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IDEX Program Officer, Katherine Zavala, is currently in Mexico on field visits to our grantees there.

I awoke early this morning swaying in a hammock in the open air. We'd stayed overnight in the municipality of Roberto Barrios. All the visitors, including the students, slept in hammocks. This had initially posed a problem for the 2 DESMI staff members I was with- Estela and Pedro- as there were so many people here last night we couldn't figure out where to hang our own hammocks. Someone had suggested that we sleep under the "palapa" (hut - pictured) where DESMI held its workshop.

I was a bit dubious about this, as were Estela and Pedro. Estela looked concerned, saying, "I'm not sure that hut will hold the three of us with hammocks." But there was nowhere else and, fortunately, the hut was stronger than it looked!

This morning, DESMI continued their chicken raising workshop series. The students learned how to vaccinate the chickens. Before heading over to the chicken coup, DESMI gave an overview of how vaccinations are done, demonstrating the different syringes and the right direction to poke the needle. The students then went to the chicken coup to practice.

As part of the training, DESMI reviewed how to store the vaccines, and to identify potential side effects that chicken may get after getting vaccinated. The students learned that in order for the vaccine to be effective it had to be kept cold at 4 degrees Celsius at all times. This means that once it’s bought, it has to be kept in a cooler with ice.

This training was a good learning process for the students to be aware of the various complexities in using vaccines. They went on to review the differences between a parasite, virus and bacteria and what preventative care can be given for each.

After the workshop, the DESMI staff got together with community members and teachers to review the work plan they had put together for DESMI to support their initiative to build their own sustainable development center in the municipality. The students also expressed their interest in providing meals for other community members who will come here for training on sustainable livestock-rearing and agricultural practices.

Another long and educational day for the students and for myself, too. Soon after, we were ready to go back to San Cristóbal de las Casas, a 6-hour drive passing through the beautiful valleys of green mountains.

Labels: Chiapas, DESMI, Mexico, Sustainable Agriculture

IDEX Program Officer, Katherine Zavala, is currently in Mexico on field visits to our grantees there.

I was told it was going to be a rather long ride from San Cristóbal de las Casas to the autonomous municipality of Roberto Barrios. They were right: it was 6 hours.

I was accompanying 2 members of DESMI's staff, Pedro and Estela. Both are responsible for DESMI's programs in the Northern Zone. Today were to go to Roberto Barrios to conduct chicken-raising workshops with young people there between the ages of 12 and 16.

It's interesting to note that the autonomous government in Chiapas operates its own education system. It is bilingual (Spanish and a local Mayan language) and reflects the local context of the communities' reality. The youth we were to meet today are in their secondary education, a 3-year program that includes developing practical skills to enable them to be productive in their communities.

There are around 95 secondary students in this municipality and they've all chosen different professional tracks. The 20 students that are participating in DESMI's workshop today have chosen the veterinary track, and today they were going to be learning how to raise chickens among other livestock-rearing activities.

In this group of veterinary students, I learned there were 2 teachers who accompany them to DESMI's workshops. DESMI's staff come to this municipality every 2 months for 2 to 3 days at a time to follow-up with the workshops and bring new training materials for the teachers. Between DESMI's visits, the teachers continue teaching the students based mostly on indigenous knowledge and in the local Mayan language.

In the middle of the afternoon, we finally arrived. The sun was blazing with a vengeance. The workshops weren’t going to start until later, as the students had spent the first part of the day in the fields learning how to cultivate maize.

I asked Estela from DESMI what we were going to do in the meantime and she said, "We'll meet with community members and then prepare for the workshop. Time moves slowly here." I had time on my hands – something that would be quite unimaginable in the United States. It was peaceful to be in a place where was no rush or time pressure.

A whistle blew. "It's bath time,” Pedro explained. “All the students go to the river to refresh themselves from the hot weather." I followed them and found myself at a beautiful, crystal-clear river that was just calling at me to jump in. I had forgotten my swimwear. But then I saw girls swimming in their jeans and t-shirts. I dived in fully dressed and enjoyed a wonderfully refreshing swim.

Later, DESMI's workshop reviewed what the students had learned so far. They had already learned about the common diseases found in chickens and their names in their Mayan languages: Tzeltal and Ch'ol. But they didn't know the terms in Spanish nor what medicine to use to treat them. That’s where DESMI came in and assisted them in finding the correct terms in Spanish and the corresponding treatments.

DESMI asked the students what they’d like DESMI to train them in regarding chicken raising. The students' responses included learning more about diseases, how to build and maintain chicken coups, and more on general chicken care. In this way, DESMI can structure their new workshops in response to what the youth are wanting to learn.

