The Abooman Women's Group: Working Together to Improve Livelihoods

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet. This is the fourth in a five-part series of my visit with the Ecumenical Association for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development

The Abooman Women’s Group in southern Ghana, “started off as a mixed group,” of women and men, says Fatima Addy, the Group’s leader. But today the group consists mainly of women working together to help one another. And says Fatima, “the women’s group performs better than the men’s group” by getting higher incomes from their products, especially in the off season.

The Abooman women have worked with the Ecumenical Association for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (ECASARD) and Heifer International to learn how to raise and care for dairy cows, make yoghurt, and pasteurize for milk for sale to the local community and for sale to schools. Some of the women also raise bees.

“Change is coming gradually,” says Fatima, “and it takes time to build up where you can safely say you can earn an income.” And while the market for milk products in the community is growing, the women still have some challenges. They talked about the need for a better storage and processing facility and a freezer, as well better storage for the feed for their cows.

Fatima says that they’re “putting all our effort into making the groups sustainable” to not only find ways to improve their production and incomes, but also help them face the “challenges they face from men trying to prove us wrong.” Credit, for example, has been for men, not to women. As the women become better organize, however, they’re becoming more successful farmers and business women.

Stay tuned for more about ECASARD’s work with grasscutter and rabbit farmers.

Sunday Shout Out

Thank you to the Atlantic for giving Danielle a shout out and to La Via Locavore for mentioning Nourishing the Planet!

The following blogs and publications featured our guest posts and op-eds: Winter Park/Maitland Observer, Travel With A Mate, Associated Content, Inspiring Traveller, STA Travelbuzz, and A Travel Around the World.

A big thank you to Solo Traveler for making us blog of the month!


And as always, we appreciate all your great comments!
It’s All About the Process

"A big part of this type of work is accurately assessing the situation, listening to the people on the ground and then finding the appropriate solution, process or technology to suit the situation. One-size fits all is a losing proposition. Thanks for another excellent and educational post." -environmentalist, DailyKos


Working with the Root

"Thank you for this excellent series – recommended." -egregious, FireDogLake

Border Jumpers on STA TravelBuzz's Travel Tuesday

A guest post by Border Jumpers was featured on STA TravelBuzz's regular series, Travel Tuesday. Check it out below!

This Travel Tuesday brings you a guest post from Border Jumpers, Bernard Pollack and Danielle Nierenberg, who believe studying abroad in Africa may very well change your life…

Africa is not a destination that most college students choose for their study abroad programs. Lots of misconceptions exist that make some people cross it from their list — too dangerous, too difficult, and too different.

Yet, having just traveled through seventeen African countries (and to all the places suggested below), we found that all to be untrue.

The advantage to embarking on a journey like this is to pull you totally out of your comfort zone, where you immerse yourself in a community, interact with different cultures, and share new experiences. Not only do we feel safe as we travel here but precisely because we are visitors people welcome us into their homes, share their dinner tables, and introduce us to their families.

It’s probably too cliché to say that Africa will change you life — celebrities from Bono, Alicia Keys, Michelle Wright, Simon Cowell, and Selena Gomez beat us to that sentiment. Yet the truth is, it really will.

The most important things we learn and that connect us to the world won’t come via a classroom — but by kicking a soccer ball in a Rwandan village, holding a HIV/AIDS orphan at a school in Zimbabwe, volunteering at an over-crowded hospital in Senegal, or working as a volunteer journalist for a newspaper in Ghana.

Here are some programmes that might further peak your interest (and be sure to check online for hundreds more)

Madagascar, Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management, SIT study Abroad

We loved traveling in Madagascar with such unique biodiversity. This program allows you conduct field studies around environmental issues ranging from rain forests, coral reefs, mangroves, alpine forests, and so much more. You will stay with a local family in a village and immerse yourself in French and Malagasy

Cameroon, Social Pluralism and Development, SIT Study Abroad
The program is based in Cameroon’s political capital, Yaoundé.You will stay with a family for five weeks and spend a couple of weeks living in a northern village, with additional visits to western and coastal Cameroon. With more than 200 ethnic groups, local languages and dialects in the country, the program explores development theories, gender, art and cultural expression, and history.

East Africa (Uganda and Tanzania), Carpe Diem Education
This program integrates travel, volunteer work, and academic studies. In Uganda, you will live in the village of Junja working with an NGO that is building school houses in Uganda and then move to another village working with an interfaith coffee cooperative learning to grow and pick fair trade coffee. In Tanzania you will work with a health clinic as a volunteer with a medical NGO, while studying Swahili. Afterwards you head on a four day safari in through Tarangire National Park.


