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Theo Groot

Since 1979 committed to Africa and its people

Welcome

In 1979 I left for Africa and have stayed there ever since. With a background in agricultural education, social and cultural anthropology and organization development I support people and organizations of all walks of life to unlock their potential and to realize their dreams.

In the more than 35 years I have build expertise in a range of fields. On the professional level I focus on rural development, organization development, facilitation and coaching and mentoring. Animal husbandry and primary education also picked my interest.

I offer a multitude of services to individual farmers, schools, NGO or other organizations. Click to learn more and get in touch with me!

What's new?

growing

Tree planting

Uganda looses every year 2% of its forests. Also in the area where I live I see trees disappearing every day. Many birds that I saw years ago are not there anymore since their habitat got destroyed. O…
cows

Breeding back original Dutch Frisian Cows

This is our first calf that is 87.5% pure Dutch Frisian (remaining percentage is Holstein Frisian). After a disproportionate number of male calves, finally a girl.
maths

New method for mathematics

Many kids don’t like mathematics and many do poorly with the national exams. No surprise if you see what books are used and how it is taught. With the help of Dutch specialist we have introduced the…

About me

In 1979 I left for Africa and have stayed there ever since.

I started off in Zaire, RDC today, as a development worker in Bolomba, a small town in the heart of the tropical rainforest. Ivan Illich, Paolo Freire and Dom Helder Camara were among my inspirators. I initiated a community center for integral rural development in the catholic diocese of Basankusu which I ran for over eight years.

From 1990 to 1995 I lived in Rwanda, the land of the thousand hills. I supported many Belgian development workers in their work of assisting local communities. This was also the period during which a horrible genocide took place. With support of Dutch Caritas – Mensen in Nood, now part of Cordaid – I initiated one of the first post-genocide rehabilitation programs.

I then moved to neighbouring Uganda where I still live. I have gotten permanent residence and built my physical home in Wakiso: a small town near the capital Kampala. Besides my work as a freelance consultant I initiated and own a small farm and I also became heavily involved in a local primary school.

Over the years I have travelled and worked extensively throughout Africa (and a bit beyond): from Egypt to South Africa and from Tanzania to Burkina Faso and many countries inbetween. With a background in agricultural education, social and cultural anthropology and organization development I supported people and organizations of all walks of life to unlock their potential and to realize their dreams. As the proverbial butterfly from Chaos Theory I flapped my wings. And trust me – it was worth the effort.

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Facilitation

Supporting people and organizations in having genuine conversations is one of my passions.

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Coaching & Mentoring

A coach or mentor supports you in your decision-making and the implementation but leaves you in the driving seat.

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Organization development

Understand change not as a threat but as an unavoidable part of life, a companion rather than an enemy.

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Rural development

Forging a new way of supporting farmers informed by complexity theory and an entrepreneurial way of thinking.

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Animal husbandry

An organic education/training farm for animal husbandry change not as a threat but as an unavoidable part of life, a companion rather than an enemy.

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Primary education

Preparing kids for the 21st century through innovative ways of teaching and learning.

Large (and smaller) group facilitation

Meetings are as common as dirt and about as popular. “Oh no, not another meeting”  is a regular reaction. Workshops are either a nice break or a disturbing interruption of work. Although everyone agrees that it is important to use this meeting time as efficiently and effectively as possible rarely get participants energized with clear ideas of what needs to be done next.

 If you can consistently have good, productive meetings and workshops, your company or organization is going to perform better. Better meetings mean better communication and better decisions, and that’s going to have a direct impact on the bottom line. Supporting people and organizations in having genuine conversations is one of my passions.

I am trained and experienced in ‘Whole Person Process Facilitation’ and I have a particular passion for large group approaches (30 – 300+participants) like ‘WorldCafé’, ‘Appreciative Inquiry Summit’, ‘OpenSpace Technology’ and ‘Future Search Conferences’.



