Wonderful news. First I felt my body relaxing. Then I felt a surge of inspiration. And now? I feel hopeful for the first time in a long time. Thank you.
Very grateful for these reports. For a while now the concept of local solutions has been thought of as the surest way forward… training locals to….provide needed care…liberating….genius.
2 key solutions always missing in the propaganda: 1. People in less-than-optimal circumstances could reduce human suffering by going child-free; and 2. Building at least 50-50, prioritizing femels, benefits all of us.
Excellent recap of your observations at the UN meetings. Of course, it is exceedingly distressing to even ordinary people that US aid has been dissolved and now unavailable in so many countries in need. But this report shows that there is still much that can be done. Let's be hopeful that new ways will be built to address a myriad of problems in our complicated world.
What a great article, team! Innovative, original, investigative reporting - from a team that participated in, not just observed.
I like this article not just because it - and others like it - turn around the powerful but mistaken belief that humanity is a victim of its own nature, into instead the author of its own present and future progress. I like it too because it illustrates just how and why our civilisation is turning the opportunities provided by a series of crises into a springboard for further, more effective, action that will benefit more local communities.
I can definitely relate to the sentence "Shouldn’t we have done this ten years ago?". Ten years ago I had the wonderful experience of becoming acquainted with a senior manager involved in the financial operations of a faith-based charity working in east Africa, specifically on how it was becoming increasingly evident that charitable projects that devolve for their inspiration and actions onto the very local communities they exist to benefit are by far the most efficient and sustainable in the medium to long term. One key reason is of course a sense of ownership: the community benefiting jointly owns the direction and progress of their project. But for me the most powerful reason is because projects structured in this way return that precious agency to local communities - helping them grow in self-belief and empowerment that they can be the authors of their own model of development.
Projects like this worldwide are numerous and proliferating. They are as diverse as the "Association AlVelAl" of Andalucia, Spain: a local co-operative of small farmers in the parched landscapes of the interior, learning together how to best manage their resources, and drive best practices through example. The Smallholder's Farmers Alliance in Haiti champions organic farming, regenerative and agroforestry based farming methods helping their local communities to thrive. And Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration in sub-Saharan Africa, with examples specifically in Niger and Malawi, show powerfully how local farming communities can discover and grow their own resources in ways that wouldn't have been suspected before.
It is not enough though for good news to re-kindle our knowledge of positive human capacity, if it is left as a warm fuzzy feeling and allowed to dissipate. As you so correctly point out, more needs to be done if the mutual and local aid models we are building are to become sustainable in the future. We are challenged to not only champion devolving agency to local communities, but at the same time to propel a transfer of knowledge, skills and resources on the international stage on such scales as have never been witnessed before in human civilisation.
As we know well, this is only realistically possible as the awareness and conviction of the oneness of humanity spreads among those of us in positions of responsibility, among the educators of the world, and among our journalists and communicators.
Today is a time of transition. We have a great opportunity, and a transformative responsibility.
Wonderful news. First I felt my body relaxing. Then I felt a surge of inspiration. And now? I feel hopeful for the first time in a long time. Thank you.
Very grateful for these reports. For a while now the concept of local solutions has been thought of as the surest way forward… training locals to….provide needed care…liberating….genius.
2 key solutions always missing in the propaganda: 1. People in less-than-optimal circumstances could reduce human suffering by going child-free; and 2. Building at least 50-50, prioritizing femels, benefits all of us.
Excellent recap of your observations at the UN meetings. Of course, it is exceedingly distressing to even ordinary people that US aid has been dissolved and now unavailable in so many countries in need. But this report shows that there is still much that can be done. Let's be hopeful that new ways will be built to address a myriad of problems in our complicated world.
What a great article, team! Innovative, original, investigative reporting - from a team that participated in, not just observed.
I like this article not just because it - and others like it - turn around the powerful but mistaken belief that humanity is a victim of its own nature, into instead the author of its own present and future progress. I like it too because it illustrates just how and why our civilisation is turning the opportunities provided by a series of crises into a springboard for further, more effective, action that will benefit more local communities.
I can definitely relate to the sentence "Shouldn’t we have done this ten years ago?". Ten years ago I had the wonderful experience of becoming acquainted with a senior manager involved in the financial operations of a faith-based charity working in east Africa, specifically on how it was becoming increasingly evident that charitable projects that devolve for their inspiration and actions onto the very local communities they exist to benefit are by far the most efficient and sustainable in the medium to long term. One key reason is of course a sense of ownership: the community benefiting jointly owns the direction and progress of their project. But for me the most powerful reason is because projects structured in this way return that precious agency to local communities - helping them grow in self-belief and empowerment that they can be the authors of their own model of development.
Projects like this worldwide are numerous and proliferating. They are as diverse as the "Association AlVelAl" of Andalucia, Spain: a local co-operative of small farmers in the parched landscapes of the interior, learning together how to best manage their resources, and drive best practices through example. The Smallholder's Farmers Alliance in Haiti champions organic farming, regenerative and agroforestry based farming methods helping their local communities to thrive. And Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration in sub-Saharan Africa, with examples specifically in Niger and Malawi, show powerfully how local farming communities can discover and grow their own resources in ways that wouldn't have been suspected before.
It is not enough though for good news to re-kindle our knowledge of positive human capacity, if it is left as a warm fuzzy feeling and allowed to dissipate. As you so correctly point out, more needs to be done if the mutual and local aid models we are building are to become sustainable in the future. We are challenged to not only champion devolving agency to local communities, but at the same time to propel a transfer of knowledge, skills and resources on the international stage on such scales as have never been witnessed before in human civilisation.
As we know well, this is only realistically possible as the awareness and conviction of the oneness of humanity spreads among those of us in positions of responsibility, among the educators of the world, and among our journalists and communicators.
Today is a time of transition. We have a great opportunity, and a transformative responsibility.
Not just good reporting - it was exceptional - and integrated reporting and analysis in a way that energizes and encourages all of us. Hooray!
Every human should read this article. Felt like I was there with you. Felt the weight, yet also felt the hope.
Bottom-up, the people themselves know best.
Spectacular!
This was a very welcome breath of hope.
Great piece of journalism. Well done guys.
This is powerful and hopeful. Thank you!
Thank you for this article. I really needed to hear something hopeful for a change.
🙌🙌💪
"The old model is dead. We spent a week watching a new one being born." - Thank you so much for keeping us informed, so inspiring and hopeful. ♥️🙏
Thank you