4.1 .LOCATION
The activity, throughout the funding period, was located in Havana, and dealt with the entire area of the city, and some semi-urban fringe zones. The office of the Proyecto de Permacultura of the Fundación de la Naturaleza y el Hombre, and the house of the Australian Volunteers, is located at Calle 158, esq 1raA, Reparto Náutico, Playa, Havana. The Australian project also work from this office which produces Se Puede magazine, hosts the publishing office, the library, and the information service.
The Proyecto de Permacultura of the Fundación de la Naturaleza y el Hombre and the Green Team worked in partnership, holding equally responsible for all components of the project. Where a component of the project was a collaboration with a third organisation, that organisation also held some responsibility (see below for list of principal Cuban organisations).
4.2 DETAILS OF PRINCIPLE CUBAN ORGANISATIONS
Proyecto de Permacultura of the Foundation of Nature and Humanity (PPFNH)
Calle 158 #107, altos, esq. Primera A
Reparto Náutico, Playa
Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba
tel +53 7 33 60 90
Principal contact: Olga Suárez
Email: gtcuba@tinored.cu
The PPFNH is the implementing agency in Cuba.
The PPFNH is part of the highly respected and important Cuban environment NGO, la Fundación de la Naturaleza y el Hombre. The Foundation is an apolitical organisation dedicated to the protection of the environment in relation to the broader culture and society. As one of the emerging network of NGOs the Foundation of Nature and Humanity has played a very important role in the development of the non-governmental sector in Cuba and continues to hold an influential and respected position in Cuban society.
The fundamental purpose of the Proyecto de Permaculture within the Foundation is to increase urban community self-reliance by promoting urban food and medicinal plant production. It also deals with nutrition plants with domestic uses and do-it-yourself home hints,. The PPFNH is both a magazine and book publisher, and training centre. It publishes magazine Se Puede ("It is Possible"). In late 1995, it published a 100 page book, "Saber y hacer sobre plantas medicinales" (To know, grow, and use medicinal plants).
The Proyecto de Permaculture was formed in November 1995 from the now defunct GOFP. The GOFP had been the Green Team's main project partner in Cuba since its inception in September 1994. GOFP emerged from the personnel of ICIODI (Institute for Internal Demand) who, at the time, were working with the Australians to develop Permaculture in Cuba. It was established with material and administrative support from the Ministry of Commercial Interior. The Proyecto de Permacultura has five members; a professional administrator and has three experienced journalists and a professional illustrator.
See promotional brochure for additional information.
Urban Agriculture Program, Ministry of Agriculture
The Urban Agriculture Program within the Ministry of Agriculture was formed in March 1994 to stimulate the production of food within the city of Havana. The program consists of a broad, grass-roots network of urban extension workers throughout Havana's 15 municipalities who distribute tools, seeds, and information with the aim of promoting urban gardens and increasing productivity.
The Urban Agriculture Program has a decentralised structure directed by 5 people within the Ministry of Agriculture and the Peoples Power which employs 67 extension worker to distribute information and materials to Havana's 26,604 gardeners through the 813 horticulture clubs.
Federación de Mujeres Cubanas (FMC)
The Federation of Cuban Women is a Cuban mass organisation started in 1961. 85% of Cuban adult women are members. The FMC provided the venue for the courses and has been highly supportive of the project throughout the funding period. In the train-the-trainer program. the FMC provided the venue for 2 of the courses, transport and provided 17 Federation Community Development workers to become community trainers in Permaculture.
Gyrphon S A
Gryphon S.A., established in 1995, is a Cuban company involved in promotions and graphic design. The group has been very supportive of the Food Garden Education in Urban Havana project and have donated their skills and resources to assist with design of Se Puede and production of educational resources.
Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios de las Relaciones Interamericanas (Cieri)
Cieri is a Spanish N.G.O working in Cuba in project management, train-the-trainer and conflict resolution. They were involved in curriculum development and training of the course trainers.
INIFAT
The National Institute of Fundamental Tropical Agriculture Research.
The Community Seed Bank component worked with INIFAT.
INIFAT ran a conference in urban agriculture in December 1995 in conjunction with PPFNH.