Contact me

For facilitation of productive meetings and large group events. To train your staff in meeting facilitation

Coaching and Mentoring

Our lives and our work get more and more demanding. Changes are rapid and we have to keep up, but we don’t want to lose the longer-term perspective.

A coach or a mentor can help to think things through, be a sounding board, someone who asks the question no one else dares to ask. A coach or mentor supports you in your decision-making and the implementation but leaves you in the driving seat.

Although trained in Solution Focused Coaching and member of the ‘SOL- world community’, my focus is on what might help a client best. Since 2016 I am associated with ‘Coaching and Mentoring International’ a boutique training consultancy, specializing in mentoring programme design, implementation and training.

Contact me

To build and run a mentoring scheme within your organization On how to use mentoring as a tool in a range of situations (agro-extension, schools, youth employment) For training your managers in coaching and mentoring skills If you want to be coached

Organization Development

Understand change not as a threat but as an unavoidable part of life, a companion rather than an enemy.

When I discovered complexity and chaos theories a new world opened up for me and I found the new perspective in my work I was looking for.

Organizational change is a dynamic process that takes time and effort. I trained with Otto Scharmer in Theory U – a theory and a tool for deep transformational change and facilitated several change processes.

Contact me

I can help you to bring the whole system in the room and to have a genuine conversation on what really matters and that helps to agree on concrete steps to move your business or organisation forward.

Animal husbandry

I wanted to ‘walk the talk’ and being a farmer’s son with a first degree in agricultural education I opted for dairy cows and goats and layers.

Anam Cara

Anam Cara (Gaelic for refuge for the soul) is an 18 acres animal husbandry farm that I started 15 years ago when I moved to Kayunga on Hoima Road. At the farm, which is mainly organic, we produce milk and make cheese which is sold at a farmers’ market in Kampala.

Frisian cows

Five years ago I started a breeding program to breed back the original Dutch Frisian breed of dairy cows. These cows calve more frequently and more often in their lifetime. They need less replacements and provide valuable male calves. The milk has a higher fat and protein percent. The animal is better adapted to the Ugandan situation and responds well to poorer fodder and management. We also sell semen of original Dutch Frisian Bulls (Piet Adema 186, Big Piet Adema 196 and Martin 17).

Hands-on training

At Anam Cara Farm we organize short, demand driven and hands-on training in dairy cows and goats and poultry (layers) husbandry for farmers. 

Contact me

Short hands-on training Farm visits Semen of Dutch Frisian Bulls

Rural development

From the early start of my work in Africa I have been involved in rural development in many different capacities.

In spite of a rapid urbanization, most people in Africa still live in rural areas and for many countries agriculture and related activities are still the backbone of their economy. For most rural folks agriculture is their way to become household food secure and to generate some additional income to meet basic needs. For some others agriculture is their business and they engage in a more commercial way of farming.

Since 2011 I work part time with a Dutch private investment fund MWH4impact as the director of the MWH-trust in Uganda. We set up a social enterprise in Pader District in Northern Uganda to support both smallholders and emerging commercial farmers in their effort to make a living out of agriculture.

MWH4impact also provides loans to –not yet bankable – SACCOs and Farmers’ Organizations.

Primary education

Preparing kids for the 21st century is the new challenge for primary education. As the director of the Bondeko Foundation in Uganda I am since 2007 involved in the management of a local primary school. Our aim is to provide quality education to less advantaged children of the community. 


A Happy Start

With the support of professionals from Uganda and the Netherlands we have brought local education to new levels. A special “Happy Start” program for our pre-primary class gives children a good start. 

The Math Garden

We are one of the first school in Uganda to use iPads as a teaching tool and our kids participate in a renowned online, interactive program for mathematics, the Math Garden, developed by the University of Amsterdam. 

Distant Learning

We are currently developing an online distant learning diploma course for primary school teachers and organize workshops for primary school teachers.

Contact me

I will get back to you as soon as possible. However as I travel at times to places with limited internet access bear with me if you do not get an instant reply.

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