It is now the end of a long and interesting day and, as Roberto Barrios is far from San Cristóbal de las Casas, we are going to spend the night here and DESMI will continue the workshop tomorrow.

Labels: Chiapas, DESMI, Education, Mexico, Sustainable Agriculture

IDEX Program Office, Katherine Zavala, is currently in Mexico on field visits with our grantees there.

Today I visited a community called San Francisco from the municipality of Teopisca, 1 hour south of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. This Tzeltal community of 300 people has been supported by DESMI for 20 years. The focus of the work is to assist 52 families to work collectively in various income-generating activities.

Don Pablo is the community representative of San Francisco Teopisca and has been the liaison with DESMI and communicates the progress of each collective income-generating project. He accompanied me during my visit, showed me around the community and introduced me to various members.

We went to a couple of parcels of land where organic vegetables are grown. The first patch of land is used mostly as a demonstration site. Here they showcase organic agricultural practices with new crops to communities. Thanks to workshops provided by DESMI, participants learn how to train other community members on these practices, which spreads the knowledge throughout the community.

Last year they cultivated red onions using vermicompost, which yielded successful results. They grew so many red onions that Don Pablo still has many of them hanging in his house. "We don’t have to buy them at the market anymore," he told me, "when you hang the onions, they can last up to 8 months."

8 indigenous women are managing the second parcel of organic vegetables that Don Pablo showed me. They grow lettuce, beets, carrots and onions. DESMI is in the process of teaching these women seed-saving techniques. Already the women are waiting for the flowers of the onions to blossom, and then they will harvest the seeds to sow.

Don Pablo also introduced me to women, who are growing medicinal plants such as dandelions, aloe and Madonna lilies. They create creams and medicinal herbal infusions from extracts of these plants to sell in the community.

Finally, I met with 3 members of a bakery collective, which has 30 members, all women. This collective has been baking bread for 15 years now, and sustainably generates income for its members. Marta, a 51-year old woman who has 7 children, recently became president of the bakery collective's board. She explained how the collective has helped bring the community together, as before none of the neighbors used to know each other and now they are work together.

DESMI provides these different groups through technical assistance and supports them in strengthening their unity as well as raising awareness in gender equality. DESMI will wait for the community groups to bring forward their future plans of how they want to improve their livelihoods. The members of San Francisco Teopisca are hoping to restore their land with more trees and are requesting support from DESMI for this project.

Labels: Chiapas, cooperatives, DESMI, Mexico, Sustainable Agriculture

Join us this Tuesday to hear award-winning author Claire Hope Cummings talk about sustainable agriculture and seed-saving and why the are important development tools around the world.

What: IDEX Annual Event: Seeds Of Change

When: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 from 6:30pm - 9:30pm

Where: The Solarium, 55 Second Street, San Francisco (See map.)

Featured Speaker: Claire Hope Cummings

Tickets: $60 includes appetizers and host bar. Catering by Jane Hammond Events.

RSVP: Tickets are $60 each.

Bring your friends! Buy 3 tickets and get 4 tickets for the special price of $180. Reserve your tickets online, or phone Gillian Wilson at (415) 824-8348.

Celebrate the success of our local partners, in Guatemala, Mexico, India and Nepal that are using sustainable agriculture to build food security and mitigate the impact of climate change, while developing flourishing livelihoods and communities.

We are delighted to have Claire Hope Cummings, farmer, environmental lawyer, journalist and author of the critically acclaimed book Uncertain Peril: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Seeds, as our Guest Speaker. Claire is well known in the Bay Area as food and farming editor for KPFA where she hosted a weekly radio program.

Learn about IDEX’s current partners. Bid on incredible gifts at the IDEX Silent Auction. Enjoy tasty appetizers, wine, music and reconnect with your friends at IDEX.

Labels: Annual Event, Claire Hope Cummings, IDEX, Seeds of Change, Sustainable Agriculture

IDEX Program Officers, Kat and Vini are on field visits in South Africa to research groups IDEX could support through our catalyst grants program.

Abalimi Bezekhaya is just 30 minutes outside of the center of Cape Town. Abalimi Bezekhaya, is working to improve sustainable food production and environmental greening in the townships of Cape Town. Their focus is to provide skills development through training and support people and organizations that wish to practice organic horticulture and micro farming. Abalimi Bezekhaya means "the farmers of home" in Xhosa.

