The Challenges and Rewards of Implementing Permaculture in Ethiopia
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, Village Development — by Alex McCausland July 20, 2010
Editor’s Note: This is the most pleasureable part of my work – seeing people soaking up permaculture goodness, being empowered by it, and benefitting from their labours. Alex gives us a great update on his selfless labours in Ethiopia – nicely loaded with documentary images. If you appreciate the work Alex is doing, and haven’t yet taken your Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course, you might want to consider studying in Ethiopia – so your course fees will help fuel the juggernaut project described below even further. The August 02 – 12, 2010 course will be particularly relevant to you if you live in a semi-arid climate zone.
Our international PDCs use the schools’ project in its learning exercises;
Participants act as judges for our schools’ competitions. This both helps to
motivate the schools (prizes for best school, best parent, best child and best
teacher are awarded bi-annually) and is a learning exercise for the
international participants.
 Tichafa, our facilitator/consultant, trainer for ReSCOPE – 15 years experience around southern Africa |
In much of Africa, environmental problems and rural depravation are closely tied together. The rural poor lack access to education which means they have no chance to earn better incomes. Stuck in a poverty trap, they often resort to practices which degrade the very environment that supports them; clearing indigenous woodland to make charcoal, overstocking animals, or planting harmful species which give fast cash rewards such as Eucalyptus and so on. Population growth, of course, worsens all this. As a result land is wrecked and won’t produce enough food to feed them.
In the case of Ethiopia we are all familiar with the dust bowl image and the starving kids. Geldof’s Live-Aid was supposed to put an end to all that in the 80’s, but 30 years on many communities there are still reliant on handouts. In fact it’s the same in much of Africa. Why? It’s not that the land does not have the capacity to produce the food. There are many places on earth which are less productive but people manage to grow what they need. It’s not that the people are lazy either. Women especially, live a life of constant toil and drudgery in many areas of the continent.
Comments (0)Take an Exciting PDC in Ethiopia and Your Course Fees Will Support Crucial Aid Work
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres — by Alex McCausland July 16, 2010
Certified 72h Permaculture Design Course, Konso, Ethiopia: Permaculture for the Rural African Environment – Oriented towards food security development for rural communities, lead by Tichafa Makovere; Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge (SFEL): August 02 – 12, 2010.
Tichafa Makovere, lead trainer for the re-SCOPE (Regional Permaculture in Schools and Colleges) initiative and the Fimbadzanai Permaculture Centre in Zimbabwe, is to lead a 10-day residential PDC (English language medium) in Konso, South Ethiopia in August 2010. This PDC focuses on application of Permaculture to semi arid environments in rural Africa, of particular relevance to those wanting to apply PC in the rural developing world. Attention is given to appropriate technology, soil and water harvesting, indigenous knowledge systems and Permaculture in schools as a key focus point for the community, and a chance to influence the coming generation.
We use SFEL’s model PC site as the primary example for demonstration, as well as visiting implementation sites on our Permaculture in Konso Schools Project (PKSP) for design examples (more info on PKSP here). We also look at Konso’s renowned indigenous agricultural system and incorporating IKS (Indigenous Knowledge Systems) into Permaculture Design. We can also include day long field-trips to wet-highland Afro-montaine, wet-tropical lowland and dry agro-pastoral lowland agro-climactic zones, upon request, and can incorporate design examples from these environments into the PDC.
Comments (0)Permaculture Design Certificate Course, Ethiopia, June 7 – 17, 2010
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres — by Alex McCausland April 16, 2010
The ‘master plan’ concept is alive and well in Ethiopia – allowing low-income
locals to have their permaculture training subsidised through the tuition fees
of western students, who in turn benefit from indigenous wisdom
and exciting cultural immersion
You are invited to book on the Permaculture Design Course to be held in Konso, Ethiopia: Permaculture for the Rural African Environment – oriented towards food security development for rural communities and lead by Tichafa Makovere; Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge: June 7 – 17, 2010.
Tichafa Makovere, lead trainer for the re-SCOPE (Regional Permaculture in Schools and Colleges) initiative and the Fimbadzanai Permaculture Centre in Zimbabwe, is to lead a 10-day residential PDC (English language medium) in Konso, South Ethiopia in June 2010. This PDC focuses on application of Permaculture to semi arid environments in rural Africa, of particular relevance to those wanting to apply PC in the rural developing world. Attention is given to appropriate technology, soil and water harvesting, indigenous knowledge systems and Permaculture in schools as a key focus point for the community, and a chance to influence the coming generation.
Comments (1)Work of Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge Begins Snowball Effect for Entire Region
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Developments, Education Centres, News — by Alex McCausland March 8, 2010
Editor’s Note: This is an exciting update on progress from the Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge project in Ethiopia. Congratulations to the whole team in Ethiopia!
It was a moment of fulfillment for us at Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge (SFEL). The head of the Konso Woreda Education Bureau, Mr. Geyeto Gedeno, stood in front of those gathered, his fumbling speech soon beginning to gather momentum:
We now want to see this program expanded to all the schools in Konso, making us an example to the whole society and the rest of Ethiopia! Permaculture shows us how to achieve food security and environmental preservation, how to improve our nutrition and benefit our ecology, all through direct community action!” We all clapped and cheered heartily.
