Capacity Building

 

April 19, 2013 (ayyaantuu.com) – A group of concerned Oromo individuals made a series of meetings to discuss about the future of the Oromo people and arrived at a conclusion: to create an independent media so that opinion leaders direct the Oromo people to arrive at a consensus. It is not an exaggeration if we say we are very successful in creating Ayyaantuu.com. Today, it is the most widely read Oromo social media. In addition to the feedback we get from our readers, our engineers also track, compare and analyze the traffic periodically and give us a feedback. Prominent Oromo intellectuals and leaders have also frequently gave us a feedback and encouraged us to keep up the good work.
Once again, we have taken our time and discussed with opinion leaders the next steps we need to take to transform the liberation struggle. We must be serious to implement the following ideas in our second phase to transform the Oromo peoples’ struggle.
1. Advocacy: We managed to mobilize and network Diaspora Oromos through the social media. What we have been doing was mostly introvert; we have been mostly communicating with one another. It helped to mobilize the people but it is not enough. We need to be extrovert and advocate our cause to the international community in general and donor nations in particular. Therefore, we must strengthen the Oromo Studies Association (OSA), the Human Rights League of Horn of Africa (HRLHA), and Oromia Support Group (OSG). We must be able to finance our activists and scholars to advocate for the Oromo cause.
2. Media: We need to bring the fragmented media outlets under one strong brand name. Instead of listening to what we want to hear over and over again, we have a plan to reach our people in Oromia. The Wayyaanee regime wants to isolate Oromo intellectuals from ordinary Oromos to keep them in the dark and rule them forever. To break our enemy’s conspiracy, we must reach Oromia and educate our people.
3. Promotion: We will continue promoting Oromo language, culture, art and literature. In addition, Ayyaantuu.com will soon promote Oromo products and services to introduce them to world markets. We will also promote inter-Oromo trade and business to build our capacities in every sector.
4. Resource Mobilization: We will mobilize our human and material resources to generate revenue, to effectively and efficiently implement our plans, to sustain all these projects, to assist our community organizations and civil society institutions.
5. Preserving our cultural heritages, social values, moral codes and the democratic and egalitarian Gadaa System of governance.
6. Protecting our natural resources and the environment
7. Mobilizing medical professionals to give health education to our people
8. Supporting refugees stranded in various parts of the world by generating funds for Oromo Relief Organizations
We honestly and humbly demand from all honest and sincere Oromos to own all these noble projects and cooperate to implement them and translate them into action. We are tired of talking and let us walk the talk. We didn’t ask for a penny all these years to provide you with current news and information. We were determined to contribute something to our cause and we are very glad for doing that. Now, no honest Oromo is interested in bickering and accusation. That has become history. We need action and we can do it together as a united and Oromo. We had the confidence when we started Ayyaantuu.com and it worked pretty well. We have also the confidence and capabilities to implement these and other projects as a united people. Let us do it together.