We visited a community garden managed by mainly elderly women, who are members of VUFA – a black women-led urban farmers association in South Africa called Vukuzenzela Urban Farmers Association. On 5,000 hectares of land, 5 elderly women and 1 man are running this community garden. The vegetables are not just for their own consumption, but also to bring in an income when sold at market.

Since beginning to grow their own vegetables the women have seen incredible health benefits. Most importantly, they have been in such good help they haven't had any need to see a doctor.

VUFA has implemented a challenging recruitment process. To demonstrate their commitment to the group women must volunteer with the group for one year, before being asked to join. Many of these elderly women have a lot of time on their hands and enjoy fully being in the garden. But it's been harder to capture the attention of young people.

At the Abalimi office, we met Christina Kaba, the chair of VUFA. Christina came to Cape Town from Mpumalanga and started working with Abalimi in 1989. Christina became a strong promoter of women growing their own home gardens (tree nurseries) in the townships. It is her goal that VUFA can provide a platform for a unified voice to be showcased at the government level to represent all urban women farmers.

Christina invited Vini and me to visit Khayelitsha, a township about an hour away from Cape Town. Here, the community groups are not only developing gardens, but many of the women are initiating for sewing projects or running a soup kitchen together. Abalimi has played a key role in supporting VUFA with marketing their vegetables, but VUFA members now want to be trained in management and bookkeeping skills so they can learn to stand up for themselves and run VUFA by themselves.

We visit the community garden that Christina started long ago in Khayelitsha. It is close to where she lives, and now has 10 women taking care of it. On one side is the garden they grow vegetables for market as a group, and on the other, each woman has their own small plot of land to grow food for self-consumption and to sell to people in the township.

Christina introduced Nokwanda to us. She had trained Nokwanda in how to run a community garden, in turn another 8 women have bee trained to grow vegetables. Even more, Nokwanda invites other people in the township a 4-day training workshop so the participants can start a garden at their homes. The group will follow-up with them for the next two years.

VUFA is very community minded and works in a number of ways to share their garden and vegetables. Children in primary school are taught about growing vegetables and where their food comes from. Young people in tertiary education are encourage to do internships at the garden. VUFA also gives away a portion of their vegetables to disability and HIV programs plus they have plans to start a hospital gardens.

The women were kind enough to have cooked a fresh traditional dish made from the vegetables of the garden pronounced "imifino" a mixed of spinach, cabbage, green peppers and green onions. It was both delicious and left me a wonderful feeling to know where my food came from, and that it was fresh from the earth and not been processed in any way.

Labels: catalyst grants, South Africa, Sustainable Agriculture

To mark Earth Day (today, April 22) we'd like to share some more details from IDEX Communications Director, Gillian's trip to Udaipur, India last fall. Where she visited IDEX partner Sahyog Sansthan to learn how rural communities are adapting to climate change and mitigating its impact.

Give a little green this Earth Day and have your donation to Sahyog matched on GlobalGiving.com.

Heera Lal Sharma, the founder and Executive Director of Sahyog was my guide. Heera Lal knows the area around Udaipur well; he was raised here, and understands the importance of sustainable agriculture methods.

Sahyog encourages vermiculture, a composting method using earthworms to create rich, organic soil. Sahyog has started a number of vermiculture projects and provides training and funds to initiate vermiculture. The soil produced enriches the land, fertilizes crops, and improves the soil’s ability to retain moisture. Even during drought years, crops grown with soil from vermiculture produce greater yields.

I met with 3 Self-Help Groups. In each case I saw how fulfilling water needs was the priority. Sahyog does this in two ways; they renovate wells and they build bunds or berms to control the flow of water and irrigate crops.

During the monsoon, soil becomes waterlogged, collapsing the walls of the well rendering it useless. Sahyog works with SHGs to renovate wells. They insist that the SHG contribute at least 25% of the costs, plus labor. Sahyog and the local government fund the rest. Sahyog’s goal is to build relationships between communities and government and ensure everyone is a stakeholder in the renovation.

To improve crop irrigation Sahyog analyzes the terrain and identifies the best location to build bunds. Bunds are dams, usually foot-high mounds of earth and small rock that run the width and length of fields. They are multi-purpose and slow the flow of the rainwater and minimize erosion by containing the topsoil. But the dams are carefully constructed to allow water to seep through the rocks, and onto other communities. This method of water harvesting ensures nothing is wasted.

With your support IDEX has funded a number of such projects. At Bharave Village, I was shown the newly renovated well and bridge across the fields. The bridge also operates as a levee during the monsoon. Women and children pointed happily at the well and told me they could now drink fresh water.

I was really impressed by everything Heera Lal showed me. Then we went to the community of Kundai, which completely blew me away. At Kundai there are no incremental changes. This community has completely adopted sustainable agriculture and managed biodiversity without looking back.