West Africa, the Rhythm of West Africa Semester, Where There Be Dragons

This semester program begins in Thies, Senegal, where you spend five weeks in a town about an hour from the capital city of Dakar. Students will meet with various NGO, taken intensive French lessons, attend guest lectures, and volunteer with local schools. The program continues as students hike overland into Guinea, visiting villages and integrating themselves in rural life and concludes with a three week home stay and volunteer project in rural areas of Senegal.

East Africa, Doane College
They offer a really neat program for those looking to really jet-set across Africa — seeing, studying, and volunteering in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Swaziland, South Africa and Lesotho.

These are just five cool examples – but with so many programs out there – you can pretty much take your pick based on your areas of interest and the countries you want to visit!

So Akwaaba! Karibu! Jambo!

Welcome to Africa!

A big thanks from STA travlebuzz to Bernard and Danielle for putting this together for us. The couple are currently traveling to nearly every country in Africa and blogging everyday on Border Jumpers so be sure to make a point of visiting and checking in on what they’re up to.

#traveltuesday

54 Tips on Things You Must Do While in South Africa for the World Cup

Hundreds of thousands of people from across the world are headed to South Africa to watch the World Cup, descending on Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, and six other cities across the country for the biggest sporting event the continent has ever seen. Yet, not everyone headed there is a sports fan. Some are being dragged by spouses, some by friends, some want to be apart of the excitement, but don't want to dish out the dough for tickets, and some are just building in some extra vacation time to see the sights.

My partner Danielle and I recently had the privilege of spending nearly two months traveling across South Africa, meeting with farmers and looking at projects that are working to alleviate hunger and poverty (as part of a 15 month research trip across the continent). Along the way we met with dozens of travelers and packed every weekend with cool excursions. From our travels, here is a guide of 50 non-sport related things to do while in South Africa.

Tons of incredible activities will be missing, so please use the comments section below to create a more comprehensive list.


Johannesburg

What to Do:

1) Spend an entire day at the Apartheid Museum, it's brilliantly laid out using technology and multi-media, and the visit takes you on a journey that will forever change the way you look at race relations and racism. It was a powerful and emotional experience

2) Go on a bike tour of the city

3) Take a private walking tour or 4) group tour of Soweto where you will see Freedom Square, site of the Soweto up-risings, Desmond Tutu's home, the Mandela Museum, and a visit to a local settlement.

5) Reserve a spot on the one and a half hour guided tour organized by SAB brewing (partners with Miller-Coors in the USA) complete with a 3D adventure and an IMAX-style movie, real life machinery depicting the beer making process, and lots more.

6) Aside from the Mall of America in Minnesota, the East Gate Mall  is the biggest shopping center I've ever been to. It has two movie theaters and two more huge malls within walking distance. Alternatively, (7) the mall in Rosebank is closer to the city and has everything you might need.

8) If your traveling with kids you might want to take a one hour trip to Maropeng and visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as The Cradle of Humankind. The interactive journey offers a underground boat ride, fossils, and learning about how humankind was born.

9) Alternatively, you might want to take the family for a visit to the Gold Reef City Theme Park.

Where to Eat/Drink and Enjoy the Nightlife:

10) For vegetarians, we loved the Kauai Health Food & Juice Co chain

11) For drinks, sip a martini at Ratz  12) eat sushi at Tokyo Star in Melville, or 13) stop by Sundeck in Norwood. The Rosebank mall also has some lively outdoor options.

14) For live jazz, head to Kippie's and 15) to shake your booty head to Carfax.

Where to stay:

16) For backpackers, consider staying in Soweto at the Diamond Digger's Lodge or 17) Bob's Bunkhouse near the airport.

18) For budget travelers, the Sunbury Bed and Breakfast is a great option or 19) the slightly pricier Turrent Guesthouse, both in the fun and bohemian suburb of Melville in close walking distance to bars, cafes, restaurants, and shops.

How to get to and from

19) Long-haul bus companies are a good bet, our best experiences and most reliable service was with Intercape bus company.

20) Within South Africa, discount airlines Kulula  and 1time are options to consider when South Africa Airways prices are too high.


Pretoria

What to Do:

20) You might consider a tour of the Jacaranda City (named after the tree by the same name), where you can visit historical sites, including the President's Office, Melrose House, the Church Square, Kruger House, and the Voortrekker Monument as well as the Union Buildings.

21) You can escape for the afternoon to the National Zoological Gardens and head up the cable car to see a nice overview of the city.

22) For shopping, Pretoria has a decent-sized mall called Menlyn Park, and a smaller shopping center in Hatfield.

