Earthcharter

Attendees of ECUS's partnership program in Zambia start a farming co-operative

Earth Charter US's partnership program, The COPE PROJECT, is empowering local Zambians through community workshops. Thus far these workshops have focused on sanitation and sustainable cooking with sessions on waterless toilets and solar ovens. The programs have been more popular than expected as attendees have been excited about the workshop content.

Following the first round of sessions, the director of the COPE PROJECT, Victor Phiri, recently released a report providing details and analysis of the successes and opportunities for the program.

The project found that the daily workshop model, locally sited, was successful and catered especially to the needs of attendees as it allowed them to undertake household and farm chores before and after the daily workshops.

Participants found the 5-day program helpful, and attendence was impressive, however attendees expressed the need for follow-up workshops in order to fully internalize the content of the workshops.

Given the opportunity and training, workshop participants have taken it upon themselves to form a co-operative society and create an action plan in order to immediately address the problems they are facing by working together. By forming a co-operative, community members will have greater access to government and business loans to undertake community development projects.