Documentation and dissemination of results

Monitoring

Choosing to plant threatened high value timber spedies

Wellbeing

Water systems for wellbeing

Fondo para la Paz

FPP considers fundamental for the implementation of projects: achieving the basic needs and the improvement of the living conditions of the community, it has the endorsement of it. So it is essential to build bonds of trust with its participants, local authorities and community leaders.

The satisfaction of basic is necessary to improve life conditions of families and communities; which creates accurate conditions to self-sufficiency as well the design of local projects that contribute to their development beyond wellbeing.

Having these situations will generate projects oriented to the generation of income with local resources that will establish the bases to achieve self-sufficiency and their empowerment. Also, from this process the community will carry out actions for the management of high impact projects with and other instances. After having finalized the knowledge and skills for the design, execution and monitoring of local and regional development plans.

Participants with a communitarian vision on long term which permits identify the goals to achieve development.
Commitment from participants with the project, the process and the work.
Trainings and farming models design according with the region to achieve best yields.
Know the ES that each region offers in order to insert it in a value chain which permits better incomes for farmers.
People could receive benefits to reach wellbeing, but they have to participate actively and share the compromise to work inside this scheme.

We have to identify the options to insert the products in the best market, and that market has to have the same values as farmers.
We have to determine with community how far we can go in a period of time with the project, to identify the goals, indicators and impacts of the project.
We have to identify secondary products and identify the diversification of the work for non-farmers families.
We must include young people and children in the process of identify goals for the community.

Monitoring

Subnational

Wellbeing-Development

Co-management of Soariake MPA

Soariake is an IUCN category VI MPA, that aims at protecting natural ecosystems while allowing the sustainable use of natural resources. It is currently co-managed by WCS and local community gathered in Soariake Association.

Local communities are at the same time actors and victims of overfishing. As MPA co-manager, WCS is in charge of scientific research and monitoring to assess the value of the site, communicate, raise awareness and support local communities to identify and implement suitable conservation measures, identifying alternatives to better manage natural resources, and identifying key partners if needed. WCS also provides capacity building in terms of project management, social organization and fishing regulation; thus ensuring the integrity of the MPA and the livelihoods of the communities.

WCS also supports the local community to define different zoning of the MPA, local conventions on resource management, ensure patrolling through Community Control and Surveillance, collect fish catch data, and promote alternatives that are environmental friendly.

Community involvement in the management of the MPA is key to build a local ownership, one pillar to warrant sustainability of on ground activities.

Building a long term partnership between WCS and the local community to seek for sustainability: a project approach will raise an opportunistic feelings among local community which does not help achieving conservation and development objectives;

Maintaining support while ensuring the local community would not become dependent on WCS: capacity building, technical support during the implementation of the activities aim ensuring that in the future local community will be able to implement the activities by themselves;

Once the industry is developed in a village and the farmers increase, organizational support is also crucial to help farmers organize production, maintain quality standards, negotiate with the private sector, managing the community equipment, ensuring socio-economic monitoring among farmers, and supporting households in managing their income so as to make sure that the benefit from the aquaculture brings advantages to the family;

Fighting illiteracy should be part of the activity to consider while promoting co-management so as to facilitate the implementation of regulation, the negotiation with partners, to better involved in rural entrepreneurship

Review phase

Entirety

Collaboration with any and all Private and Public Organizations who share the same concern for health, environment and the welfare of farmers and their communities

snapshot of logos of supporting organizations and strategic partners

zidofa

Global warming and climate-change is a global issue and solutions to avert climate change from tipping over and slow down global warming should likewise be global in nature.

"While we are relatively small individually…I believe that working together for a greater purpose, we can achieve our goals; many in body and one in mind." Ken Lee, Lotus Foods.

ZIDOFA's attainment of near completed status for the targetted closed-loop organic SRI rice value chain in the span of just two years despite the absence of a resident sponsoring NGO or support organization is attributable to its strategic partnerships with both private organizations and government agencies. As such, the various components of the value chain, mainly infrastructure, logistical and equipment support were granted by varying organizations and agencies.

