Making a Lasting Impact
It’s over two years now since the inception of permEzone’s field activities in Kenya in July 2017, with phase 2 starting up in Uganda in August 2018. Our evidence-based approach has taken us into a rather heart-centered few years in creating a real bottom-up approach shift in development with the field teams in both countries. The core internal team of advisors to the programme, Hugh Kelly (USA), Elin Duby (South Africa), Joel Simpson (Canada), Sabre Mrkva (USA), David Yisrael Epstein (USA), Sheena Shah (Kenya) - who each bring a unique set of skills - are all proud of what we have achieved so far.
Our Phase 1 programme with the team at CMRA and the farmers of Asumbi in Kenya enters its final 3-month consolidation stage in February 2020, and we’re busy preparing for the next stage of permEzone’s evolution. Our pilot objectives of developing the design of the programme through practical application, and documenting the outcomes in line with the farmers’ own priorities, puts us in a strong position to start to scale up with new permEzone projects. One such project is already at an advanced stage of planning with our colleagues at CMRA, building on their experience of Phase 1 to start again with a new community of farmers in the region.
As a part of this process of scaling up, we are starting to build organizational capacity in the region. Chief among these changes, we are excited to introduce you to permEzone’s new Programme Coordinator for East Africa, Sheena Shah.
 | Sheena was part of the Permaculture Research Institute Kenya for seven years, eventually leading that organization until late 2018. She was fully involved with permEzone’s Founder, Hugh Kelly in assessing and bringing to fruition both phases of the programme since its inception, and has continued to monitor field activities and provide assistance to the teams. We are excited that Sheena has agreed to take on the lead role at permEzone with the hearty support of the entire team. |
Sheena adds: permEzone is leaning into a new phase of great potential for an important shift overall. We are all feeling very enthusiastic and hopeful as we work together in expanding the programme further and creating more impact within communities. Permaculture is really a guiding framework for addressing the need toward a value-based and regenerative future. We are already seeing evidence of this.
| Hugh comments: Sheena’s huge wealth of experience as a teacher, with hundreds of beneficiaries from their permaculture trainings now putting their skills to good use, her wide network of contacts in the permaculture community in East Africa, her practical experience helping people in her own community re-imagine and re-vitalize their living spaces and offering young and upcoming practitioners part time employment in permaculture consultancy, her organizational experience as a past Director of PRI-Kenya, and her keen appreciation of the importance of this phase-change in rural development and enthusiasm for taking this work forward, mean that we are extremely fortunate that she has agreed to accept this responsibility, and can look forward with confidence to seeing permEzone expand and start to benefit more and more farmers and their families and communities. |  |
 | Our monthly team meeting with the field coordinators via Zoom - left to right, Kenn & Charles (Uganda), Sheena (Kenya), Sabre (USA), Reagan (Kenya), Hugh (USA), Joel (Canada), Elin (South Africa), Paul (Kenya), Alex (Uganda) . |
We would not be able to do any of this without the support of individuals and friends who have generously contributed to the permEzone over the last few years. Your contributions have enabled demonstrated impact and an enormous reach within communities. We cannot express enough how humbled we are.
Stories from the field this season:
Asumbi, Kenya
Community Mobilization for Regenerative Agriculture (CMRA) currently has three team members working on the permEzone programme. This includes Paul Omollo (Lead & Co-Founder of CMRA) Reagan Okoth (Co-Founder of CMRA) and Stephen Onyango (Extension support of CMRA). Reagan is currently completing his Master’s degree in Europe.
Paul comments: Climate change has an enormous effect as far as farming activities on this community. In the past the community could predict when the rainy season would begin and when they would end. But then climate change has interfered with those patterns and they have become unpredictable. This has led to food and nutrition insecurity in many households. Luckily, there is a remedy for this and that is embracing permaculture as a framework for change. Once we started talking about other alternatives and started to share traditional practices, we started to see the farmers being reminded of these practices. We knew that if we could implement these practices, the community would start to become more resilient over time and we are starting to see these shifts already.
Asumbi is a region that suffers from drought due to climate change effects. Through permaculture practices the effects can be minimized. With the farmers we are working with in this project, there is a huge difference between their harvest and those who don’t practice permaculture. This is an important time for us to help bring about more change through actual model sites.
Paul comments: Climate change has an enormous effect as far as farming activities on this community. In the past the community could predict when the rainy season would begin and when they would end. But then climate change has interfered with those patterns and they have become unpredictable. This has led to food and nutrition insecurity in many households. Luckily, there is a remedy for this and that is embracing permaculture as a framework for change. Once we started talking about other alternatives and started to share traditional practices, we started to see the farmers being reminded of these practices. We knew that if we could implement these practices, the community would start to become more resilient over time and we are starting to see these shifts already.
Asumbi is a region that suffers from drought due to climate change effects. Through permaculture practices the effects can be minimized. With the farmers we are working with in this project, there is a huge difference between their harvest and those who don’t practice permaculture. This is an important time for us to help bring about more change through actual model sites.