Where to Eat/Drink and enjoy the Nightlife

23) Head to Hatfield for fun restaurants, bars, and nightlife -- with ten neat places all next to eachother on Burnett street, you don't have to go far.

24) Start your morning with a delicious cup of coffee and free wifi at News Cafe

25) For West and South African food, you can try Kariba restaurant or (26) the African Traditional Pub and Grill

Where to stay:

27) For budget travelers, stay at The Village which is in easy walking distance from all the action in Hatfield, yet clean, friendly, quiet, and includes a delicious breakfast.



Durban:

What to Do:

28) For those looking for a safari, you might head to the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal. In addition to incredible birds and other species -- you might also spot all the "Big Five" - lions, buffaloes, rhinos, elephant and leopards.

29) Go for a drive through the green hills of the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.

30) Visit a traditional village in Zululand. You can take lessons in traditional dance and music or visit beautiful Phobane Lake

31) For families, you might take the kids to Ushaka Marine World, Africa's largest marine and water park. The place has five "zones" that includes: Sea World (aquarium), a Phantom Ship (restaurant), Wet 'n' Wild (waterpark), and Ushaka Beach.

32) Pay a visit to the Indian Market, where you can grab a bite to eat, buy spices, meet traditional healers, and try on cool fabrics.

33) Durban has a terrific Botanical Gardens, which showcases free live music on Sundays, and allows you to picnic on the property.

Where to Eat/Drink and Enjoy the Nightlife

34) Vegans and Vegetarians will love EarthMother restaurant which has a terrific menu of locally grown, organic foods. Also, it has the best fresh juice and smoothie bar in all of South Africa

(35) For seafood lovers, you won't go wrong with a trip to New Cafe Fish or (36) Famous Fish Co

Where to Stay:

37) For backpackers avoid the over-priced, poor value, Lonely Planet pick called Gibela Backpackers and instead head down the same street to Tekweni Backpackers Hostel in Morningside.


Cape Town

What to Do:

38) Book ahead for a visit to Robben Island, where Mandela and other prisoners were incarcerated. Afterwards 39) take walking tour to the District Six museum, where you will see the remnants of homes that were destroyed.

40) Check out the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve where you can see a breathtaking view at Cape Point, go swimming, and visit a nearby penguin colony

41) You can go scuba diving and snorkel with the Great White Sharks of South Africa. This cave dive is a very popular tourist attraction, where you can literally look the ocean's toughest predator in the eyes.

42) About 90mins by car away is a great spot to head on a safari day trip called Aquila Game Reserve  where you will be able to spot giraffes, lions, leopards, and zebras.

43) Tour the Stellenbosch and Paarl Valley wineries. South African wine is famous around the world and you can find several affordable tour companies that will take you between vineyards by bike, 44) bus, or 45) by foot.

46) Hike, 47) mountain bike, or take a cable car to the top of Table Mountain, which offers incredible views of Cape Town City, Table Bay and Robben Island.

48) For shopping you can head to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. It's pricey, but there are tons of restaurants, shops, bars, and even a movie theater.

Where to Eat/Drink and Enjoy the Nightlife:

49) One tour company provides the opportunity to "break bread" with two local Cape Town families, including a home-cooked meal and stunning views over Cape Town, and shared conversation. Then you head to a second host family for coffee and more cultural sharing.

50) Start with homemade Italian food at 95 Keerom, then 51) head for a drink at the Nose Wine Bar, 52) before going out dancing at Snap. It's easy to have a great time in Cape Town with incredible, vibrant nightlife.

Where to Stay

53) For backpackers you might try the fun (but very noisy) Long Street backpackers in the heart of restaurant and bar nightlife.

54) For budget travelers you will enjoy St John's Waterfront Lodge, located right in the heart of the city, it's quit, clean, well-managed, and very friendly.

Border Jumping Ghana

Check out some sights and sounds from our time traveling throughout the beautiful and vibrant country, Ghana. Thanks to Awesome Tapes From Africa for the soundtrack: Onipa Nua's "Auntie Rosina" off of the album, I Feel Alright.

Inspiring Travellers: An Adventure in Africa

Check out the excerpt below from an interview with Border Jumpers featured on InspiringTravellers.com and then read the whole thing by clicking here!

Your goal is to travel to nearly every country on the continent. What similarities and differences among regions and countries are you finding as you make your way around?
Bernard: We see more similarities than differences. In all countries the people were friendly and welcoming, mostly excited to share with us their work and projects. Everywhere people seemed to share the same general hopes and dreams for themselves and their families. We’ve also almost always been able to communicate, even when language is a barrier. Dani is a vegan and I am vegetarian, and we’ve found that families, restaurants, etc, go out of their way to accommodate us. With that said, East Africa goes out of its way, making a point even in tiny corner restaurants to list at least one vegetarian meal. In Eastern Africa, we found the people a bit more reserved (still very friendly), while in Western Africa it is much easier to break the ice.

