Donations to this project are eligible for a50% matchas part of theApril 2023 Little by Little campaign!
untilApril 7, 2023, at 23:59:59 EDT
In late 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic, GDF co-director Emily Caruso and her teacher Nikki Darrell, who runsThe Plant Medicine Schoolin Ireland, began a dialogue about the importance of re-rooting health in our communities, in our relationships with the land, and in our collective healing heritage. They discussed how disempowering the situation that arose during the pandemic was for them and their communities, and how little control people realised they have over their health and wellbeing. They also shared their inspiration about the growing number of initiatives that promote community-based health sovereignty and the reclaiming of people’s relationships with nature’s healing allies.
In early 2021 they decided to bring together some of these initiatives from the European region, weaving a group of community-based herbalists into a close-knit, mutually supportive community of practice. They wanted to gather people who have founded, or who collaborate with, community-based herbal health initiatives that aim for accessibility, affordability, equity, sustainability and resilience in our collective health. These initiatives are often premised on the understanding that our health depends on us remembering our place in nature, and on practicing deep care for our more-than-human neighbours.
This is how the Community Exchange on Community Herbalism and Health Sovereignty in Europe was born. GDF hosted community exchanges offer a space for mutual learning, sharing of experiences and networking. In this case, these exchanges were among (trainee and veteran) herbalists and community organisers, aiming to support and grow the regional movement for community-based health empowerment. GDF and The Plant Medicine School invited an initial group of 27 community-based herbalists from all over the region to participate in an online and an in-person event: we held 6 online meetings between March and August 2022, followed by a 4-day in-person event in Ireland from the 21st to the 25th of September 2022, bringing together a vibrant community of plant medicine loving practitioners from all over Europe.
The goals of the exchange were to provide a space for mutual learning of experiences, tools, techniques and strategies for successful community-based herbal health initiatives and to deepen our capacities to communicate with plants, learn from them and co-envision healthy, caring ecological communities. The online portion of the event allowed members to get to know each other and to hear from some of the more established initiatives - includingThe Plant Medicine School, Grassroots Remedies Coop,Hackney Herbal, theMobile ApothecaryandCeratonia Gardens- about how they started, operate, fund themselves and engage with challenges. We also explored the decolonisation of herbal practice, how to teach in a community setting, and how to bring deep nature connection practices to collective spaces.
When we met in-person in Ireland, we delved into embodied nature connection practices and shared how our cultures, roots and heritage influence how we understand bodies, healing and relationships with plants. During our time together we had workshops held by different members throughout the day, covering topics and themes close to us. We discussed how to engage communities in our initiatives, creating accessible and inviting spaces across diverse groups.
Eleni and Anna held a workshop centering on engaging the local community that delved into how to set up a community-based initiative that is engaged and embedded within communities. Conversations were supported with a creative collective art making activity: envisioning a speculative event for your target audience and designing a poster for its opening day.
We deepened our exploration of decolonising herbal practice. Maymana and Elsie led grounding exercises and discussions initiated by sharing our profound relationships with the natural spaces and herbs around us.
We learned more about one another through sharing a herb native to the place where we were born, native to the place where we live now and the herbal practices that guided us as we grew up.
We described our dreams for our community-based initiatives and shared how we could support each other, as well as other practitioners throughout the region, to realise them collectively. Edyta and Nat held a conversation and exchange about building your dream. We discussed how to start or continue building our community-based initiative, as well as how to seek help, places we could be stuck on and the thorny bits.