A featured story of one the project beneficiaries, John Leonard Wao, 54 years of age is successfully implementing what he learned and is now growing a variety of trees and indigenous crops within his coffee trees.
John comments: Currently my wife does not go to the market to buy kale as I have plenty of it from my two sack gardens. In fact, I am planning to establish four more sack gardens, one at each corner of this little farm. I am targeting the month of December which normally has scarcity of vegetables due to the dry season. This has taught me that one doesn’t need to have a large farm for him to produce volumes of vegetables.
John is one of the lead farmers and currently, he is practicing the sack gardening technique. This has enabled him to use his farm resources efficiently. He uses little water and has grasped the edge effect for maximum production. His household expenditure has gone down as he doesn’t spend a cent to purchase any indigenous kale (sukuma wiki). The recent October rains have supported his now thriving kitchen garden as you can see in the image below. He has planted a variety of seeds including the cover crops (pumpkins) and legumes (beans and cowpeas). These have not yet germinated, but once they do then he will mulch the entire farm to conserve enough soil moisture, as we are anticipating a dry spell after the rain subsides.
Here is John standing proud with his beautiful coffee food forest which boasts 400 coffee trees, inter-cropped with other beneficial crops and trees.
John is seeing a huge difference in yield through companion planting, ground cover and canopy layers.
John is seeing a huge difference in yield through companion planting, ground cover and canopy layers.
- The CMRA Team -
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| Paul and Stephen | Reagan |
Sanje, Uganda
The Broadfield Enterprise Uganda (BEU) team have been busy in the field this season, taking on stage two of the pilot programme. They have been visiting the lead farmers and have documented some amazing success stories for us below.
The Sanje permEzone lead farmers are continuing to work together and are supporting each other to develop a regenerative future for themselves. They are now in stage two of the programme and have opted to become a cooperative. They will officially be registered with the local government soon which is a great step as this shows the team their commitment to transforming their lives and community.
Early indications are that the participating farmers in Sanje are already seeing a significant improvement in the income from their farms, and we look forward to sharing more about this major impact in the lives of this community of farmers in future newsletters!
Early indications are that the participating farmers in Sanje are already seeing a significant improvement in the income from their farms, and we look forward to sharing more about this major impact in the lives of this community of farmers in future newsletters!
Mr. Wilson Sennyondo, the cooperative chairman comments: permaculture has brought togetherness in our community, each family is now supporting one another to overcome challenges together, whilst creating abundance in their homes and lives through this practice. We will start to change in communities as this continues to build on further.
 | BEU’s Lead Coordinator, Charles Mugarura is excited to see the development come through. Here he is experiencing the joy with one of the lead farmers, John Segirinya with his recent pumpkin harvest, weighing in at 18kgs and 80cm wide!! John’s harvests have increased tremendously after implementing permaculture and organic techniques on his farm. |
John comments: I have never seen this kind of harvest in my life with simple actions just by making compost and creating healthier soil. Permaculture has made life simpler for me and I am starting to see the reap of it. My family is harnessing these simple techniques and we are all managing better waste management at household level, seeing that waste is also a huge commodity and can be plowed back in.
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The team have been reviewing site designs. They want to see whether the farmers have understood design and utilizing the space they have to the maximum, whilst also connecting the dots of how everything works together.
Harriet Nassolo, one of the lead farmers, is already starting to model her understanding of permaculture thus far in her own home.
Harriet Nassolo, one of the lead farmers, is already starting to model her understanding of permaculture thus far in her own home.
Harriet comments: “Connecting to nature again is connecting to way of life that is working in harmony with one another. I see possibilities now through this way of learning and can envision a much brighter future for myself and my family. Working in a group setting is helping me learn much faster and discover more solutions than working on my own.”
| Juliana, BEU team member |  |
Monitoring & Evaluation
 | Paul Omollo, from CMRA in Western Kenya, is preparing for his trip to Uganda at the end of November. This will be his first trip to visit the BEU team in Uganda who have taken on permEzone’s phase 2. This marks a pivotal review of both programmes. They will be engaged in field visits there to meet some of the farmers that BEU is working with, and will have the opportunity to exchange some of their experiences in the field so far. |
| Elin Duby is the lead support advisor to the programme within MEL (Monitoring Evaluation and Learning), and she has been engaged with both teams this season in identifying indicators that will help find successes and gaps that are critical for the overall programme. |  |
As we approach Giving Season...
If you are looking to make a LASTING contribution as we approach Giving Season, then please look no further and GIVE to our wonderful programme at permEzone.
Follow both projects on Facebook:
Community Mobilization for Regenerative Agriculture, Migori County, Western Kenya
Broadfield Enterprise Uganda, Sanje, Uganda
Community Mobilization for Regenerative Agriculture, Migori County, Western Kenya
Broadfield Enterprise Uganda, Sanje, Uganda
Did YOU Know?
Seeds are under attack everywhere. Under corporate pressure, laws in many countries, (including Kenya and Tanzania) increasingly put limitations on what farmers can do with their seeds and with the seeds they buy. Seed saving, a thousand-year-old practice which forms the basis of farming, is fast becoming criminalised. What can we do about this? Read more here
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