Solidarity in the Deep Adaptation Forum

Standing heart to heart with people on the front lines of collapse

“What we most need to do is to hear within us the sound of the earth crying.”
– Thích Nhất Hạnh

On this page, we shine a spotlight on projects around the world that could benefit from the support, financial or otherwise, of Deep Adaptation Forum participants.

Read more about this section of the website, and how projects are suggested and promoted, below.

Would you like a project or initiative you know to be featured here? Please get in touch using this form.

Let’s stand in solidarity with…

Make Bafut Ecovillage Green Again – Permaculture for Cameroon War Victims

Better World Cameroon (BWC), an NGO in Northwest Cameroon, needs help to rebuild its learning center which is focusing on education in Permaculture, peace building and food security.

On January 12, 2021, soldiers raided and burned down the Bafut Ecovillage, located in the heart of Africa, that won the 2015 Gaia Excellence Award as Africa’s most inspiring project. The permaculture learning center was built by young girls and women to improve the living standards of vulnerable communities by running permaculture gardens and regenerating the ecosystem.

The Bafut Ecovillage was established in 2012 by Joshua Konkankoh, founder of BWC. At that time, BWC had been active for more than 15 years in empowering unemployed youth to act sustainably in the environmental and agricultural sectors.

Read more about this project and donate HERE.

Joshua Konkankoh participated in the Deep Adaptation Forum’s Deep Live Gathering event in October 2021: “The Practice of Living Tradition and Spiritual Forests Initiation.” Watch the event recording here.

Access to Internet Support campaign – Bidii Yetu, Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya

At Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya, many refugees from different countries struggle to access higher education opportunities. Most of the young people who finished their secondary education rely on distance/online learning to continue studying. However, as project coordinator Martin Abumba shared with us during a DAF event on community-building, internet infrastructure at the camp is sorely lacking. This campaign aims at raising $2,000 to finish purchasing the necessary internet access subscription and equipment.

Here are the profiles of some students who are looking for support through this campaign:

The project was initiated by the local grassroots organisation Bidii Yetu (“Our Diligence”), which was created in 2019 by young refugees at the camp in order to build hope among the refugee community, to influence and participate in decision-making, and improve vulnerable refugees’ living conditions. Bidii Yetu runs four main programs at the Kakuma refugee camp:

Supporting young people’s education
Including people with disabilities in social actions and giving them more visibility
Working with women and the wider community on permaculture and agroecology
Environmental protection and public hygiene

Find out more about Bidii Yetu on their Facebook page.

You can donate to this project…

Through the Diversity & Decolonizing Solidarity Project page on OpenCollective (managed by the DAF Diversity and Decolonising Circle and the DAF Core Team)

UPDATE (August 29, 2022)

Watch the recording of Wendy and Dorian’s Q&A with Martin and Andrea, as part of the “Forming Community” series:

And check out this video they shared with us afterwards, to give us more of a feel of how it looks like inside Kakuma Refugee Camp:

About this page

On this page, we shine a spotlight on projects around the world that could benefit from the support, financial or otherwise, of Deep Adaptation Forum participants.

We do this in recognition of the fact that many of us, in DAF, enjoy safety and security, have money to donate, and even access to power-holders in somewhat democratic states, sometimes contrary to the individuals and groups who are most exposed (or have been most exposed) to the severe ecological, economic and political disruptions that are discussed in our spaces. As a result, we may consider it our responsibility to make use of these privileges and stand in solidarity with those who are most silenced and invisibilised – to amplify their voices, and champion their ideas. We also recognise that our collective challenges take root in the historical injustices of modernity and colonialism, and are inseparable from the social and ecological predicament which ultimately is affecting all of humanity and the non-human world.

DAF participants will be informed of these projects by means of regular DAF newsletters, and invited to offer support (through donations or in other ways) by visiting the project webpage. DAF will not directly handle any donations related to the projects listed here.

The DAF Core Team will select what projects to list on this page, by considering the following criteria:

The project and its organisers should be in alignment with the DAF Charter;
The project should either be:

Launched by grassroots collectives, preferably in countries from the Global South, or be focused on Global South regions; or
Focused on marginalised communities in the Global North, as well as managed and delivered by members of such communities.

The person recommending the project should share an update on the project with the DAF Core Team once per quarter, so that the community can stay informed about the project through DAF newsletters.