The results of the Exchange have far exceeded our expectations. The most concrete result is the decision to establish a formal organisation - the European Community Herbal Organisation (ECHO) - which will be established as a cooperative, registered in Ireland as of 2023. ECHO will be open to all community-based herbalists in Europe who seek to engage with practitioners and people with similar passions. They will be invited to become part of a proactive group of grassroots herbal health practitioners and community organisers dedicated to healing and socio-ecological wellbeing. The group is also in the process of drafting, or nearing publication, of open-sourcetoolkitsto support communities as they re-root themselves in nature for health and wellbeing. One of them is a toolkit on nature resonance practices that can be used for personal practice as well as for facilitating collective practice in a community setting. The other toolkit on community-based herbal initiatives gathers the wisdom of our participants on how to dream our visions into reality; deal with everyday practicalities such as funding, operations, and herbal garden management; and engage our communities in collective healing work. Other toolkits - the first of many! - that members of the group are now developing include ones on matrescence, herbal first aid, social and environmental sustainability in herbal practice, and marketing herbal cosmetics.
We're grateful to see that GEN and ECHO members have already begun collaborating after meeting each other through the Community Exchange. Rita Roquette and Mariam Garcia met in Portugal to develop an essential toolkit on first aid a couple of months after connecting in Ireland during our exchange.
Caption: GEN members, Rita and Mariam, meeting in Portugal to work on a first aid toolkit after being connected by the community exchange
Besides these material outcomes, the most important consequence of this series of exchanges is the close bond and strong sense of mutual support and responsibility fashioned by the collective over the course of the 6 months. We all feel buoyed by our connections, inspired and supported to continue dreaming our visions into reality, and motivated to contribute to global transformations through our local, grounded work, reconnecting people with nature.
In April 2022, we launched theSeventh Global Environments Summer Academy (GESA 2022). The 2022 GESA cohort consists of environment and social changemakers working to find durable solutions to complex social and environmental challenges. The participants come from 16 different countries, working as multidisciplinary researchers, practitioners, activists, academics, and artists.
After meeting online every week for 4 months, in August 2022 we met in person for a 12-day Academy, hosted atThe Quadranglein Kent and theEnvironmental Change Instituteat the University of Oxford. GESA participants went on a journey encompassing deep self-reflection, nature connection, thought-provoking dialogue and practical skill-sharing relevant to our contemporary social and environmental crises. Our time together was packed with enriching, transformative and inspiring workshops, peer-to-peer learning, dialogues, field trips and ethnobotany breaks. We had a host of incredible resource people who created a rich environment for sharing and expanding participants’ knowledge, networking and communication skills.
In the first week at The Quadrangle, we began with an opening ceremony, guided byTerra Mirrim, where we collectively built a kabana in an immersive nature connection ritual that brought us closer to our themes of the five elements: fire, earth, air, water and ether. The participants then shared the personal journeys which led them to become environmental changemakers, before sharing the work and projects they are most passionate about. Filmmakers and GESA alumni,Elif TibetandInanç TekgucfromKarma Motion) facilitated a video-making workshop which provided participants with the tools to make campaign videos and spread their message in an impactful manner.Peter Larsen(University of Geneva) andNana Haja Salifu Dagartiled us through an engaging roundtable dialogue sharing experiences, concepts and practices of dealing with different dimensions of resource governance and conservation, bringing in concrete cases, conceptual issues and human rights dimensions for frontline environmental defenders.
In week two, we visitedKnepp Rewilding, a pioneering rewilding project in England, for a field trip followed by presentations and discussions withChris Sandom(University of Sussex) andRicardo Rocha(University of Oxford) on critical contemporary environmental issues, ranging from the role of rewilding in conservation efforts, to the false dichotomy between people and nature.Ruth KrauseandOonagh Cousinsguided participants through skill-sharing workshops on ethical journalism and effective campaigning where we learnt about engaging with the media. We then went on an immersive walking tour withUncomfortable Oxford, where we examined racial inequality, gender and class discrimination, and the legacies of empire in Oxford.Karen Larbi(POC In Nature) guided us with ease through these intriguing discussions via transdisciplinary lenses andElif Tibetfacilitated a workshop on building alliances and transmedia storytelling. Finally,Gary Martinand GESA participant,Laura Vallejo, offered participants practical tools and technical knowledge in a workshop on developing a Theory of Change.