At the start of the project, ZIDOFA submitted the Project Plan to as many private and government entities as possible and a year after project start, also submitted Executive Briefs to heads of agencies outlining the milestones, achievements and constraints met by the farmers. As such, by year two, the concerned organizations and agencies were well aware of the project and eventually became project partners thereby setting an unprecedented model for convergence.

Communication channels established early on

Sharing the Mission and Vision and Objectives of the Project to stakeholders

Sharing not just achieved milestones but challenges and obstacles as well in clear manner

Transparency and regular and prompt progress reports

Focus on farmers, health and environment with no political, religious or other leanings.

Scope should be local, national and global

Need for a physical office is imperative.

A communications officer and liason team should be put in place.

Funds for communication should be allotted and secured

Project meetings and reports should be well organized, archived and backed up.

Creation of a Mission and Vision by Members

The ZIOOFA brand name Oregena (abbreviation for Organic REGENerative Agriculture)

zidofa

To make sure the project stayed on track to its aim and commitment to provide safe, affordable and healthy food for consumers, restore, protect and conserve biodiversity and to promote farmers' welfare, ZIDOFA farmers were actively engaged in the creation of ZIDOFA's Mission and Vision Statements by conducting a Strategic Plannig workshop by CORE, Philippines. Additionally, a Communications Planning workshop was conducted by leading communications and media experts to ensure that ZIDOFA members were on the same page on how to market SRI as well as its flagship product, the Oregena (abbreviation for Organic REGENerative Agriculture) line of organic SRI Rices.

The ZIDOFA Mission: To advance holistic, farmer-managed and environment-friendly programs utilizing leading edge processes promoting quality agricultural and aquaculture products

The ZIDOFA Vision: ZIDOFA envisions itself as a reputable producer of quality and globally competitive organic agriculture and aquaculture products. It envisions a resilient and productive community where families are healthy, happy and living harmoniously in a sustainable environment.

Mission, Vision and Strategic Planning Workshop should be conducted at the start of the project.

Protection of the Environment, Health and Farmers should be an integral and key phrase in the Mission and Vision

A Communications Planning workshop should be conducted for the farmers to level up on product promotion and marketing and to increase global competitiveness through consistency in product and project taglines.

All members should be regularly refreshed of the original Mission and Vision of the group and of the projects of the group

Product quality, brand recogniztion and promotion should be emphasized to and practiced by all in all phases of of product development from seed selection up to marketing.

Simultaneous Solution Finding for All Components of the Value Chain in a Holistic Approach

zidofa meeting with Mayor at Mayor's conference room

zidofa

As ZIDOFA farmers trained on SRI, training for organic fertilizer manufacture was also incorporated so that the organic inputs can be available once the cropping cycle started as and such, the farmers can focus on the SRI agronomic management principles instead of having to still worry about making organic inputs.

As the ZIDOFA farmers started planting and cultivating their organic SRI rice plants, ZIDOFA was already seeking market linkages with potential customers for the upcoming harvested paddy rice and the eventual milled organic paddy rice.

All throughout the chain of activities, ZIDOFA was aggressively joining national and regional exhibits as well as trade fairs in order to promote SRI and to increase public awareness on the benefits of organic pigmented rice as part of consumer diet. The environmental ramifications of organic-based SRI was also highlighted with ZIDOFA adopting the following tagline "That Farmers, Soils and Oceans May Live" in all its communications engagements including social media.

All throught the cropping year, ZIDOFA submitted project proposals for its needed equipment and infrastructure and persistently followed up on their statuses

Continous seeking of funding sources.

Creation of an Operational and Project Plan

Assignment of tasks to Committees

Fund, Resource and Manpower Availability

Physical office space for operational planning, execution, monitoring and evaluation

The need for administrative staff was highlighted as the work load can be overwhelming most times.

The need for a physical office space is critical for communication flow and organizational planning.

