Our Liaison Offices in New York, New Delhi, Tokyo and Vienna continue to serve as contact points for ACUNS members traveling to those locations and interested in making connections to the United Nations based organizations in those cities, and to the local scholarly communities there.
The individual lead Liaison Officers at these locations are ACUNS members, either in the academic or practitioner communities, who have volunteered their services to help support members of our global network.
In some cases, the Liaison Offices also organize functions – lectures, seminars, workshops, and conferences – in cooperation with local UN bodies, other international organizations, NGOs, and academic institutions. The Vienna Liaison Office has been especially active in arranging or participating in such programming, supported by an energetic group of young volunteer interns.
Environmental integration offers significant economic development potential: green growth provides a number of opportunities to companies through new markets, especially in the fields of:
- Energy management
- Sustainable natural resources management
- Environmental protection
In developing countries, financing this green growth is a major challenge. Agence Française de Développement (AFD) contributes to this challenge in partnership with banks in the South.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
We are working to contribute towards creating an enabling environment for the effective advancement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Post 2015 Development Agenda. UNA Tanzania has been involved in MDGs Awareness for the past eight years and with the MDGs edging closer to expiration in 2015 (as well as MKUKUTA II and FYDP in Tanzania), this experience will help in contributing towards accelerating the achievement of the remaining milestones for Tanzania and taking stock of lessons in implementing the MDGs on how we can do better in the future through the expected SDGs as they are localized in our national development framework.
DEMOCRACY, GOOD GOVERNANCE & HUMAN RIGHTS
Under this area, we are working to promote positive civic and media engagement in the electoral process and advocate for the inclusion and visibility of human rights in the development process and new constitution for Tanzania. Throughout its existence, UNA Tanzania has endeavored to contribute towards strengthening democracy, good governance and human rights; and the establishment of the Tanzania Human Rights Commission, promoting press freedom, conducting national media monitoring in 2000 and 2005 elections as well as civic voter education in 2010 elections have been key program successes for the organization.
PEACE AND SECURITY
UNA Tanzania has been and continues to actively engage in the ICGLR (International Conference on the Great Lakes Regions) peace process. As such, this is a maintained program area where we aim to enhance youth and CSOs engagement in the process. Specifically, UNA Tanzania will be working towards establishment of the national Peace and Security Chapter for the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region peace process; increased representation of marginalized voices – youth, women and children – in the process, and enhanced representation on and intervention against Sexual and Gender Based Violence.
Samburu Girls Foundation, (SGF) is a Kenyan non-profit whose primary work is to rescue girls from child-marriage, beading and FGM. Over 1183 girls have been rescued and 326 are currently being sponsored in schools around the country.
The organization was registered as an NGO in October 2011. Its head office is based at Loosuk Center, Samburu County and works closely with 3 more counties namely, Marsabit, Laikipia and Isiolo.
Founded by Josephine Kulea, the organization saves lives by advocating against Harmful Cultural Practices and builds futures for the girls by taking them to school.
National Environment Trust Fund (NETFUND) is a State Corporation established by the Environmental Management and Coordination Act of 1999. Our mandate is “To facilitate research intended to further the requirements of environmental management, capacity building, environmental awards, environmental publications, scholarships and grants”. NETFUND’s vision is “Sustainable financing available for environmental management in Kenya”. Our mission is “To mobilize, manage and avail resources for; environmental awards, capacity building, research and publications, scholarships and grants in Kenya.”
As a Fund, we provide a platform for environmental conservationists and funding agents to converse and share bankable ideas. Through our unmatched convening power, we coordinate environmental sector players and create synergy to deliver well researched initiatives competently for effective environmental management in Kenya.
Our network of partners, experts and robust internal financial and governance systems have enabled us design and deliver highly impactful projects to greater scale and with higher levels of accountability. We assure our development partners of a high social return on investment and we will make it easier for our national and international partners to support viable solutions to solve priority national environmental challenges.