Gathered around the training room were teachers, parents and children from the three schools where the Permaculture in Konso Schools Project (PKSP), pilot project, had been underway since May 2009, when it began with training of teachers at SFEL, in a PDC that was part funded by a former volunteer (and a good friend of ours, Sarah Davis from Austin Texas) and part funded by Save the Children Finland (STCF).
Comments (1)Permaculture Design Certificate course in Ethiopia – February 1-13, 2010
Aid Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres — by Alex McCausland October 17, 2009
Certified 72 hour Permaculture Design Course, Konso, Ethiopia: Permaculture for the Rural African Environment – Oriented towards food security development for rural communities lead by Mr Tichafa Makovere Shumba, at Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge: February 01 – 13, 2010.
Mr Tichafa Makovere, formerly a lead trainer for the SCOPE initiative and the Fimbadzanai Permaculture Centre in Zimbabwe, more latterly a trainer for the regional Re-SCOPE initiative, Tichafa has trained participants in Malawi, Zambia, South Africa and Uganda. He has lead the development of the PC demonstration site at Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge (SFEL), in Konso, Southern Ethiopia (Ethiopia’s first) over the last 12 months and has lead the Permaculture in Konso Schools Project run by SFEL in partnership with Save the Children Finland.
Comments (0)Volunteer Eco-Builder/Handyman Sought for Ethiopia Permalodge Project
Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Project Positions — by Alex McCausland May 7, 2009
Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge in the Konso Special Woreda, Southern Ethiopia seeks volunteer sustainable builder/handy-man to assist with maintenance and minor construction tasks as well as some training and supervision of project staff and local workers. Food, accommodation and pocket money provided (and possibly internet access too)!
Strawberry Fields Eco Lodge is a community oriented business operating in rural south Ethiopia in Konso Woreda, an area noted for its unique local culture and indigenous agricultural system, but suffering from repeated food insecurity due to re-occurring droughts in the last 50 years. SFEL promotes community well-being through Permaculture design training and consultancy services delivered to local schools, as well as though developing community based tourism activities to generate alternative income for the community grass-roots. The project combines a lodge, farm, organic restaurant and Permaculture school as well as organising off-site trekking and cultural activities.
Comments (2)Spotlight on Ethiopia
Aid Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres — by Alex McCausland February 4, 2009
Ethiopia is a land of fantastic natural wealth and cultural diversity. In few places on earth can you buy locally grown apples and mangos from the very same market stall. But Ethiopia has a huge range of climates, which result from its truly awesome topology, making this a reality.
The great plains of Abyssinia sit atop two massive highland plateaus, cloven, as a coffee bean down the middle, by the Great Rift Valley. From the sweltering dry deserts of Somali Ogaden in the east, Sudan in the west and the Danakil in the North, where Africa crashes into Arabia, the land sweeps up, rising through semi-arid lowlands and pockets of tropical jungle, to montane forests, to alpine pastures on the slopes of the Simien, Bale and Ghugi mountain ranges, all of which top 4000m, and all of which are home to numerous endemic species of flora and fauna.
Comments (0)December PDC in Ethiopia
Courses/Workshops — by Alex McCausland October 18, 2008
Certified 72h Permaculture Design Course in Konso Special Wareda, SNNPRS, Ethiopia, lead by Mr Tichafa Makovere Shumba, hosted by Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge. To run from December 01 – 13, 2008, the course fee is $1000 (or equivalent in UKP, ETB or Euro) and includes food and accommodation on the site for 13 days. (Contact Alex for more information: alex1mcc@yahoo.com)
Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge (SFEL) hosts Mr Tichafa Shumba Makovere, as resident Permaculture trainer, in Konso, southern Ethiopia, bringing his skills and experience from Southern Africa to aid the fledgling movement in Ethiopia (from December 2008). SFEL is a concept in applied community development: a sustainable business integrating a lodge, farm, and Permaculture training facility. It provides training for paying participants, who’s fees facilitate free training for local stakeholders. SFEL also benefits the community through employment provision and represents the local culture to visitors. It acts as a platform for volunteers to get involved locally, offering contacts to local community and organisations in the Konso Special Wareda and acting as a forum for the local and international communities to meet, exchange ideas, share skills and experiences, network and cooperate, but also enjoy together! Food is produced on-site, freshly harvested from the farm and gardens.
Comments (3)Teacher & Design Position for Southern Ethiopia
Project Positions — by Alex McCausland September 16, 2008
Urgent Request for Permaculture Development Trainer(s) in Konso, Southern Ethiopia!
Strawberry Fields Eco-Lodge (SFEL) is a combined Permaculture and ecotourism project now establishing in the Konso Special Wareda, Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Regional State, Ethiopia. The climate is a semi-arid (Kolla) with an elevation of 1000-2000m. The Konso people are renowned in Ethiopia for being very hard working. Our project has a close relationship with the local community. In the establishment stage we have been offering employment to local people, as well as networking with local stake-holders, NGOs, GOs and private initatives in the wareda. We hosted two 13-day PDCs given by Rosemary Morrow in May and June, for which we postponed the construction of the project for 2 months and financed 8 participants from Kambata Zone (sent by the NGO KTMM), as well as training local agricultural extension workers and community members. We are now fielding proposals to target donors to run a continual program of PDC training for local stakeholders, community members as well as regional and national participants from interested organizations. International participants will also partake on a self funded basis.
