As a celebration of the (often hidden) leadership of black, brown, and indigenous people around the world, you are invited to an online gathering with Precious Phiri of Zimbabwe next Wednesday, June 17th, to hear stories of land regeneration in Africa, and discuss what lessons we can learn from her stories.
Those of you who already know Precious Phiri, know her incredible energy, focus, integrity, and power.
For nine years, she was the Coordinator of Training at the Africa Center for Holistic Management--the Savory Hub in Zimbabwe. She is now Regeneration International’s Africa coordinator and the founder of EarthWisdom network.
Precious and I met at a conference five years ago, after which, she visited Vermont and we've been connected ever since. We formed a small international group--along with Diana Donlon, Judith Schwartz, Alexandra Groome, and Cindy Eiritz--that meets regularly for mutual resourcing and to cheer each other on: Sisters Working In Soil Health (SWISH).
At this live, online gathering, we will discuss:
- How Precious brings together people, animals, land, and wisdom from multiple households, villages, and tribal groups to regenerate whole landscapes.
- How she navigates gender, tribal, and racial challenges by bringing her essence and aims to the forefront, and helps others do the same.
- How local social agreements and government agreements protect efforts of land regeneration from continuous business booms.
- Lessons learned from the process: social, ecological, and economic challenges, setbacks, and questions that still await answers.
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Together, Precious and I will offer perspectives for applying these successes to farming, ranching, and land management in other regions. We will examine what is unique to these projects, and to Phiri’s approach, and what we can learn from them as examples of living systems at work. Those attending the gathering will participate in the conversation, and in small discussion groups, using a living systems approach as a way of viewing their own projects and communities. All are welcome.
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REGENERATION:
STORIES OF WHAT WORKS
with Precious Phiri and Didi Pershouse
Wednesday, June 17th,
6-9 PM CAT (Harare, Zimbabwe)
9:30-12:30 PM UTC (Delhi, India)
12-3 PM EDT (New York, USA)
(We will record the session for those
who cannot attend live)
Fee: $35
We invite people from the Global South, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to attend for free (by clicking on $35 payment then using the coupon code BIPOC during registration)
For help with registration please email [log in to unmask], and/or [log in to unmask]
Please consider making an additional donation during checkout to support our ongoing work.
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Precious Phiri is a member of the Regeneration International steering committee and also serves as Regeneration International's Africa Coordinator. She is a training and development specialist in regenerative approaches to environmental issues and community organizing.
She is the founder of EarthWisdom, an organization and network which she formed following her nine-year full time career as Coordinator of Training with the Africa Center for Holistic Management--the Savory hub in Zimbabwe. Her vast experience in education, mobilizing communal populations, and engaging institutions (in Zimbabwe and other regions in Africa) in restorative farming programs using Holistic Land and Livestock Management (HLLM) is the force behind her network.
Her work currently focuses on training rural communities and collaborating with networks in Africa to reduce poverty, rebuild soils, and restore food and water security for people, livestock, and wildlife.
Didi Pershouse is the author of The Ecology of Care: Medicine, Agriculture, Money, and the Quiet Power of Human and Microbial Communities and Understanding Soil Health and Watershed Function. She is a lead author for the "Future Directions" chapter of the UN-FAO Technical Manual on Soil Organic Carbon Management, and a contributing author for Health in the Anthropocene.
Didi brings conservatives and liberals together into effective working groups with common goals: improving soil health, public health, water security, and regional resilience through simple changes in land management. Both online and in-person, her participatory workshops engage farmers and ranchers, policymakers, investors, and scientists in systems thinking and deep listening, to allow for emergent strategies. She was one of five speakers at the United Nations-FAO World Soil Day in 2017.
She is the founder of the Land and Leadership Initiative and the Center for Sustainable Medicine, and a co-founder of Regenerate Earth and the "Can we Rehydrate California?" Initiative. She is currently working on projects with the UN-FAO Farmer Field School program; the Climate Resilient Zero Budget Natural Farming Initiative in Andhra Pradesh, India; and the No Regrets Initiative. She is a member of the Vermont State appointed Payment For Ecosystem Services and Soil Health Working Group and is on the board of directors of the Soil Carbon Coalition and the Vermont Healthy Soils Coalition.
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All of the Land and Leadership Initiative's past webinars are now available for FREE (though if you can afford to pay, please do.)
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Looking forward to sharing stories of hope with you.
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