Farmers copied him - and later, researchers, neighbours, and Oxfam helped him train others and secure his land. Tens of thousands of hectares were resurrected, not by a ministry alone, but by farmers first, partners second.

Yacouba won the Right Livelihood Award. He won UN Champion of the Earth. But the awards missed the philosophy.

That philosophy is what I call Sawadogoism.

African problems are solved by African solutions.

And its second pillar is Frugal Sovereignty: Sovereignty is costly. Dependence is costlier.

THE TRAP WE TEACH
This piece is not against proposal writing. Proposal writing taught me discipline.

A concept paper taught me to summarize a messy idea in three pages. A problem statement taught me precision, not emotion. SMART stopped lazy objectives. Ethics taught me consent - you do not photograph drug users for a donor report. Budgeting taught me accountability - every dollar traceable.

Yacouba also had a proposal. It just was not on paper. It was in his head.

Aim: Bring back the forest. Objective: Dig 100 pits this dry season. Timeline: Before the rains. Budget: Manure from my goats. Ethics: Do not cut the tree that holds the soil.

He just did not write it for a donor in Geneva.

Sawadogoism does NOT mean skip ethics. It means start with ethical action you can do without a donor, then document it.

Do not dig on land that is not yours. Do not start a clinic without training. Do not research drug users without consent. Ethics is not the trap. Permission is the trap. Learn the difference.

Here is the trap:
In Harare, a brilliant student writes 20 pages on drugs in Mbare. No funding. No action. The document becomes the achievement.

In Accra, a student writes 20 pages on galamsey. No funding. No action.

In Lagos, a student writes 20 pages on flooding in Makoko. No funding. No action.

In Nairobi, a student writes 20 pages on youth unemployment in Kibera. No funding. No action.

Four countries. Same paralysis.
We do not blame the student. We blame the system that gives an A for a proposal and no mark for a pit.

The university teaches the student that the document _is_ the achievement. The lecturer gives an A for the proposal. The lecturer gives an F if you go dig without ethics clearance. The student is only playing the game we designed for them.

Grantpreneurs, we have become. Substituting action with documentation.

We have fertile land. We have degrees. We trap proposals.

Yacouba had cracked land. He had a shovel. He trapped rain.

The cost is psychological. We learn to wait. We learn that action requires permission from far away.

Then January 2025 came. USAID froze much of its funding. PEPFAR paused in many countries. Many NGOs stopped, some pivoted, some survived on reserves. Not because the problems stopped. Because for many, the proposal _was_ the project.

When the donor stopped, much of Africa stopped.

That is not development. That is subscription.

EVERY CULTURE ALREADY HAD A PROPOSAL SYSTEM

Sawadogoism is not Burkinabe. It is African.
In Zimbabwe, we call it Nhimbe- community labour, no budget needed.

In Ghana, you call it Nnoboa - farmers help each other, no donor needed.

In Kenya, Harambee - pull together.

In South Africa, Ubuntu- I am because we are.

In Nigeria, Ajo / Esusu - community savings, no bank needed.

Every African culture already had a proposal system. It just was not called a logframe. It was called community.

We abandoned much of it to learn how to beg in perfect English.

But we must be honest about why some of it was abandoned. It was not only colonialism. It was also unfairness. In many Nhimbe and Nnoboa systems, women and youth did the labour while elders took the credit. Young people left because it was unpaid labour on top of unpaid labour.

If we return to community, we must return to fair community - fair labour, shared credit, shared benefit - or it becomes exploitation with a nice name.

Fair means written._ If it is not written - who dug, who owns, who gets what - it is not fair, it is hope.

THE NEW THESIS FOR ALL AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES

Old thesis, taught in many African universities: Proposal writing is how you get money to do work.

Sawadogoist thesis: Proposal writing is how you document work you have ALREADY started._

Do not write a proposal to start a forest. Plant 10 trees, then write a proposal to scale to 1,000.

Do not write a proposal to start a drug rehab club. Start with 5 youths in your church, then write a proposal to scale.

Do not write a proposal to start a community garden. Dig one Zaï pit in your yard, then write a proposal to scale.

Start with the shovel where starting is safe and ethical. Then write.

Proposal as permission is a trap. Proposal as documentation is useful. Learn the difference.

That is the lesson Yacouba teaches the African university:

Do not trap proposals. Trap rain.
Plant 10 trees. Then write.
That is the new thesis.

6. Madondo (African Teacher) [email protected]