Big Give Briefing for Pledgers

Project nameSeeds of Resilience

SummaryThis project aims to enhance facilities on Leith Community Croft, in Leith in the north of Edinburgh, and on Mother Elizabeth Organic Farm, in Rumphi District in the north of Malawi, in order to further these projects' green/agricultural education, with emphasis on enhancing this for the disadvantaged, such as vulnerable children and disadvantaged people of all ages in Leith, and poverty-affected adults/children in Malawi, and to build connections between these projects and people. Any money raised will be split equally between Leith and Malawi. Leith Community Crops will directly implement the work in Edinburgh, and will work with a partner organisation, the Bananabox Trust, with regard to helping Mother Elizabeth Organic Farm in Malawi.

To raise money for this project, we need people/organisations to pledge a sum of £100 (or more) by 5 p.m. on 30 August 2019 through the Big Give website. These pledges will be used to match donations from members of the public from 3 to 10 December. Support can be pledged here: http://tiny.cc/resilience.

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Contents

Summary.....................................................................................................................................................................1

Leith............................................................................................................................................................................3

Where is Leith Community Croft?...........................................................................................................................3

What problems are we attempting to solve in Leith, and what is our vision for Leith Community Croft?..............4

What does Leith Community Croft offer at the moment?.......................................................................................4

What aspects of the Croft could be improved?.......................................................................................................5

What exactly will we do?.........................................................................................................................................5

Malawi.........................................................................................................................................................................7

Where is Mother Elizabeth Organic Farm?..............................................................................................................7

What problems are we attempting to tackle in Malawi?........................................................................................9

What does Mother Elizabeth Organic Farm offer at the moment?.........................................................................9

What aspects of Mother Elizabeth Organic Farm could be improved?...................................................................9

What exactly will we help Mother Elizabeth Organic Farm do?............................................................................10

Pledge your support here….......................................................................................................................................10

Thank you!.................................................................................................................................................................11

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LeithWhere is Leith Community Croft?Leith Community Croft is approximately two acres of former wasteland at the northern tip of Leith Links Public Park, in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland.

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Leith Community Croft

What problems are we attempting to solve in Leith, and what is our vision for Leith Community Croft?Falling through the cracksLeith is a very diverse area, both ethnically and socio-economically. While there are many comfortably-off people here, some of the residential areas are amongst the most densely populated in the UK, with poor access to greenspace, and there are pockets of deprivation listed in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, one nearby being in the most extreme category. While some locals feel a strong sense of community, others see Leith as a divided and fragmented place, and feel lonely and isolated, and some ‘fall through the cracks’ and fail to reach their potential. There are high rates of crime, alcohol- and drug-abuse, and many have a poor diet and suffer from poor health.

VandalismThe problems in Leith manifest on Leith Community Croft, which is the target of various acts of vandalism. Vulnerable people are using the space in a way which might be intimidating to others, and litter is an ongoing issue. Tom, our highly skilled horticulturalist and joiner, should not be wasting hours of his valuable time reparing and clearing up. There is so much more he could be doing for the community.

Constructive engagement: building communityWe feel that wellbeing, social, environmental and educational issues are linked, and we believe that Leith Community Croft, the site we manage with and for the people of Leith, can play a significant role in tackling them. We would like to engage

constructively with those behaving antisocially, and encourage them to become active members of and contributors to the community, perhaps even Crofters with a real stake (or spade!) in the earth, or participants in the wide range of interesting courses run by our Croft Carbon College.

Where children learn about natureWe wish to enhance the Croft so that it becomes even more of a community hub than it already is: a place where parents can have a chat and a cup of tea while their children build dens, climb trees and learn about nature, a place where everyone feels safe and can be sure of a welcome, and where it’s easy to strike up conversations with strangers, a place where people are naturally drawn to learn more about the natural world and our connection with it, and a place where people can enjoy healthy and sustainable food and learn how to grow it themselves. Last but certainly not least in this time of climate crisis, we want the site to foster international awareness and responsible global citizenship.

What does Leith Community Croft offer at the moment?Leith Community Croft provides plots for local people to share and grow their own food, it hosts beehives and it has a wide range of plants for pollinating insects. It has a tree nursery, producing willows and fruit trees, and it hosts outdoor play events for children.

There is also a market garden which will soon provide produce for a farm shop and café, and our environmental education project, the Croft Carbon College, runs some of its workshops on the Croft.

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What aspects of the Croft could be improved?While Leith Community Croft is open to all, this is perhaps not clear to everyone. Many locals may not have picked up on our social media and so still be unaware of the range of activities offered by Leith Community Crops in Pots or how to engage with us, and these things are poorly advertised on the Croft.

EthosThe Croft’s sharing ethos, which is very different from that of an allotment, is not spelled out on any notices there, and while there are many areas, features and species (plants, insects, birds…) of interest, these are currently inadequately signposted or not at all.

Outreach: belonging, pride and ownershipImportantly, we do not currently have the resources to do much outreach work, specifically to engage with the disadvantaged and vulnerable and offer them a range of activities suitable for people of various interests and abilities and which will give them a feeling of belonging, pride and ownership, and an incentive to look after what belongs as much to them as to everyone else who lives in Leith.

What exactly will we do?Acts of vandalism can bring the community togetherWe shall commit to being radically inclusive and making the Croft a place for learning and empowerment, a haven amongst the economic and ecological violence of the city. Where this is practical, we shall use any acts of vandalism to bring the community together, engaging people in fixing things and in this way building community resilience.

