The Seeds Alliance is an initiative that aims to raise awareness about Food Sovereignty, introduction of Permaculture in urban areas and the creation of Alternative Community Economies (ACE) to tackle poverty and social inequalities.
The Seed Alliance
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The inspiration for this projects comes from the many years of working with communities in the UK and the work we do with the indigenous communities of the Americas. This is our first attempt to turn the ideas we have been discussing in our events into action. It is the first draft so apologies for spelling of grammar mistakes, the idea is to introduce you to what we want to do and achieve. I have found funding sources for this project and I am sure we will find a lot more, so will go ahead with the Seeds Alliance.
I would like to invite you to think about what would you bring to this project, how you would like to participate, what would you add to it what element, activity or focus. If you want to something different let me know I can help you. I know you all come from different backgrounds and professions. Some of you are artist, health therapies, IT consultants etc. So also want to extend a invitation for you to write a proposal an idea that you want materialise and take in action and will help you to turn it into project and look for funding.
I want to work in ideas and projects that will bring the communities together, around ACE, arts as a tool to empower individuals and communities., creative industry and technology.
For example I am also writing a proposal for “Clean Energy” this will be a different project and I shall find funding for this. This is my initial approach:
Clean Energy: The concept and knowledge about Clean Energy must be democratize and brought to local communities as a way to help them save money and educate them how to become producers of energy instead of buyers/wasters. We will explore the potential to create products that will generate energy e.g solar panels and we plan to have the farm running on clean energy in one year. In these workshops participants will learn how to create solar panels installations.
Let me know what you think, fill in the form and Also let me know what do you think about the first draft of the proposal for the Permaculture and ACE project. Thank you for your support and feedback.
FIRTS DRAFT OF PROJECT TO BE SUBMITTED TO AWARDS FOR ALL FUND
What you would like to do
We want to run a series of educational and entrepreneurial workshops and activities about permaculture and how to create alternative community economics around the concept of the environmental consciousness and personal health.
We want bring our community together in Berkeley farm and introduce the concept of “food Sovereignty” and teach participants how to growth their own food in an organic way in balance with nature. Our aim is to growth vegetables to initially feed 20 people. After our first year we will double and diversified our production with the objective of producing a wide range products and surplus of food that we can sale on the online market that we will launch as part of this project.
Along and as part of the permaculture workshops we will teach our participants how to make organic personal care products. We want to create a line of products such as deodorants, toothpaste, soap and washing up liquids among other products. These creative and entrepreneurial workshops will give our participants the knowhow knowledge and the support to start a small ethical business, help then to save money –personal care products can be really expensive- as well as helping to create consciousness about the importance of looking after our environment and our personal health. The environmental and health impact of this initiative will be profound as we reduce the quantity of chemicals that we put in the water, the earth and out bodies.
We will have a marketing strategy that includes a website with online shop to sale our products, social media and database management. There is an increasing market for organic and ethical products. Thus we will give our participants real and tangible support and structure to create and sale their products and for this initiative to growth and expand and as a good model for other small communities to try out.
The philosophy basis of our project finds its roots in the Native American concept known as Teqio (North America) or Minga ( South American). These concepts are about the importance of the collective work and the individual responsibility of the members of the community to give a part of their time to contribute to the collective good. We are also looking at business models such as the Patagonia Company and his director Yvon Chouinard approach to green business as an example to follow and to draw from their experience.
What difference your project will make
· Our participants will be able to growth a substantial part of their food.
· Our participants will save money because they no longer have to buy their foods from shops.
· Our participants will acquire food sovereignty. This will help them fight poverty and be independent from super markets and food companies.
· Our participants will generate an alternative income from selling the food surplus generated from our project.
· Our participants will save money by learning how to make their own personal care products
· Our participants will contribute to reduce environment foot print by using organic products instead of chemicals
· Our participants can improve their home economic by selling their products online
· Our participants will be more healthy and raise healthier children as a direct result of them growing their own food and using organic personal care products.
· Our participants will contribute to the reduction of their impact on the environment.
Who will benefit from it?
The Seeds Alliance is a project that welcomes people form all walks of life. We will particular working with vulnerable people and their families. This will include singles mothers, people out of work, people on benefits and young adults and people from BAM communities.
How long you expect to run it for.
Our project and activities will run for 6 months. But due to its nature and characteristics it will become self-sustainable and be able to keep training our participants and creating new ideas to support our Alternative Economics development.
How you'll make sure people know about it.
The Seed Alliance project is community initiatives that has been discussed and talked by people that normally visit the Berkley farm. The farm is visit by around 200 every year. Our group Healing the Land project has 1242 followers and we are connected through other pages to over 4000 people. We also have website with an email database of 1500 people that have attended and signed to our events. Healing the Land Project is an initiative but is lead by people with a lot experience in working with BAME communities and hard to reach young people. We are aware of the different charities and grass roots organisation that are currently working with vulnerable communities.
How you plan to learn from it and use this learning to shape future projects.
The Seeds Alliance will use a consensus approach to decision-making process. Thus establishing a healthy practice to have inclusive and participatory democratic practices at the heart of our project, Everybody’s view and opinion counts.
Our Mission Statement includes long-term vision to achieve sustainability and to expand our project. This will help us to keep focus, reach our milestones and hope fully take the right decisions to achieve our goals. Our set of values will create a framework in which we can workout our answers to the challenges that may arise. The Seeds Alliance aims to create environmental friendly answers to the current socio-economic and environmental needs in our community and the planet.