Since climate change has begun to take effect, rain has become more irregular. Farmers used to rely on local weather patterns to know when to plant their crops. But climate change renders this knowledge useless. At Kundai they have learned simple, yet effective meteorological practices. They monitor and collect data on rainfall, temperatures and wind and share this with both their local community and the Indian government.

I was introduced to Deepak who lives in Kundai; he showed off the benefits of the program, such as the renovated well, the irrigation channels strategically placed around fields and the diversity of the crops. Kundai farmers are growing plump eggplants, bright chilies, leafy greens, wheat, barley and much more. Close to the well, bamboo and sugar cane were growing. The crops are enough to feed families in Kundai while the bamboo and sugar cane help pay for their children’s schooling.

Kundai is in year 3 of a 5-year project. This was the first year the community had been able to plant their crops. Despite the monsoon in 2008 bringing just half of the expected rainfall, crops were flourishing Deepak was very happy at what they had accomplished so far. It meant he did not have to leave the family and migrate to Udaipur or Delhi to look for work. The family could stay together. His daughter clung to his hand, clearly delighted to know her father was not going anywhere.

Migration is a growing problem. As crops fail, people must move to look for work to feed their families. It was clear to me that sustainable agriculture is not just good for the planet, but also for families and communities who practice it.

Like many IDEX partners, Sahyog works to improve the livelihoods of rural communities. A focus on resource management and sustainable agriculture has helped people better prepare and surmount the growing threats of food and water crises. Water harvesting, vermiculture, and organic agriculture offer viable ways for communities to adapt to, and mitigate, the impact of climate change.

Labels: Climate Change, India, Sahyog Sansthan, Sustainable Agriculture

On Tuesday, March 31, we took a small jet plane to fly to Zinguinchor - the largest town in southern Senegal. From here we will travel to community-based organizations in Casamance.

It was only a 50-minute flight but when we landed in Zinguinchor we sensed immediately that we were in a tropical, rural area. The humidity hit us as soon as we left the plane. Seynabou, the director of USOFORAL, an organization that we're meeting with, came to welcome us at the airport. It just so happened that we had also flown with a couple of members of USOFORAL on the same plane.

Once we settled in into our new lodging we were ready to go visit the first organization in Casamance, AJAEDO (Association of Young Farmers and Animal Breeders in the Oussouye Division of Casamance).

We drove for an hour into Casamance-Basse. This is a region that has suffered from many years of conflict waged over independence for Casamance. As with many conflicts between government and rebellion forces, those who suffer the most are civilians. On our drive to Oussouye, where AJAEDO is based, we were told about how these same roads were quite dangerous at one point and car hijackings were the norm. Nowadays, the region is stable and displaced community members are beginning to return to Casamance, which happens to be the richest in natural resources.

When we arrived we met with Paul Emmanuel. Paul is the Coordinator of Programs at AJAEDO and he told us a bit about AJAEDO and its work.

AJAEDO works with 392 members represent community groups. There are 21 groups in total, 12 women groups and 9 male groups. Each group has a representative that sits on AJAEDO Board. As a result the women hold the majority on this Board.

AJAEDO provides skills-building and technical assistance to women in agriculture, sewing, soap making and pottery. Three years ago they introduced a microcredit program. Since then they have had good results as the women are now able to access financial support. Many of them have taken at least two microcredit loans since the launch of the program.

AJAEDO is an organization that is regularly monitoring and evaluating their activities. Every 15 days the coordinator sits down with the supervisors and group promoters to create an action plan. At the end of the 15 days they then evaluate what they carried out and see if they followed their plan or not. AJAEDO also accompanies the groups to see where the priority needs are and facilitate discussions for community members to find solutions to problems. Once they've identified the solution, the coordinator in turn helps them find financial support for them.

AJAEDO showed us round their office, which includes a conference room, dormitories, a small vegetable garden and an extra room that serves as the base for a community radio, which promotes a dialogue among the multiple ethnic groups in Casamance. Right next to the radio office AJAEDO has a space that they hope to convert into an IT Center to Internet access to community members.

There were several young men hanging out at the community radio station and I asked them why weren't they talking on the radio. "Our electricity has been cut off," they answered. We took the opportunity to talk with them about their music that includes hip-hop, and mbalanx. The men demonstrated by dancing and singing their favorite songs. We didn't think it was necessary to return the favor.

