Food Security: Permaculture in Africa
Donation protected
Hi, I'm John Seed of the Rainforest Information Centre. I've been working for the conservation of nature since 1979. I've noticed that wherever rainforests are disappearing, one of the engines of the destruction is invariably unsustainable agriculture.This has meant that we've often had a permaculture component to our campaign strategies and over the years have developed incredible respect for this system.
Last year we found out about Chikukwa where permaculture has naturalized itself and in 22 years, moved a community of 7000 people from hunger and malnutrition to abundance. I coauthored an article about this with Australian academic Terry Leahy who has been conducting research on food security projects in Africa since 2003 and regards the Chikukwa project as the most successful he has encountered and the best model he has seen that would likely succeed in other parts of Africa.
Last year we raised $2000 for a pilot "train the trainer" programme to prepare the Chikukwa community to host a group of about 20 farmers from elsewhere in Zimbabwe. Following the successful conclusion of this training we asked them to prepare us a proposal and budget and are now raising $13,000 so that farmers from the poor community of Murehwa can travel to Chikukwa and be housed, fed and trained for 2 weeks in the permaculture skills that have allowed Chikukwa to thrive.
I'll start the ball rolling with a $3000 donation and am setting up two crowdfunding sites, this one to try and raise $3000 on gofundme which will offer tax deductibility for Australian$ donations and another to try and raise $7000 on indiegogo that will do the same for US donations. Please make a contribution if you can, and also let people know by sharing this campaign. I hope you find the 6 minute video clip inspiring, if you have time please check out the 20-minute version.
Last year we found out about Chikukwa where permaculture has naturalized itself and in 22 years, moved a community of 7000 people from hunger and malnutrition to abundance. I coauthored an article about this with Australian academic Terry Leahy who has been conducting research on food security projects in Africa since 2003 and regards the Chikukwa project as the most successful he has encountered and the best model he has seen that would likely succeed in other parts of Africa.
Last year we raised $2000 for a pilot "train the trainer" programme to prepare the Chikukwa community to host a group of about 20 farmers from elsewhere in Zimbabwe. Following the successful conclusion of this training we asked them to prepare us a proposal and budget and are now raising $13,000 so that farmers from the poor community of Murehwa can travel to Chikukwa and be housed, fed and trained for 2 weeks in the permaculture skills that have allowed Chikukwa to thrive.
I'll start the ball rolling with a $3000 donation and am setting up two crowdfunding sites, this one to try and raise $3000 on gofundme which will offer tax deductibility for Australian$ donations and another to try and raise $7000 on indiegogo that will do the same for US donations. Please make a contribution if you can, and also let people know by sharing this campaign. I hope you find the 6 minute video clip inspiring, if you have time please check out the 20-minute version.
Organizer
John Seed
Organizer
Cremorne Point NSW
