by Ludwe Majiza and Thabo Lusithi 15 July 2022
We have been promoting sustainable alternatives and climate change resilience in Ngqushwa Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa since 2011, including capacity-building in asset-based community-driven development (ABCD) and ecovillage design education (EDE).
With each new EDE activity, knowledge and understanding of climate change and sustainable practices in surrounding villages has deepened. Global Grants has generously provided funding to support the coordination and facilitation of EDE in Zwelitsha, including participants from 7 villages and 2 townships which is mostly where the Eastern Cape Water Caucus has active members.
Our first workshop in March 2022 took participants on a deeper journey in finding solutions for sustainable communities. With a dwindling economy that has left many families with financial challenges as a result of Covid-19, it is critical that individuals learn ways to enhance the skills obtained through previous EDE’s. At the 2019 EDE workshop it was decided which villages would be hosting the following workshops., and Zwelitsha was selected to host the Economic Dimension.
The main objective of this EDE module is to transform Zwelitsha, its surroundings and previously participating villages into a sustainable ecosystem through training, peer learning, mobilization and joint initiatives. Learning indicators include:
● To deepen knowledge and understanding of the economy
● To identify different types of economies
● To apply basic economics & concepts
● To demonstrate practical skills
Participants travelling from afar arrived in Zwelitsha on Monday 27 March 2022 and were accommodated in homestays. The workshop opened with a prayer, introductions, and a welcome. This was followed by a set of guidelines on how participants expected one another to behave in order to create a conducive learning environment while also expressing their expectations and fears. The program was drafted and background on the necessity of this program was covered. On the second day, all participants arrived and introductions commenced.
The theoretical aspects of an Economy were explained - this led to exciting discussions and the rest of the day was dedicated to processing this learning.
The next day we had a morning session in class with participants doing group work to help them link the theoretical knowledge with their immediate surroundings by identifying the different types of the economy.
This was also followed by processing the content and learning for the remainder of the day. On the last day, we started by reviewing the commitments made on the first day of the workshop. Participants were given an introduction to cooperatives, how they work, and their different types.