Paul, the coordinator, told us a bit about himself during the tour of the office. He comes from Casamance and lived in this area until he moved to Dakar for his university studies. He has now returned to Casamance and wants to support his fellow community members in improving their livelihoods. His hope for Casamance is that the region becomes what it was before the conflict started, a beautiful, peaceful environment where the society is non-hierarchical and all people are considered equal. Many people have come back to Casamance to revive this tropical land once again.

Photo: IDEX Program Officer, Katherine Zavala, with AJAEDO staff.

Labels: AJAEDO, Casamance, microcredit, Senegal, Sustainable Agriculture, Women

Patrociña’s community is one of 15 currently receiving support through APROSADSE's Agroecology Program, which provides loans and training to groups and individuals for income-generating projects, such as livestock rearing. These are lucrative options for families with limited access to arable land. The program also promotes group savings and facilitates monthly technical assistance to each group.

At her neighbor’s urging Patrociña attended a meeting sponsored by APROSADSE. The more she learned, the more it became clear. If she took a loan to buy a cow the milk could both provide her 5 growing children with much needed nutrition. With the income from leftover milk she could send her children to school. And if you were to ask Patrociña about her dreams, she would be quick to tell you. What she wants most in life is to see her children go to school.

Few cars make it down to El Carmen, Patrociña’s tiny community of 30 families. There are no paved roads. Patrociña has a long and dusty walk to market in San Martín Jilotepeque. Even there staples like eggs and milk and fresh produce are often too expensive. Her family lives on a small, arid plot of land in a 2-room house, the walls patched together with maize stalks and steel plates.

Patrociña never envisioned she would be able to support her family on her own. But through a combination of small loans and technical training in livestock rearing, she has discovered an innate sense for business.

In her group meetings, Patrociña is always the first to speak up; ready to share how she is maximizing her original investment. First, she sold her original cow. With the proceeds, she paid back her loan and bought another cow. She was able to sell that cow and buy a bull, which she calculated would yield an even higher profit at market.

Her children are growing strong on the milk they have to drink. Plus her cow is also providing enough milk she can sell it to neighboring families. And, as she will proudly tell you, she can now afford to purchase uniforms, school supplies and pay for tuition for her 3 eldest school-age children.

Patrociña is not content to stop there. Her entrepreneurial spirit has encouraged her to expand her micro enterprise by making cheese. She has also begun to use organic and free fertilizer (from her cows) for her two plots of the local chayote squash. In a short time, she has watched her income grow from zero into a steady stream.

Though her new life is busier than ever, Patrociña finds time to attend health-training workshops at APROSADSE’s main office and returns motivated to extend her newfound tips in nutrition and family health to the rest of the women in her community.

Give to support women like Patrociña on GlobalGiving through March 27, 2009 and your donation will be matched.

Photo credit: Marlon García

Labels: APROSADSE, GlobalGiving, microcredit, Sustainable Agriculture

IDEX kicked off 2009 by encouraging staff, and volunteers to read development oriented books. The plan? To better inform ourselves, and just as importantly to get together after hours and review issues we work on daily. What better way to review and share current thoughts on international issues and development!

Last week IDEX held our inaugural book club discussion. For our first book we chose Making Globalization Work by Nobel Prize winner economist Joseph Stiglitz. Stiglitz argues that we can make globalization work for both developed and developing countries, but changes have to be made.

What stuck out was his acknowledgment of the need to take the environment into account, while also preserving traditional indigenous knowledge as corporations are trying to patent natural resources. Preserving traditional knowledge is something we do focus on at IDEX. Many of our partners practice sustainable agriculture. Our partners GRAVIS, in India, and ASHA, in Nepal, encourage local communities to save seeds to conserve local varieties.

Stiglitz dedicates a number of pages to the role of community. He says in his book: "what makes programs (such as BRAC and Grameen Bank) so successful is that they come out of the communities that they service and address the needs of the people in those communities." (p52) Stiglitz’s book also provided us a good platform to have discussions on the role of the IMF and The World Bank in poverty alleviation and the impacts of so-called free trade.

If you have read the book, or have comments to share with us about how Stiglitz’s book is relevant to supporting community development, we invite you to share your thoughts with us.

For more thoughts on globalization in 2009, a recent blog posting by Zarah Patriana discusses views on the future of globalization as a result of the recent World Economic Forum in Davos and World Social Forum in Belem, Brazil. What do you think the future holds for globalization?

We’ll be reading the book Stuffed and Starved by Raj Patel for our next book club in March.

Photo credit: Jan Stürmann. Members of ASHA in Nepal demonstrate seed-saving techniques.

Labels: ASHA, Bookclub, Globalization, GRAVIS, Sustainable Agriculture

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