Harambee: The Kenyan Call to "All Pull Together"

Look closely at Kenya's coat of arms and you will see a single word written on a ribbon beneath the shield: Harambee. In Kiswahili, it means roughly "let us all pull together." It is Kenya's national motto — and for decades it was also a powerful idea that changed how Kenyans built their communities.

A word with a story

The origins of the word are debated. One common explanation links it to a call used by workers — dockworkers on the coast or labourers hauling heavy loads — shouting together to coordinate their effort as they pulled. Other stories exist, some of them disputed. What is certain is that it became a national rallying cry after independence.

Kenyatta's call

Kenya became independent on 12 December 1963. Its first prime minister, and later president, Jomo Kenyatta, called on Kenyans to build the new nation through harambee. The government had few resources, and the needs were enormous: schools, clinics, water supplies, roads.

Kenyatta urged communities not to wait for the state, but to organise, contribute and build for themselves — with the government's help where possible. The idea drew on older traditions in many Kenyan communities, where neighbours worked together to build houses, clear fields or help families in need.

Building a nation by hand

The results were remarkable. Across Kenya, communities held harambee meetings, where local people, wealthy residents and politicians pledged money, labour and materials for a project. Over the following decades, harambee efforts built thousands of schools — including many secondary schools — as well as health centres, cattle dips, water projects and community halls. Scholars have estimated that, at its peak, self-help contributed a very large share of the country's rural development.

Harambee was also used to help individuals: communities raised money to send a promising student to university abroad, pay hospital bills, or cover funeral costs. The practice of family and community fundraising remains strong in Kenya today, now often organised through mobile money and social media.

The complicated side

Over time, harambee also became tied up with politics. Politicians found that giving generously at harambee events was a way to win popularity and votes. Critics argued that the system encouraged patronage, put pressure on poor people to contribute, and sometimes hid the misuse of public money. Some schools built through harambee lacked teachers and equipment, and richer areas could raise more than poorer ones, deepening inequality.

In the early 2000s, Kenya introduced reforms to limit public officials' involvement in harambee fundraising. The spirit of community self-help remains, but the old political harambee is much reduced.

Harambee today

The word is everywhere in Kenya. The national football team is called the Harambee Stars. Businesses, charities and churches use it in their names. And the idea — that people can pool small contributions to achieve something big — lives on in community savings groups, chamas (investment clubs), and online fundraisers.

The word itself comes from Kiswahili, the language that helped unite Kenya's many communities after independence. Its spirit echoes ideas found across Africa, from Southern Africa's ubuntu to Tanzania's ujamaa.

Why it matters

Harambee is a reminder that nations are not built only by governments. In the years after independence, millions of Kenyans pooled their money and labour to give their children schools and their villages clinics. The idea was sometimes misused, as good ideas often are. But its core message — that people pulling together can achieve what none can alone — is as relevant now as it was in 1963.

Further reading

• Philip M. Mbithi and Rasmus Rasmusson, Self Reliance in Kenya: The Case of Harambee (Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1977)
• Barbara P. Thomas, Politics, Participation, and Poverty: Development Through Self-Help in Kenya (Westview Press, 1985)
• Government of Kenya — National symbols