参与者离开充满了复活的purpose and direction and with new friendships and collaborations forged. Participant profiles are available on our website and will soon be integrated into our Global Environments NetworkCommunity pages.
(Please note this author has permission to use all of the above names).
Creating community with 19 environmental changemakers at the Global Environments Summer Academy 2022
In April 2022, we launched theSeventh Global Environments Summer Academy (GESA 2022). The 2022 GESA cohort consists of environment and social changemakers who are working to find durable solutions to complex social and environmental challenges. The participants come from 16 different countries, working as multidisciplinary researchers, practitioners, activists, academics, and artists.
This year, GESA 2022 takes place over 5 months, encompassing a 4 month immersive digital fellowship, followed by an in-person Academy. Taking inspiration from the five elements of fire, air, water, earth and ether, we curated a holistic programme of workshops and roundtable discussions that offers peer-mentoring, tools-sharing and expertise for those working on the frontlines for ecological and social justice and planetary well-being.
At every summer academy, we invite a host of incredible resource people who are working on the frontlines of change in their fields. This year is no exception, with a programme jam-packed with engaging and thought provoking discussions and tools-sharing. We explored what it means to build community with Karen Larbi (POC in Nature), Shristee Bajpai (Global Tapestry of Alternatives), Maymana Arefin (Fungi Futures & Misery Collective), and Nessie Reid (Global Environments Network, ICCA Consortium). With multidisciplinary artists, Sujatro Ghosh, Nadia Tahoun and Guy Reid, we had an enthralling discussion on using the power of art for environmental justice. Our last roundtable was a powerful dialogue between Aditi Arora (Country Manager for Girl Up, India), Simran Rawat (Global Diversity Foundation, A Cry For Help Foundation) and Frances Mensah Williams CBE on transformational leadership, regenerative activism and navigating uncertainty.
In August, we are meeting in-person for a 12-day Academy, hosted at The Quadrangle in Kent, followed by the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute. In order to attend GESA, many of our amazing cohort members have been awarded bursaries, but they need to crowdfund to make up the rest of the course fee. Please support these talented, changs today. You can do so via their crowdfunder links below:
Help Francis resolve conservation challenges
Help Kum Christian Tegha mainstream biodiversity conservation
Support a young changemaker from Myanmar!
(Please note this author has permission to use all of the above names).
Throughout human history, and in many indigenous societies and cultures today, the passage from adolescence into adulthood has been marked by initiatory ceremonies and structured, supervised ‘rites of passage’. While adulthood initiation rites are culturally and contextually specific, they share a common goal: to transform young people into fully-fledged, mature humans. Unfortunately, contemporary ‘Western’ society has largely done away with these rites: the world over, youth are growing into adulthood without ceremonies or rituals to mark their transitions. They also lack the strong containers needed for facing themselves, reflecting on their dreams and strengths, and preparing them to fulfil their future roles and responsibilities within their family and society. Similarly, adults are moving into the final phase of their lives without initiations or honouring ceremonies, becoming merely ‘olders’ rather than the ‘elders’ the world so very much needs.
Indeed, many of the urgent, interconnected crises humanity is facing stem in part from the fact that we are living in a world of uninitiated adults, governed by uninitiated leaders. Meanwhile, around the world, many cultures’ rites of passage practices have been outlawed, shamed, or shut down, while those that do continue have, in some instances, been reduced to a shell of their former complexity, nuance and power.
These thoughts inspired ourDecember 2021 In Conversation event. We hosted a GEN In Conversation about Rites of Passage in the 21st Century, moderated by Rachael, an attorney with expertise in community land protection, land tenure security, access to justice, and legal empowerment. Rachel was in conversation with a deeply inspiring group, who are all working on reviving, reinventing or maintaining rites of passage in their communities. We heard perspectives from Kenya with Dr Karambu, who is renowned for her work in innovative and sustainable models of development & peacebuilding, women’s human rights and global leadership programs around the world, and Naomi, who co-founded an initiative working with young vulnerable women and girls from rural communities on menstrual hygiene and empowerment. The discussion was further enriched by Hugu, a tribal mobiliser and organiser of Indigenous Taiwan based in Pongso no Tao, and Max, who works on researching and developing modern forms of rites of passage in the UK.