What is your favorite place in Africa so far and why?
Danielle: Kigali, Rwanda. It’s another place that, despite all the terrible things that have happened over the last couple of decades, the people have an incredible spirit for hope and change. Our visit to the genocide museum was a very moving experience. Also, the landscape is so lush and beautiful.

It's All in the Process

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet.

Zambian grocery stores are filled with processed foods from around the world, from crackers made in Argentina and soy milk from China to popular U.S. breakfast cereals. In addition to these foreign foods, however, are also variety of locally made and processed products, including indigenous varieties of organic rice, all-natural peanut butter and honey from the It’s Wild brand.

It’s Wild was started by the Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) over 30 years ago to preserve and protect wildlife. But the organization soon learned that in order to protect wildlife, it would need to address the lack of income sources for local communities that were sometimes forced to resort to poaching elephants or other wildlife in order to earn enough to feed their families.

To do this, COMACO organizes farmers into producer groups, encouraging them to diversify their skills by raising livestock and bees, growing organic rice, using improved irrigation and fisheries management and other practices. The organization supports the creation of regional processing centers and trading depots to make it easier for farmers to process and transport their crops. Their products are then sold under the It’s Wild brand in supermarket chains in Zambia, such as ShopRite, Checkers and Spar. And the organization tries to do as much of the product distribution as possible so that the money stays with the farmers, not middlemen, improving local livelihoods and preserving local wildlife. (See also: Peanut Butter and Progress)

And all across sub-Saharan Africa, other organizations are providing farmers with the processing skills and materials they need to improve their incomes and support their families—and that can produce unexpected benefits, including wildlife, reducing food-born health risks, and improving access to education.

In Kenya, the Mazingira Institute is working to create awareness about climate change, human rights, and urban agriculture. And they’re also training communities to learn better skills to increase income generation and well-being—including training in how to process foods to preserve them longer and make them more appealing to consumers.

Mazingira, for example, helped Esther Mjoki Maifa, an entrepreneur in Nairobi, capitalize on a growing interest among Kenyans for natural healthy products by training her to process groundnuts without any preserves or chemicals. It takes her about one day to produce 50 kilograms of groundnuts and she sells jars from 200-300 shillings each. Eventually, Ms. Maifa is hoping to make enough money from her products to purchase her own nut grinding machine. (See also: Mazingira Institute and NESALF: Training a New Breed of Farmers)

In Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, the East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) project is helping livestock farmers to improve the processing and preservation of milk in order to produce better tasting and longer lasting dairy products which are also safer for the consumer. EADD encourages farmers to join cooperatives (See Innovation of the Week: Farmers Groups and Cooperatives), giving them access to group owned and run refrigerated milk collection centers, significantly reducing the financial burden of the process. The milk is then transported to a milk processing facility and sent to market where the processed milk will receive a higher price than unpasteurized milk. It also stays good longer and reduces the risk of food borne illness. (See also: Improving Incomes with Milk Processing)

In Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria, the World Cocoa Foundation is providing cocoa farmers with hands-on training on production, pest and disease management and post-harvest techniques. The region accounts for nearly 70 percent of the world’s cocoa production, 90 percent of which is grown on nearly 2 million small family farms. Almost 16 million people depend on this crop as their main source of income and being able to properly process cocoa can make a big difference in income for a family. One farmer in Côte d’Ivoire, Ekra Marceline, was able to more than quadruple her cocoa harvest after receiving training from a Farmer Field School supported by WCF. She was able to build a solar dryer to produce higher quality beans and the additional income she earns enabled her to send her children to school and build a new home for her family. (See also: Improving African Women’s Access to Agriculture Training Programs)

To read more about how training in processing techniques can improve incomes and provide other benefits, see also: Women Entrepreneurs: Adding Value, Reducing Food Waste, Investing in Better Food Storage in Africa, and Protecting Wildlife While Improving Food Security, Health, and Livelihoods.

Beers and Beans: Making the World a Better Place

An interview with Border Jumpers is featured on BeersandBeans.com this week! Check out the excerpt below and then read the full interview here.

[Danielle and Bernard] tell the stories that aren’t being told—from oil workers fighting to have a union in Nigeria to innovative ways farmers and pastoralists are coping with climate change.

