From Campus to Classroom: Stories That Shape Education
- Incubator funds from The Hatchery at Emory launched a pilot project teaching fence building, beekeeping, gardening, and livestock rearing for farmers.
- Fandema International aims to foster ownership, community connection, and sustainable, transparent, non-extractive local development.
- Donations seed startups that generate income, employ and train farmers, promote ownership, and build trust across The Gambia communities.
- Vision is a network of small enterprises reinvesting locally to create cycles of investment, address environmental issues, and reduce poverty.
Jon Hamilton co-founded Fandema International after spending time in the Peace Corps
ATLANTA — Jon Hamilton is a graduate student at Emory University, in the process of obtaining his masters degree in development practice. He hopes to drive ownership, a sense of community and connection, and sustainable practices to keep money flowing in rural African communities in The Gambia through Fandema International, his nonprofit in formation.
After he spent a couple of years in the Peace Corps, Hamilton got inspired to create global change. The incubator program at The Hatchery at Emory University granted him funds to kick off a pilot project to help farmers build fences, bee keep, garden and raise livestock.
“Seeing conditions and ways of being abroad can really help you reconceptualize and reprioritize what’s important here,” Hamilton said. “How can you create more individual incentives and empower people to create a livelihood for themselves where they’re incentivized to build their own savings, livelihoods and spread the benefits that way?”
Hamilton wanted to make the initiatives overseas more than just one-time projects. Through Fandema International, which he co-founded with Haruna Jallow, Hamilton has helped create long-lasting economic stability.
“The goal here is to create something that’s a bit more transparent, a bit more self-sustaining than traditional development practice without being extractive,” Hamilton said. “It’s really energizing to feel like you’re doing something that makes a difference.”
Donations fuel startup capital for the projects, which generate income, employ and educate other farmers and promote ownership. Hamilton hopes to build trust in Gambian communities while solving environmental issues, eradicating poverty and increasing quality of life.
“Showing people that they feel seen and heard is a really important thing and something small that makes an immediate difference,” Hamilton said. “I think building trust and relationships are things, in the long term, that I do feel like we need to do more of here. Let’s grow this into a network of people in the Gambia who are working together to build livelihoods where people who have succeeded, who get to a small enterprise consistently making income. Maybe they’ll invest in the first starting point and create local cycles of investment.”
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