Written by Frederika and Jayadi Paembonan for Susila Dharma International
Capacity building is an essential element of sustainable development. Without building the capacity of those you work with, then you are at risk of creating dependence. We will share Jayadi’s experience of working as a Susila Dharma volunteer on rural projects in India namely Anisha. He brought with him his knowledge about Permaculture and shared this with staff and farmers involved at the Anisha Project. From this initial project he received more invitations and he returned 8 months later to further the work at Anisha as well as begin working with Ashoka and the Centre for Culture and Development (CCD) in the south of India.
Capacity building isn’t a new term or approach and we can’t help but refer to the wisdom of this old saying and its relevance for this topic:‘Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.’ - Chinese Proverb.
In light of this, capacity building is not a new concept, and we see training and education as critical elements of the work we did in this regard.
About Permaculture
Permaculture lends itself to well to capacity building in the context of International Development. It is a design science for sustainable living system and is most commonly known for its contribution to organic sustainable gardening and regenerative agriculture and farming practices. Permaculture stands for "Permanent Culture" and its scope in theory and application much further than agriculture, into creating integrated living systems to support the resilience and sustainability of communities. It was initiated in Australia in the 1970’s by Bill Mollison, a scientist and academic and David Holmgren in response to earth’s soil, water and air pollution by industrial and agricultural systems. Permaculture offers an understanding of how biological processes are integrated.
The main features of the permaculture approach are summarized as follows:
- A synthesis of traditional knowledge and modern science applicable in both urban and rural situations
- It works with nature and takes natural systems as models to design sustainable environments that provide for basic human needs and the social and economic infrastructures that support them
- It encourages us, and gives us the capacity and opportunity to become a conscious part of the solutions to the many problems that face us locally and globally. The main ethical principles of Permaculture are: Care of People, Care of Earth and Fair Distribution of Surplus.
Permaculture and capacity building in India
On the ground in India the climate and conditions at Anisha were very extreme and this provided a wonderful opportunity and challenge to work productively with the limited resources available. The project was in a rural location, 8 hours away from the nearest main city of Bangalore. There was a drought, there were very limited resources available including water, the temperature ranged from 35-45 degrees, the project site was very isolated, and it was surrounded by a dry bush forest. The locals say that the river in the valley hasn’t run in over 5 years and all the water wells are drying up due to lowering of the water table. Everywhere people were digging bore wells to access the diminishing underground water supply.
For this project we needed to adapt to the local conditions, and consider what materials already existed on the project site. The work that we were able to implement used agricultural strategies to work within this extreme climate and conditions. We were able to refer to numerous permaculture reference materials such as my text books to learn the strategies necessary in this new environment, and we were able to share this knowledge with the staff and utilize materials available onsite.
Capacity Building through education and training
Sharing knowledge is a key element of building the skills of others on a project. We ran practical and theoretical training through:
- Workshops
- Classroom sessions
- Interactive demonstrative information sessions
- Storytelling, drama and mime to convey messages (worked well especially with farmers and children as most had very limited English)
- Documenting the process to capture the transformations of the before, during and after.
- The directors of the project acted as interpreters as needed within the training sessions to communicate the information clearly.
Despite all of this we were very aware that the indigenous community knew more about their land and sustainability than us, but because of globalization and the continuous attacks on their traditional way of life, the knowledge is being lost or invalidated. Sometimes this traditional knowledge has skipped a generation. In that sense, the principle of permaculture brings people back to what they used to know, validates their cultural practices, and introduces methods that are effective in today’s world. It provides a link back to restoring ecological and cultural harmony and balance.
‘Teaching a Man to Fish’ at use in permaculture
Returning to the ‘Teaching a man to fish’ saying, and in the context of our work using permaculture then we not only teach the man to fish, but we also help him to think about supporting his environment, producing food in a way that supports the local ecosystem to ensure that we don’t exploit our local resources and to ensure that the river keeps running. Sustainability is a concept that does not require tons of energy from outside, rather sustainability requires us to maximize the local resources available, in this case the skills of the team at Anisha, in order to enhance their ability to meet present challenges and be self-sufficient in the long term.
Since this initial project began, Anisha has seen improved crop yields and quality of produce. We have seen dry barren land regenerate and return larger than anticipated crop yields. Anisha, along with another two projects, Ashoka and CCD, invited Jayadi back in 2014 and he recently completed 2 months working there earlier this year and we will soon share and update about these latest experiences working in the field in India in the Susila Dharma network of projects.
- See more at: http://www.susiladharma.org/node/245#sthash.jUpUDE9s.dpuf
'GIVE A MAN A FISH AND YOU FEED HIM FOR A DAY;
TEACH A MAN TO FISH AND YOU FEED HIM FOR A LIFETIME.'
TEACH A MAN TO FISH AND YOU FEED HIM FOR A LIFETIME.'