We shall run games and educational programmes integrated with the new Croft facilities, which will specifically reach out to some of the more disadavantaged residents of Leith in an inclusive way. These will be aimed variously at children, adolescents, adults and families, and include art and practical construction workshops, wellbeing-focused classes, and more directly environment- and food-related activities.

Young peopleWith specific regard to adolescents and young people, we shall draw on Youth Vision’s work for inspiration (https://www.youthvision.uk/programmes/forest-skills-10-13/). We shall also explore building on our already established links with Leith Academy.

A major way of improving the amenity value of the Croft would be to improve signage. We shall enliven the site with an array of colourful and engaging signs, and do more... We would like to have nature trails for all ages, and nature ‘treasure’ hunts and quizzes for children.

Our ‘Hingabootery’ pop-up café and farm shop will soon open, and we would like to have at least one conversation table, where if you sit it means that you are open to a chat! We would be keen to provide ‘conversation starter sheets’, suggesting topics for people to discuss. We would like to present our customers with attractive menus which tell them a little about our charity’s work and a lot about the items on

the menu: where they come from and why we think they are good for people and the environment.

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Nature 'treasure' hunts for children

We also want to erect some large noticeboards to inform visitors about all the classes and workshops we offer and, not least, to provide updates on our exciting work in Malawi, including the progress we shall be supporting at Mother Elizabeth Organic Farm, the other half of this ‘twinfrastructure’ project, which will run in parallel with the Improvements at Leith Community Croft and receive exactly the same amount of money. Furthermore, we would like to pay for exchange visits between Malawi and Leith to further strengthen ties between the projects.

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MalawiThanks to our partner, the Bananabox Trust, for most of the information in this section.

Where is Mother Elizabeth Organic Farm?Mother Elizabeth occupies approximately five hectares of gently sloping land in Rumphi District near the entrance to the Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve in the north of Malawi.

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Mother Elizabeth Organic Farm Safari Lodge and Camp

What problems are we attempting to tackle in Malawi?Climate crisis, deforestationMalawi is very much affected by the climate crisis, with increasingly erratic rainfall threatening food production. There is widespread poverty and hunger, with many children walking miles to school on empty stomachs. However, many of the crops and agricutural techniques pushed by the west are not climate-resilient, are dependent on expensive inputs of fertiliser and pesticide and do not necessarily produce food of high nutritional value. Deforestation adds to the mix of problems. There is a need for secure water supplies and education in water-sparing, sustainable and appropriate agriculture.

What does Mother Elizabeth Organic Farm offer at the moment?Mother Elizabeth Organic Farm, also known as Mother Elizabeth Organic Farm Safari Lodge and Camp, involves a partnership between seven people and occupies some five hectares of land. This includes residences, the farmland, four chalets with related lounge/dining room, and a residential building for students.

Committed to organic farmingThe project is driven by Patrick Mhone, who is very committed to the concept of organic farming. MEOF is intended to be a commercial operation in that it should provide an income to its operator. However, many of the core activities are charitable in nature. Its purpose is:

to undertake organic farming (ongoing) to teach organic farming to local people (ongoing) to run a four-chalet residential tourist facility as an

income-generating activity (not currently active)

What aspects of Mother Elizabeth Organic Farm could be improved?There are several issues, most of which are down to lack of capital:

watero the water from the borehole is saltyo agriculture is rain-fed only (and so vulnerable to

drought) electricity is more or less non-existent in the area

o the photovoltaic array at MEOF was damaged by lightning business skills are low agricultural income

o markets for organic produce are undeveloped

o processing facilities are lacking (e.g. for drying fruit)

tourist incomeo the chalets are sub-standard – they need a

general overhaul

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Willing people with great potential

o there is no marketing plan for the chalets, though they are only one kilometre from a National Park and therefore could be marketed

o there is a lack of knowledge re catering for Western dietary tasteso there are no fridges or freezers for guests’ food and drink

education could be improvedo written materials are lackingo they have no resources to offer certificates to graduates

general amenitieso there are no sporting facilties or equipment, which would draw people to the site and benefit many

of its users

What exactly will we help Mother Elizabeth Organic Farm do?The funding we raise through Big Give will go a large way towards realising the following (though further funding may be needed to achieve everything listed here, and will be needed to fulfil all ambitions):

set up effective rainwater harvesting and storage facilities investigate how best to establish an electricity supply and bring this about (probably replace the damaged photovoltaic array and build a lightning conductor to protect it, but might involve other things, such as a generator powered by gas from

an anaerobic digester – there are already pits used to make compost) repair the chalets pay for at least one fridge and one freezer pay for fruit-drying equipment produce certificates for graduates set up sporting facilities to draw more people to the site and for the benefit of staff, students and tourists pay for exchange visits between Malawi and Leith to enhance mutual understanding and strengthen connections between the two communities.

Pledge your support here…If you’d like to support this project, please pledge a sum of £100 (or more) by 5 p.m. on 30 August 2019 through the Big Give website linked here: http://tiny.cc/resilience. These pledges will be used to match donations from members of the public from 3 to 10 December. Any pledged money in excess of that needed to match donations will be returned to the Pledgers.

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Chalets need refurbishing

Thank you!

Thank you for considering supporting this project, from all of us at Leith Community Crops in Pots!

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