Official operations began in 2006 under the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA). NETFUND became a state corporation independent of NEMA, in 2015 following amendment of the EMCA.
To fulfil its strategic objectives and mandate the Fund is structured into four (4) Directorates and four (4) Departments reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) as follows:
- Directorate of Programmes
- Directorate of Research, Resource Mobilization and Consultancy Services
- Directorate of Strategy and Planning
- Directorate of Corporate Services
- Internal Audit Department
- Supply Chain Management Department
- Corporate Secretary and Legal Services Department
- The Fund Management Services
The Internal Audit and the Fund Management Services report functionally to the Board of Trustees and administratively to the CEO.
GOGLA is the global association for the off-grid solar energy industry. Established in 2012, GOGLA now represents over 160 members as a neutral, independent, not-for-profit industry association. Our services assist the industry to build sustainable markets and profitable businesses delivering quality, affordable off-grid electricity products and services to as many customers as possible across the developing world.
We believe that with the right support, the off-grid solar market can scale to provide affordable solar power products and services to provide electricity to the 840 million people currently living without energy by 2030, in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7. Off-grid solar products and services are also a solution for the estimated 1 billion people with weak grid connections.
The off-grid solar industry needs to deliver quality, affordable products and services to households, businesses and communities in challenging developing markets. It’s a sector that requires coordinated support, the right partnerships, resources, and services to help its businesses scale sustainably and at speed in these complex environments.
SEI Africa is based in Nairobi, Kenya and is hosted by the World Agroforestry Centre. The centre collaborates with African governments, organizations and networks, acting as a hub for SEI’s engagement across the continent. The centre’s work focuses on four key areas: energy and climate; natural resources and ecosystems; sustainable urbanisation; and health and environment.
From its establishment in August 2008 until June 2013, SEI Africa was based at the Institute of Resource Assessment at the University of Dares Salaam. As of July 2013, it is based in Nairobi, Kenya, hosted by the World Agroforestry Centre. Staff members are active across South, East and West Africa.
The Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme (EWCP) is a partnership between the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) and the Born Free Foundation, which provides an ideal platform from which to address wildlife conservation. The EWCP operates under the auspices of the IUCN/SSC Canid Specialist Group, and additionally collaborates with the University of Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Debre Zeit, Gonder, and Wondo Genet in Ethiopia, and Universities of Glasgow, Leiden, South Bohemia and the Zoological Society of London, among others.
EWCP operates in Ethiopia under Memoranda of Understanding agreements between the WildCRU and the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority (EWCA) at a federal level, and the Oromia Forest and Wildlife Enterprise (OFWE) and Amhara Culture, Tourism and Parks Development Bureau at a regional level. In addition, EWCP works closely with the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS) and the Born Free Foundation Ethiopia (BFFE). EWCP has long established and excellent working relationships with all these organisations. In addition, the Programme seeks the support and cooperation of local authorities for all field activities in all areas.
adelphi is a leading independent think tank and public policy consultancy on climate, environment and development. Our mission is to improve global governance through research, dialogue and consultation. We offer demand-driven, tailor-made services for sustainable development, helping governments, international organizations, businesses and nonprofits design strategies for addressing global challenges.
Our staff of more than 200 provides high-quality interdisciplinary research, strategic policy analysis and advice, and corporate consulting. We facilitate policy dialogue and provide training for public institutions and businesses worldwide, helping to build capacity for transformative change. Since 2001 we have successfully completed over 800 projects worldwide. Our work covers the following key areas: Climate, Energy, Resources, Green Economy, Sustainable Business, Green Finance, Peace and Security, International Cooperation and Urban Transformation.
Partnerships are key to the way we work at adelphi. By forging alliances with individuals and organizations, we help strengthen global governance and so promote transformative change, sustainable resources management and resilience. adelphi is a values-based organization with an informal culture based on excellence, trust and cooperation. Sustainability is the foundation of our internal and external conduct. Our activities are climate-neutral and we have a certified environmental-management system.