The need for and lack of operational funds was highlighted early on in the project

Training on use of locally available raw materials to manufacture organic inputs and amendments

zidofa farmers mix carbonized rice hull, decomposed rice hull, seaweed extract, fish amino acid, manure, indigenous microorganisms, rice bran and others to make organic fertilizer

zidofa

This ensures that the most basic concept for sustainability is practiced by participating farmers and that it is nutrient recycling to veer away from input intensive dependence and transforming into low-input organic practices. Successfully carrying out this objective supports the participating farmers but also other farmers, who may want to try their hands on organic farming, the readily available supply of organic bokashi, vermicast and natural farming systems concoctions. The organic inputs will provide much needed nutrients and micronutrients required by rice plants in order for it to manifest its maximum potentials at optimum conditions. Healthy rice plants establish what is known as the "positive feedback loop" where it develops healthy and substantial root architectures which feed the upper biomass resulting in better photosynthetic capabilities which can then provide nutrients for the roots to develop even more. Once this loop is established, the plant can easily ward off pest and disease attacks. The preparation of organic inputs also offers an opportunity for farmers to sell to other parties outside of ZIDOFA and can supplement their income while waiting for their rice to be harvested. Sufficient supply of organic inputs lessens dependence on chemicals.

Continued education on newer technologies coupled with farm to farm visits will allow farmers to not only share knowledge but also to share available materials needed as ingredients for organic input manufacture.

Presence of open sided rain shelters for the farmers to work on.

Continuous monitoring and mentoring to ensure that the organic inputs are applied at the right amount and at the right schedules. Inability to follow input application schedules will lead to lower yield.

Continous monitoring of raw materials used to ensure quality and organic integrity of organic inputs.

Documentation of yields versus inputs applied is important to show correlation and effectiveness.

Use of the Organic-Based System of Rice Intensification as the preferred protocol for rice cultivation

farmers planting 8 day old rice plants one foot apart one plant per hill as per SRI specification

zidofa

The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a group of agronomic management practices and principles which delivers optimum conditions for rice plants to manifest their fullest potentials for growth and yield. This climate and enviroment friendly method of rice cultivation uses 50 percent less irrigation water, requires 90 percent less seeds and allows for the cultivation of rice using only organic inputs with zero chemical or synthetic fertilizers.

SRI ensures that farmers in the group all use the same protocols or method of cultivation, use the same seed varieties and prepare organic inputs using the same formulas and use them in the same dosages. These ensure that quality of rice grains are consistently of high quality and of the same organic integrity from farmer to farmer.

Additionally, organic SRI plants exhibit substantial root architectures which allows them to withstand long periods of drought or extreme bouts of wind and rain. The deeply entrenched roots also allow for maximum uptake of nutriens and water as well as allows the rice plants to sequester deeper in the soil horizon, organic and photosynthetic carbon. The use of intermittent irrigation also lessens emissions of methane as a Green House Gas and the non-use of fertilizers reduce carbon emissions.

Key to the project would be the successfull execution of organic-based SRI practices and principles by the participating farmers. As such, continued training for SRI and organic agricultural practices should be conducted.

The availability of organic fertilizers and inputs is critical to replace the nutrients otherwise previously provided by synthetic fertilizers..

On-site and continuous farmer monitoring and mentoring will reduce risk and increase probability of succes especially for first time practitioners.

Volunteerism is key to success as the lack of farm labor could delay the execution of agronomic tasks related to SRI and will result in compounding of problems. If rotary weeding is delayed or not done as scheduled, weeds will grow out of control and will lead to failuer. If not enough organic inputs are avaiable and applied to the rice paddies and sprayed to the plants as foliar fertilizers, then yield will not be maximized.

Farmers who are too dependent tend to cheat and apply chemicals and poisons for diseases and pests when no one is looking. Random monitoring and strict mentoring discourages this. Only when the plants have shown their robust health will most first-timers be convinced that healthy organic rice plants can ward off pest and disease infestations on their own.

Lack of farm equipment will likewise adversely affect the planting and cultivation schedules. Preparing project proposals to government agencies should be done in advance as it may take a year or two for assitance and support to be placed in the pipeline for delivery

Vacant urban land and landuse contracts

Burried pipelines prevent the area from being used for housing. Here, the community garden Matheus Cavaliere was implemented.