Instituto de Investigaciones Hortícolas Liliana Dimitrova
Liliana Dimitrova is a research station for the development of non-hybrid seeds. The Institute provided a staff member to attend the Permaculture Design Certificate Course and supported the community seed network with seeds and expertise.
Institute of Pasture and Forage Research
Instituto de Investigaciones de Pastos y Forrajes
Cangrejas, Bauta, La Habana
The Institute is under the Ministry of Agriculture.
The June 1995 course was held at the Institute of Pasture and Forage Research (IIPF) which was chosen as the site due to their work in organic agriculture, their past experience in permaculture and the knowledge and enthusiasm of the staff. It was ideal for the course as it had both teaching facilities and plenty of scope for practical work. However, the cost of using this venue is prohibitive for repeat courses.
The author of the PPFNH medicinal plants publication, Mercedes Garcia, works for IIPF.
So do Fernando Funes and Marta Monzote.
Parque Lenin (Lenin Park)
Parque Lenin was established in the 1970s by order of Fidel Castro for education and recreation for the residents of the City of Havana. The Parque has expertise in management of natural areas and reforestation on its staff.
Las Terraces
Las Terraces is a long-term reforestation and community development program which has recently been designated as part of a biosphere reserve under the Rio convention. The Food Garden Education in Urban Havana has worked in the planning and design of the food gardens.
Jardin Botánico (The Botanic Garden of Cuba)
The Botanical Gardens, situated in the south of Havana, act as an educational and community resource. The garden also contains Cuba's only vegetarian ecological restaurant. The site was used for site visits for courses and members of the Garden's staff were involved in teaching and curriculum development.
Association of Gardeners of Santa Fe
The Santa Fe Gardeners Association is well established with over 1000 members from about 15 gardening clubs in Santa Fe. The Santa Fe Gardeners Association has paid staff and has the capacity to receive funding in its own right. It helped with curriculum development and teaching in the first train-the-trainer course.
In late 1994, the project team brought the co-ordinator of the Santa Fe gardeners group, Luís Sanchez, who is paid by the Ministry of Agriculture as an autonomous urban agriculture extension officer, to Australia for a four-state tour to visit permaculture sites, attend an international conference, discuss details of the project, and speak about his work to the public.
Initially, the project proposed to work more intensively with the Santa Fe Gardeners Group but they were found to be already very well resourced. Thus, project funds were more effectively used in other municipalities.
Ministry of Commercial Interior
Ministry of Commercial Interior, Ministry responsible for ICIODI (Institute for Internal Demand) and for GOFP. They own the house and the office. The car, the computer, photocopier, air cond, etc, were taken away. In 1995 the GOFP became part of Foundation of Nature and Humanity beoming the PPFNH.
Zipolite Permaculture Institute, Mexico
Alejandra y José Caballero
Apto Postal 4, Tlaxco, Tlaxcala 90250
México
tel/fax: +52 246 60303
5. Conclusion
This project was designed to be supportive of a community process being undertaken across Havana. It fits alongside other initiatives of both government and community in Cuba. The two basic strategies of Community Training and Information Service were designed to suit the social economic and local skills level in Havana. They used the available people resources (people who wanted to supplement their limited diet and wanted to learn how to garden), assisted institutions and organisations ready to commit resources, and provided literature to a population eager for locally produced reading material. The project recognised and built on the culture of community interaction and education in Cuba.
All components of the Food Gardener Education in Urban Havana Project were designed to optimise their sustainability. The train-the-trainer courses represented a process of skills transfer to empower the Cuban population and reduce the need for ongoing external support. Further, the series of demonstration gardens are run by the community trainers and supported by the extension workers.
The Cuban population showed an enthusiasm and interest at all stages of the project which, in reality, formed the basis for its success. Whilst, at times, things may have appeared to become "bogged down" in bureaucracy, our enthusiastic and capable project partners, team of community trainers and network of interested people were always there to pull it through.
Our strength lied in providing skills and materials that were greatly sought after and unavailable in the country at the present time. In this way, the project ensured far reaching benefits for minimal inputs. Filename: MX960627.DOC (AN95RP01.DOC) Date Printed: 28 June, 1996
Original file: FINAL.RTF Last changed: 2 March 1996