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
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