Making A Difference

In 2008, Working Villages International (WVI) celebrated its second anniversary in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Much has changed since we began two years ago with the donation of a decrepit plantation house and a few acres of scrub land. And now there can be no doubt that this change has been the direct result of WVI’s actions.

This past year has been a particularly hard one for South Kivu province, for Congo, and for central Africa in general. In both the spring and the fall, a crippling drought decimated the area’s harvest, while a terrible blight virtually eliminated the manioc crop, the staple food of the region. This food crisis combined with high oil prices and the rising cost of world food prices, (the price of rice and corn have doubled in the past year alone) led to food riots in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, in the midst of this crisis, WVI’s Ruzizi Valley project is an oasis of prosperity that is anxiously yearning to explode across the region.

In November and December of 2007, WVI began an ambitious expansion of its farm project in order to meet the challenge of the food crisis. In a massive irrigation project, our workers pulled water 4 km to our fertile Lubarika farm, allowing us to grow crops year round, and in massive quantity on nearly 100 acres of land. To farm this land, WVI employs 400 workers, making it the largest employer in the province, and providing a livelihood to over 350 families.
 

However, the greatest benefits began to be seen in April, when WVI celebrated its second anniversary. In the month of April, WVI harvested 25,000 pounds of rice, as well as a huge quantity of fruits, vegetables, and legumes. Through staggered planting, we are now producing 50,000 pounds of rice every month. This makes WVI the largest producer of rice in South Kivu province. All this production is destined for local use.

WVI is building a new model for economic development, Village Self Reliance, based on Gandhi’s teachings of swadeshi (localized economics) and building peaceful community. Every day, WVI’s new model of economic development is proving itself. It’s the right answer to the growing oil crises, and – by building the employment base – it’s the best antidote to war, violence and poverty. This particular fact is rewarding to me personally, as it is something I have been working on for as many years as I can remember. However, what is most inspiring is the knowledge that this is just the beginning. With the proper funding, WVI can pull this devastated region of Africa out of poverty forever, and in the process it can give the world a model of development that actually produces sustainable results. Here is our plan.

WVI’s model of Village Self Reliance breaks economic development into four distinct parts, and addresses each of them rigorously. The components are:

* Capacity
* Productivity
* Efficiency
* Distribution

Up to this point, most of WVI’s efforts have been in the realm of Capacity building, that is to say, commodity production. To lift the population out of poverty, there must be a dramatic increase in value-producing sectors of the economy. People must be productively employed if they are to get out of poverty. The results so far have been huge; however, this is just the beginning. There is a lot more we need to do in capacity building, and not just in the agricultural sector. We need to produce all, or as many as we can, of our non-agricultural commodities, such as bricks, tiles, cement, paint, furniture, clothing, art, etc.

After we have built our capacity to produce commodities, we need to increase our worker Productivity. By increasing worker productivity, we mean making improvements so that the average working person can produce greater output in the same amount of time. We have already begun this process, through our irrigation program. For example, when our farmers plant in irrigated land, they produce more crops for the same amount of work. But that increase in productivity will be even greater with the ox power program we have just begun.

In April, we began teaching villagers how to train oxen using voice commands. Because using voice commands emphasizes building loyalty and trust with the animals, less strength is required, so we have women as well as men teamsters. This is important in a country where women do about 50% of the work in the agricultural sector. It will take about a year before they are fully trained and big enough to work, but once our oxen complete their training, they will dramatically increase productivity, not only for farmers, but also for people engaged in the non-agricultural sector, especially by hauling goods for village trade. This will be immensely important in an area where gasoline now costs $12 per gallon, but annual income is only $100 per person. Following WVI’s model for sustainable development, our long term increases in productivity will be linked to a wide range of appropriate technology.

Next is the need to increase the Efficiency of production and distribution. This involves arranging things so that the various factors of labor and materials can come together easily. It involves building roads, storage facilities, market places, biogas infrastructures, and even new villages, etc.

Finally WVI’s model addresses the problem of Distribution. In particular, the focus is on the control over distribution, and structuring it in a way that benefits the average villager and commodity producer.

In just one year, WVI has moved from producing no food and paying high prices to feed our staff of 20 people, to today producing enough food to feed over 1000 people sustainably! With the introduction of oxen, I hope that by June 1 of 2009, this number will be many times greater.

Our next challenge is housing. Currently WVI is building a model block of sustainable housing. Like our agricultural program we need to establish capacity. This means to produce our beautiful brick houses, we need to build kilns for bricks, roman tiles (for roofing), floor tiles, white wash paint, and cement. We need to expand our raw material production, of wood, clay, stone, sand, limestone, and bamboo. For this WVI will need to raise $100,000. After we increase our capacity in terms of industries and once we complete a model block of housing (12 sustainably built brick houses) WVI will have the capacity to finish 1 house per day – that means 30 houses per month – with a staff of 100 workers. We will be able to build for our workers 365 beautiful, sustainably built, and permanent houses per year.

With the housing and agricultural sector under way, WVI’s goal of a peaceful, self-sufficient and sustainable, eco-village in one of the world’s most troubled countries will begin to take shape.

What once seemed impossible is now looking tangible. I want to say thank you very much to all of you who have made this possible through your support, and welcome to all of you who are ready to help change our world.

Alexander Petroff
President

Please view more exciting photos of our project at Community Webshot