Participants include Durban INK (Durban, South Africa), Fisherwomen’s Association (Cape Town, South Africa), the GreenHouse Project (Johannesburg, South Africa), Kufunda Learning Village (Ruwa, Zimbabwe), Lapeng (Johannesburg, South Africa) and Uhuru Network (Harare, Zimbabwe).
Each of the six organizations participating in the Southern Africa region is working to create healthy and resilient local communities. And each is also connected to a vibrant local network of other communities working with similar practices and resonant beliefs. By exchanging our knowledge, skills and innovations, we believe we can invite in system-wide shifts in the social, economic and ecological health of the region. The focus in this region is primarily around food security, child development, women empowerment, ecobuilding, herbal healing and the role of the arts in supporting social change.
The vision for a powerful regional network emerged in May 2007 at Berkana’s annual Art of Learning Centering gathering. Since then, the region has been a buzzing with activity:
- November 2007: Art of Change Learning Journey. Thirty participants visited one another’s communities in order to understand the local work being done and launch this regional collaboration.
- May 2008: Southern Africa Regional Stewards Gathering. Five people stepped forward to guide the direction of the region’s plans for collaboration. Three themes emerged as the primary focus: the Art of Hosting, Nourishing Our Young and Feeding Ourselves Sustainably.
- July 2008: Art of Hosting Learning Caravan. A team from Kufunda traveled to South Africa to offer three-day Art of Hosting workshops in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.
- August 2008: Nourishing Our Young Exchange. LaPeng and Kufunda collaborated on a visit to villages in Zimbabwe where they hosted practical workshops for women about early childhood development.
- September 2008: Feeding Ourselves Sustainably Learning Caravan. Members of Kufunda’s permaculture and herbal remedies team and women from the Fisherwomen’s Association traveled to Johannesburg to learn with the Organic Fresh Co-Op group at The GreenHouse Project. The group continued on to Durban to visit with community gardeners at INK.
- October 2008: Art of Learning Centering. More than 20 members of the Southern Africa region joined the rest of the Berkana Exchange community for their annual gathering at Kufunda.
Our Focus in 2009
Our intention is to continue deepening the relationships among the communities actively participating in the region. We will continue learning exchanges around the three themes of Art of Hosting, Nourishing Our Young and Feeding Ourselves Sustainably. We have launched an online workspace in WiserEarth , and will be using that to engage in conversations and harvest our learning from each other.
Beyond the specific inquiries we are in, one of our central questions is how our work differs from that of more conventional NGOs. We recognize that there are key beliefs that distinguish our community—such as we have what we need; the leaders we need are already here; whatever the problem, community is the answer; we make the path by walking it. And, we need to learn more about how these beliefs become manifest in our actions and practices. Once we have more clarity, we intend to begin to reach out more broadly in Southern Africa to invite in other communities who are working from similar values and beliefs.
Read more about Southern Africa and how you can get involved.
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