Their blog is fantastic with updates every day on a variety of topics – including videos & photos of meeting with local farmers & community leaders,  hotel reviews and local African music reviews. If you head over to their site you will be thoroughly impressed with their knowledge on community issues & food sustainability. While traveling Danielle also currently works as the Project Director of State ofWorld 2011 for the Worldwatch Institute. She also maintains a blog there and several writing columns as well. Bernard is also a travel writer that has been featured in several different publications.

They are a pretty awesome team and they’re doing some really incredible things. It was an honor to interview them and pick their brains a bit about their massive undertaking. The interview is really interesting and hopefully if you are considering volunteering or getting off the backpacker trail to do a bit more community service on your next trip, reading about Danielle & Bernard can help you overcome any hesitation or fears you might have.

Music Without Borders: Ghana

This is a weekly series where we recommend an artist, song, or compilation of songs, from a country in Africa, brought to you by our awesome friends at Awesome Tapes From Africa. Today’s selection is from Ghana:


Listen to some funky highlife music from the good old days of Ghana’s guitar band highlife boom. If this doesn’t make you want to dance I don’t know what will.

With ECASARD You Can See a Real Impact

This is two parts from a five-part series of our visit with the Ecumenical Association for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development and the projects they support in southern Ghana. Cross posted from Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet. 

Part I: Something that Can’t be Quantified

Check out this video of Nancy Ayesua Outu, ECASARD financial director, explaining why her work to promote agricultural innovations that are affordable, environmentally sustainable, socially just, and culturally acceptable in Ghana is so valuable. “When have built capacity for farmers and you see their lives improving, it’s something that you can’t quantify or measure,” she says.





Part II: With ECASARD You Can See A Real Impact

Check out this video of Stephen Amoah, ECASARD programs officer explaining why he enjoys working with ECASARD. Amoah started out as a volunteer but is now a full time employee. He says, “it’s a joy to hear someone say that because of our training they’ve increased their yield.” Amoah knows that by helping farmers form cooperatives and access agriculture training, he is “really helping the family and community to reduce hunger and poverty” for themselves.

With Your Own Eyes

An excerpt from a piece originally featured on Travel Around the World.

We want to paint a new picture of Africa, one far different from the infomercials and images we've become accustom to. We are meeting with Africans on the ground, who are using their vast knowledge, and developing innovative ways of reducing hunger and improving food security in their communities. We want them to be the face of our project, putting their stories front and center, sharing their hopes and dreams to audiences they've never reached before.

If you haven't already, we urge you to consider seeing Africa with your own eyes, so here are some innovative ways and tips to help you get your hands on African soil

For Students:
-If you are looking for something this summer and curious about Madagascar - we fell in love with the capital city Antanarivo - you might want to check out Reef Doctor. You can get free diving training and certification and conduct hands-on marine research, all while working with local fishing communities in the third largest coral reef system in the world.

For more suggestions for how you can see Africa with your own eyes, check out this blog post in full here.

Working with the Root

This is the first in a five-part series of my visit with the Ecumenical Association for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development and the projects they support in southern Ghana. Cross posted from Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet.

The Ecumenical Association for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (ECASARD), based in Accra, Ghana, is a unique organization. Not only has it brought together members of the Christian and Muslim faith-based communities to help improve the lives of farmers, it also collaborates with farmers groups, NGOs, policy-makers, and research institutions. “We can’t do it on our own,” says King David Amoah, which is why ECASARD works with these different stakeholders.

Established in 1991, ECASARD works with some 32,000 farmers in 7 regions of southern and central Ghana.

Their goal, says King David, is to both increase food production and reduce rural poverty. They do this by promoting innovations that are affordable, environmentally sustainable, socially just and culturally acceptable.

One of the most important things they do, according to King David, is the promotion of pilot projects. “Farmers can’t afford to experiment {with different technologies},” he says, “but ECASARD can fund pilot projects,” allowing farmers the freedom to try new things without taking on all the risk.

Their greatest success, says King David, has been “bringing farmers together to organize themselves” into associations and cooperatives, particularly for women. ECASARD “works with the root. We don’t go to big-time farmers,” according to King David, “we go to the villages.”

In addition, ECASARD helps farmers understand the business of farming by helping them connect to markets. Having a market, says King David, gives farmers the incentive to produce more. ECASARD is also making farming a more attractive option, particularly for youth. “If you take farming seriously,” according to King David, “it can be your livelihood and make you a rich man {or woman}.

Stay tuned for more about our visits with the farmers groups ECASARD works with on the ground, including palm oil processors, an association of rabbit and grasscutter farmers, a women’s dairy cooperative, and a women fishmongers association.