Our project will be lead by senior and experience people in the field of Permaculture, entrepreneurship and community leadership. Thus providing the knowledge and the experience we will need to create a healthy leadership that will empower our participants and encourage independence and creativity.
Our approach is participatory at all levels, we want to involve everybody in the group, engaging them in the different phases of the project to do the groundwork and experience the “Try and Error” in the development of a project. Having said this we will encourage people to find their place within the project and focus in what they really want to do and also share their knowledge and skills with the others. There are often untapped skills in people that could strengthen a project if you allow the space and opportunity for those to come out. We are making an emphasis in the importance of sharing the “word”, of listening to every individual, take into account their views, feedback and ideas. Thus opening the space for integration and evaluation.
Evaluating our work, our approach and correcting what we may be doing wrong is essential in the structure of our project. Integration and evaluation meetings will play an important role to create awareness on how the project is evolving and also to be able to stop and fix the problems or difficulties we may be facing or predict what may be happen in the future and how we need to adapt. We will work whiting a work frame but there must also be a level of flexibility to adapt to change and this will also allows to improve and become innovators in what we are trying to do.
Continue training, networking and partnerships are essential in the development of a sustainable project with a long-term vision like ours. Working with other organization will allow us to share good practice, open opportunities to learning and capacity building. Using the lessons learned will helps us to “Reduced Unnecessary Harm” to the people involved in our project, the environment and to the projects in general.
The essence of the thought process behind the Seeds Alliance originates in the Native American philosophy of taking decisions and living our lives always thinking about the upcoming seven generations. We want to leave a legacy of how to change they way are currently living to build a better future for the coming generations.
Is it something new, or are you continuing something that has worked well previously? We want to fund both types of projects.
This is a new initiative, but it has been discuss, talked about it and reflect upon for more than 1 year in our community.
How does your project meet at least one of our funding priorities?
If your project is COVID-19 related, we will prioritise:
The Seeds Alliance is a project that will benefit primarily but not exclusively communities affected by COVID-19, especially those considered in disadvantage or in danger of poverty.
Our project has a strong entrepreneurship element focusing in the development of Alternatives Community Economics (ACE) that aim to address fundamental needs such as provision of organic, affordable food and the development of small ethical businesses which as mentioned before will save our participants money and will create income opportunities. The ACE element will help to alleviate to an extend poverty conditions of our participants and empower them overcome social and economic disadvantage.
Vulnerable communities in disadvantage have been affected the most by the COVID-19. This includes BAME communities, single mothers, people in low income or in received of benefits. Poverty is not the only problem that many families are facing at the moment. COVID-19 is having a profound effect on the mental and emotional health of many individuals, their families and communities. Conditions such substance abuse, addictions, sleep disorder, depression, anxiety, stress and traumas have intensified due to the lock down and the consequences of the COVID-19 in general.
Bring people together and build strong relationships in and across communities.
The Seeds Alliance aims to bring people together by safely opening a space where people can build up and regain their confidence, feel supported and part of a rising community leading a project that will benefit themselves and many other people in the wider community. Our vision is to work in partnership and network with other community organizations and Councils across London to run “Urban Permaculture” projects around food sovereignty and get other communities to get involve ands growth their own food.
Improve the places and spaces that matter to communities
Our project will be developed in Berkeley Farm, which is based in a beautiful location near Hainault forest. Over 500 people use the farm every year for creativity activities e.g. camping, forest school etc. Our project will bring a new element to the farm and activities that people can join and enjoy doing. It will definitely benefit the farm as it will attract more people and with this help the sustainability and running of the farm. There are already resources that we can use at the farm, other that we will improve and repair, thus making the most of all the things we have available and saving money in our budget.
How does your project involve your community?
We have been running arts and cultural activities in Berkeley farm for over 3 years now: Music circles, drumming workshops, sound journeys, word sharing circles, and cultural festivals. A lot of the work we do is around sharing the knowledge and culture of the indigenous communities from the Americas. We use art to help people connect back to nature, to the elements, to bring people together and have moments of sharing, belonging and celebration.
Throughout these events people often expressed the reason why they enjoy coming to the farm, why they attended and come back to our events. But also they talk about their needs and expectations.
First the need to connect to nature: our community acknowledge the importance and benefits of connecting to nature to keep a good mental and emotional health, escaping the hectic pace of the city and given the children the opportunity to run and play our doors. Health has been at the centre of our sharing and discussions. Some participants already parents with kids have expressed they concern about feeding their children with GMO products or products sprayed with chemicals. Thus we have been talking about the need and opportunity to growth our own food and to improve our diet and health in general. A bit of work in the land will definitely make you break a sweat.
We also talked about the importance of passing the knowledge to their children and bring this kind of activities into their lives. They talked about the need to taken away from video games and social media. Growing food is a crucial and important skill for humans to recover and bring back into their communities especially now that we are living in times of pandemic. We know now we will not go back to the way it was before. The way forward is going “back local” communities coming together to solve their priorities.
The health concerns about personal care and cleaning products and their price lead us to start talking about the possibilities and feasibility of starting a small business. Thus we started to look at advantages of making our products to reduce the amount of chemicals that we put in our bodies and in the earth.
SEND ME YOUR DETAILS IF YOU WISH TO TAKE PART OF THIS PROJECT AND ALSO IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEA YOU WANT TO DEVELOP.