Together, we had a lively discussion about the kinds of rites of passage that exist in the world today to support young people and adults as they move through key life phases. Naomi and Dr Karambu talked about their experiences and challenges in creating new rites of passage that maintain the powerful content their ancestors perfected but in new forms more suited to the present. Hugu talked about rites of passage in Taiwan, and how his work supports the communities he is part of to maintain and revive meaningful rites of passage locally. Max brought experiences from reinventing rites of passage in the UK, and reconnecting young people from urban settings to nature.
We are pleased to share thefull recordingof the event with our GlobalGiving donors. The current planetary crises demand that humans radically adopt new processes, practices, ideologies, and ways of working. We need a legion of initiated adults to lead us. But how can we revive or restore rites of passage to provide this powerful experience to the young people in our communities? Watch our conversation to hear our thought-provoking discussion.
Speakers bio's:
Rachael Knight是一个律师的专业知识在社区土地公关吗otection, land tenure security, access to justice, and legal empowerment. She is currently a Senior Associate on the Legal Tools for Citizen Empowerment team at the International Institute for the Environment and Development (IIED). She helped to found Namati, and created Namati’s Community Land Protection Program, then served as its Director from 2012-17 and as its Senior Advisor from 2018-2019. In this capacity, together with land rights advocates throughout Africa, she co-created an integrated model of community land protection that is now practised around the world. Previously, she was Director of the International Development Law Organization’s Community Land Titling Initiative, and has worked as a consultant for FAO since 2004. She supports governments to draft land laws that formalize customary land rights and protect community lands, and has written various books and guides for community land protection advocates and activists, available at:https://namati.org/ourwork/communityland/community-land-protection-publications.
Born and raised in Meru, Kenya, Dr Ringera earned her PhD in intercultural communication in 2008 from the University of Denver. She is an alumna of Natal University, South Africa, the Iliff School of Theology in Colorado. She received her Bachelor of Education degree and Postgraduate Diploma in Mass Communication from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. Dr Ringera is also a lecturer at the University of Nairobi.
Dr Ringera is a 2016 Cordes Social Entrepreneurs Fellow; a 2015/16 Next Generation Leader Fellow of the McCain Institute for International Leadership, USA; the 2015 Life Achievement Award and 2015 Master Scholar Award winner, University of Denver, USA; and the 2012 African Achievers Award, UK – for her cutting edge work in innovative and sustainable models of development & peacebuilding, women’s human rights and global leadership programs around the world.
She has used her extensive academic background and international experience to design and implement effective models of community engagement, women’s grassroots programs, collaborative problem solving, preemptive and post-conflict reconciliation, and health campaigns. In Meru, Kenya, she has built a successful, working model of “Amani Homes,” community homes of peace for orphans and vulnerable children, and Tirigi (“the place of abundance”), a permaculture centre that trains people in the community on how to develop and sustain successful food sovereignty projects. Tiriji has become a training centre for peace and leadership programs. Karambu is a visionary, an activist, a compassionate, committed, formidable force for change, and an inspiration to all who meet her.
A strong feminist with world change passion, working atInternational Peace Initiatives (IPI)as the Executive Director. Naomi cofounded Kila Dada Initiative to work with young vulnerable women and girls from rural communities on menstrual hygiene and empowerment. She is a community hub representative at the Nile Journeys, a certified Gender Equity and Reconciliation International facilitator to bring the lost healing into the world. Naomi has hosted two Kenya Global Youth Peace Summits in Meru, Kenya gathering young youths from different parts of the world but mainly Africa. She is a well-known facilitator at the New Generation Leaders Program (NGL) empowering young activist leaders looking for a path to take and own. With all these motivations, Naomi is the founder of Ubuntu Voices International (UVI) that works with young people to heal their ancestral wounds through the ubuntu philosophy, ¨I am because you are.¨ In her belief in oneness, rites of passage for women in deepening their closing and openings in life. Naomi is taking more opportunities to keep her heart open on learning and exploring with no judgements.
