Research in Real Time
Dear Naresh,
Let me start by saying thank you!
I know it can often feel like your work is thankless—whether you are
working for an NGO, or you are a food activist, farmer, funder, food
writer, teacher, practitioner, or a researcher. Sometimes you wonder,
is anyone listening? Funding is scarce and resources are limited, but
the need is greater than ever and the obstacles have never felt bigger.
You wonder, am I making a difference?
At Nourishing the Planet we want to feature YOU. Nominate someone you
know (or even yourself) working on the frontlines for change. We want to
feature you on Nourishing the Planet in a new weekly interview series,
every Saturday, until the end of the year. We will use this space to
feature your work, hear your hopes and dreams, and learn about how these
solutions may be scaled up or replicated around the world. Email me and
tell me who you think deserves to be featured—our community of more
than 1 million unique visitors to NtP wants to hear about you!
This week we discuss how U.S. food aid can be spent more efficiently to help improve food security in local communities abroad. In this post we discuss how multifunction platforms are being used to provide electricity in East and West Africa. And in this Nourishing the Planet TV episode, we highlight the work done by the Resource Identification and Management Society (RIMS)–Nepal to help small-scale farmers adapt to climate change.
All the best,
Danielle Nierenberg
Nourishing the Planet Project Director
Worldwatch Institute
Here are some highlights from the week:
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An article recently published in The Atlantic suggests
that U.S. food aid money is not always being spent in the most
efficient way possible. U.S. food aid programs can be extremely
beneficial to struggling families in Africa, but aid dollars could go
even further if they were better dedicated to supporting local supply
chains in the regions they serve. But a program, funded in part by
USAID, has helped 5,500 drought-stricken families and has helped the
local economy of Kenya by preserving supply chains that source food from
local farmers, through local businesses, and into needy households.
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In
rural villages in East and West Africa, electrical connections are
humming and light bulbs are shining for the first time in homes that
only knew candlelight before. Although no power lines yet reach these
villages, multifunction platforms (MFPs) are filling the energy void,
powering not just lights, but machines that lessen the drudgery of
farmers’ work. The MFPs are quiet, 6 to 8 horse power,
750-lb Listeroid engines that can be attached to about anything that
rotates: grain milling and husking machines, water pumps, and power
tools.
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In
this week’s episode we discuss a program organized by the Resource
Identification and Management Society (RIMS)–Nepal that is empowering
small-scale farmers with the tools they need to adapt to climate change.
RIMS-Nepal is a nonprofit organization that promotes sustainable
management of natural resources through local capacity-building and has
organized a pilot project called the Community Seed and Information
Resource Center (CSIRC). The CSIRC serves as an important village
resource—it allows farmers to collectively discuss the challenges they
face and share practices to better manage natural resources.
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Santropol
Roulant is an organization providing healthy, sustainable meals to
homebound Montreal citizens. Instead of relying on fossil-fuel powered
cars like traditional Meals-on-Wheels, this group delivers with a more
carbon-friendly option—bicycles. Taking their
organization’s sustainability two steps further than biking to deliver
meals to the disadvantaged, Santropol Roulant grows a variety of fruits
and vegetables on an organic rooftop garden, and recycles their food
waste in the basement through vermicomposting. That compost can be
distributed to urban farmers who are starting their own backyard or
roof-top gardens.
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Our Indigenous
vegetable of the week is yacón, a crisp and sweet root grown in regions
as diverse as the United States, Japan, and Tasmania, for a multitude
of uses. Yacón syrup and other yacón derivatives are gaining popularity
as sweeteners or antioxidants, and many specialty food and gardening
websites and blogs now offer helpful tips on how to grow yacón or make
your very own yacón cookies!
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From
New York to Kuala Lumpur, cities are sites of rapid economic growth and
mass consumption. Despite this, governments and NGOs around the world
are increasingly concerned about whether cities, by their sheer size and
the economic and social relations they foster, and urban growth are
sustainable. The Ford Foundation is working to promote a vision of
inclusive, equitable, and sustainable development in cities. On June 17
and 18 it will host side events, entitled ‘The Just City,’ at the Rio+20
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, where leaders and
innovators will gather to discuss the opportunities and challenges
afforded by sustainable and inclusive urban development.
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We
continue to receive some exciting press coverage this past week. Our
op-ed on how local food and urban agriculture initiatives are working to
alleviate hunger and poverty was published in The San Francisco Examiner.
And our op-ed on how traditional foods are working to not only preserve
Chinese culture but also to promote a healthy lifestyle, was featured
in China Daily.
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