HOW IT WORKS

Our approach is participatory.

We aim to reach out and transform both rural and urban communities by connecting and networking the individuals, families and groups that have managed to shift their thinking and practices towards creating regenerative food systems and improve the environment they live in. We aim to create partnerships with government, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and private companies to actively engage in a process to transform communities. Our community engagement involves

consultative processes starting with dialogues to establish mutual understanding of the past, the present and the future. The dialogue helps us to establish community innovators or leaders in sustainable living. Ukuvuna’s key approach is to identify innovative families (peasant farmers) and start dialogues with them to establish and develop nodes, using the following principles and concepts.

●     Initiates dialogues and identifies household who are already engaged into livelihood programs;
●     Considers synergies between indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) and modern technologies;
●     Creates awareness on gender, climate change and HIV/AIDS;
●     Acknowledges that regenerative nodes create other nodes;
●     Tailor-makes participative monitoring, evaluation, review and learning systems; and
●     Expands established nodes into clusters to extend the reach and support.

Ukuvuna’s cluster management system is the process that brings regenerative nodes together to create a cluster.

Clusters are headed up by Cluster Leaders who are typically innovators, champions or simply people who have the necessary strengths in specific or diversified systems of managing the environment, as well as in producing food and energy to generate an income.

Once the leaders are appointed, Ukuvuna identifies any skills gaps and capacity building programs are then initiated. Tailor-made participative monitoring systems are then set up along with evaluation, review and learning systems.