CIDADES SEM FOME, 2017

The community garden Matheus Cavaliere was implemented on an area above a burried pipeline.

CIDADES SEM FOME, 2017

A community garden was built on an area below electricity lines.

CIDADES SEM FOME, 2017

Vacant urban land is the essential building block required for the implementation of a community garden. The urban sprawl offers spaces where such gardens can be created. Areas include land below electricity lines, near oil pipelines, city-owned land, or private properties.

Cities Without Hunger makes contracts with land owners on the use of the respective area. The land is given to the NGO for free. In turn, land owners can be certain that their land is going to be used as a community garden, avoiding the misuse of areas as dumping sites, and helping prevent wilful damage of infrastructures such as electricity lines or oil pipelines. On such areas, other landuses such as housing are prohibited. That way, landuse conflicts do not occur.

Land use contractors include e. g. the energy supplier Petrobras, Transpetro, or Eletropaulo.

With a growing number of community gardens and strong media presence within São Paulo and beyond, Cities Without Hunger earned a reputation as an NGO with who private and public land proprietors want to collaborate. Hence, getting access to new areas is usually unproblematic.

vacant urban land
land proprietors willing to sign a landuse contract with Cities Without Hunger
trust in Cities Without Hunger: a good reputation as reliable partner through strong media presence and word-of-mouth both within citizens' circles and the corporate and public realm

Due to soil contamination, not all areas within the city can be used for plant cultivation. Hence, it is necessary to take soil samples and have them tested in a laboratory before starting a garden. Gardens will not be built on soil which does not meet the requirements.
Public relations work with the media, primarily television and newspapers, matters: It helped and still supports the NGO's good reputation.

Planning phase

Inception phase

Entirety

Cities Without Hunger's Project Community Gardens (English)

Upscaling of implementation of Dynamic Agroforestry Systems

The producer family with their garden is always linked with a broader sphere, such as the relationships between gender and generations, the social organisation, community, local and international markets, the cultures, and – something often overlooked as important – religion and/or spirituality. These aspects, however, should be considered within the concept of training.

The proposed methodology is based on a period of intensive theoretical and practical training of local trainers (facilitators) and lead farmers. In addition, the participants must "rebuild" their knowledge on their own plots of land. Individual practice must be supervised and accompanied by a senior trainer experienced in Dynamic Agroforestry.

Lead farmers present their practical know-how and document the processes experienced in the following installation period. In this way, a practical implementation of the concepts worked on can be achieved within a concrete context for the production level of a rural family.

Upscaling is achieved as followed:

- 1 local trained facilitator trains 10 lead farmers

- 10 lead farmers accompany 5 to 10 farmers each in implementing DAF

- 10 trainers accompany 100 lead farmers

- 100 lead farmers = 500 to 1000 followers

- A long term concept of developing programs for at least 5 years

- Participitory institutional framework

- Commited and open-minded staff

- Budget for training, follow up, equipment, and monitoring

- Accurate selection of local trainers and lead farmers

- Practically skilled SAF senior trainers

- Access to market for cash crops

- Short term benefits for farmers (anual crops, less labour, no expenses for external inputs)

The most important experience is the benefit of land preparation without fire. The advantage of SAF can be seen already after a couple of months, which helps to encourage farmers to extend learning plots step by step to the whole plantation. Short-term economic needs foster monocultures with expensive external inputs, creating more short-term economic needs. Also, agriculture is not a desirable future for many, and the young migrate to cities (generational conflict). National mega-projects such as dams threaten local initiatives. Other adverse conditions are unfulfilled basic needs, bad infrastructure and extreme climate conditions that impede dedication to long-term SAFS initiatives. However, we note an increasing awareness of the importance to preserve trees and biodiversity, and interest in SAF because of the need to restore soil fertility, and because families see that those who implement the mode are being less affected by climate change impacts, have better working conditions, healthier and more diverse food, and better markets (e.g. for organic cacao, coffee, coconut or coca).

Planning phase

Monitoring