Sutej Hugu is a tribal mobiliser and organizer of Indigenous Taiwan based in Pongso no Tao. In his role as Regional Coordinator for East and North Asia of the ICCA Consortium, he has also supported cross-regional networking in the Austronesia – the Indian & Pacific Oceans, helped establish national working groups for ICCAs in China and Mongolia, regional working group for marine territories of life in East Austronesia & Pacific Islands, and helped launch the Taiwan Indigenous Conserved Territories Union (TICTU), a federation for the 748 tribal communities of the 16 ethnic groups whose territories overlap almost entirely with state protected areas and national forests. He is the Chief Adviser of the Indigenous Taiwan Self-Determination Alliance (ITW-SDA) since 2019, and mentoring the Indigenous leadership kernel “On the Indigenous Way.” In 2021, he initiated the workshop series: “Solidarity Exchange on Indigenous decolonization and sustainable self-determination for sustaining territories of life” with partners from Asia, Scandinavia and Latin America.
Max Girardeau has been researching and developing modern forms of rites of passage for 6 years through his work withThe Visionaries. He trained as a wilderness rites of passage guide with the School of Lost Borders, is a qualified Mountain Leader and Trauma & Mental Health-informed Schools Practitioner. He has extensive experience with The Way Of Council and is passionate about ecocentric approaches to child and community development.Support The Visionaries on Patreon.
Thank you for your support!
(Please note this author has permission to use all of the above names).
Links:
Fortress conservation is a persistent model in the post colonial world. This conservation approach carries the belief that biodiversity protection is achieved through creating pristine environments, i.e. ecosystems which are free from human disturbance. Mostly created, funded and heavily lobbied by the Global North, this top down approach often excludes, quite violently, local communities and their traditional knowledge practices. In doing so, power imbalances intensify.
The idea for ourAugust 2021 In Conversation event是一代成员,Milka Kendi, outlined the root causes behind the problems faced by the Sengwer people in Embobut Forest, Kenya, where fortress conservation prevails. As Milka and Kendi developed the collaborative project,Revitalizing Sengwer people-land relationships through Indigenous Knowledge in Kenya, we learned elaborate details about knowledge systems encoded within the Sengwer story of origin, land use practices, and relationships with nature, particularly the Embobut forest and its associated resources. This interconnection with the natural environment influences all aspects of Sengwer ways of being, from cultural expressions (song, dance, stories, crafts, dress, food) to governance systems. Unfortunately, these knowledge systems and land management practices continue to be undermined. Since the early 1900s to present day, the Sengwer people continue to face evictions from their ancestral lands, which become heavily militarised fortresses in the name of environmental conservation.
During the event, titledColonial Conservation and Uneven Development: The Struggle for Radical Transformation and Alternatives, Milka Kendi了苏珊娜,创建的er of the UK Tar Sands Network, which challenged BP and Shell investments in the Canadian tar sands in solidarity with frontline Indigenous communities, and Ashish, founder-member of Kalpavriksh, a 40-year civil society organization in India focusing on environment and development issues. Together, they shared their first-hand experiences of the ways Indigenous Knowledge and community-led education can revitalise our human connection to land and build resilient, thriving societies.
We are pleased to share thefull recordingof the event with our GlobalGiving donors. Around the world, traditional Indigenous territories make up 22% of the Earth’s surface, overlapping with areas that hold 80% of the planet's biodiversity (Sobrevila, 2008). In order to seek alternatives to colonial conservation and radically transform uneven development models, it is imperative that Indigenous Peoples and Knowledge are at the forefront of the conversation.
Thank you for your support!
Project Reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you will get an e-mail when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports via e-mail without donating.
We'll only email you new reports and updates about this project.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