The National Environment Management Council (NEMC) came into being in 1983 when the Government of Tanzania enacted the National Environment Management Act No. 19 of 1983. NEMC was established with a broad mandate in response to the national need for such an institution to oversee environmental management issues and also implement the resolutions of the Stockholm conference (1972), which called upon all nations to establish and strengthen national environmental Councils to advise governments and the international community on environmental issues.
The enactment of Environmental Management Act No. 20 of 2004 (EMA, 2004) by Parliament in October 2004, repealed the National Environmental Management Act No.19 of 1983 and re-established NEMC. EMA 2004 provides for a legal and institutional framework for sustainable management of the environment, prevention and control pollution, waste management, environmental quality standards, public participation, environmental compliance and enforcement. Furthermore, it gives NEMC mandates to undertake enforcement, compliance , review and monitoring of environmental impacts assessments, research, facilitate public participation in environmental decision-making, raise environmental awareness and collect and disseminate environmental information.
The challenge of integrating Environmental concerns into development processes for sustenance was first realized in the late 1960s and this culminated in the Stockholm Conference on Environment and Development in 1972.
Tanzania responded to this global Environmental Processes by enactment of the NEM- Act 1983, creating an Environmental Council [known as National Environmental Management Council-NEMC] which became operational in 1986; the formulation and approval of the National Environment Policy 1997 and the recent Environmental Management Act (EMA), 2004. Further Tanzania has ratified several of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements
The object and purpose for which NEMC is established is to undertake environmental enforcement, compliance, review and monitor environmental impact statements, research and awareness raising.
What is YEE
Youth and Environment Europe (YEE) is a platform of many European youth organisations that study nature or are active in environmental protection. These member organisations come together from 26 countries. The aim of YEE is to encourage youth to be involved in environmental protection and to provide a platform where these organisations can work together.
YEE gives an opportunity to contact other European organisations, to exchange experiences and ideas and to work together.
All our activities are organised and carried out by young people under 30. YEE organises and encourages all activities that can increase the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of nature and the awareness of environmental problems among young people in Europe.
Our aim is to promote the commitment of youth to the principles of environmental conservation. Therefore, young people’s voluntary actions have to be stimulated for the protection and the rational use of the Earth’s resources. Since environmental problems have no borders, we act together within YEE in order to address these problems in local communities and joint activities. Within international actions, we intend to raise public awareness about environmental problems.
YEE’s mission
YEE aims to unite environmental youth non-profit organisations in Europe in order to enhance international cooperation, increase knowledge about nature, raise awareness of environmental problems and to strengthen participation of youth in environmental decision-making.
Take a look at the YEE promotional materials.
- Supporting the work of member organisations
- Promoting the widest possible exchange of information, ideas and experience among members
- European and local projects (such as training courses, youth exchanges, etc.)
- Environmental educational campaigns
- Publications
- YEE Working Groups
YEE is a member organisation of:
YEE History
Youth and Environment Europe was founded as the European regional branch of the International Youth Federation for Environmental Studies and Conservation (IYF) on the 3rd of August 1983 in Stockholm. The YEE office has been located in three locations. The first YEE office was based in Copenhagen.
IYF established YEE with the cooperation of 15 organisations. Three founding organisations are still members of YEE: Faltbiologerna (Sweden), DJN (Germany), and JNM (Belgium).
In 1986, after the work of a research group on the forest, a new organisation was born from YEE: the European Youth Forest Action (EYFA) that remains active today.
In 1990 the YEE office moved to it’s second location in Utrecht, the Netherlands to locate it more centrally to the member organisations being part of the network at that time.
In 1991, as a further subgroup from EYFA, ASEED started to work as a separate network.
For some years in the 1990’s, a member organisation from Malta hosted a second YEE office in order to deal with the Mediterranean issues closely.
In 1998, the third change of the location of the office occurred. This time the medieval stronghold Toulcuv Dvur in Prague was chosen. Toulcuv Dvur is an ecological center that unites a range of ecological, educational and cultural activities. The area consists of eight hectares of land including wetlands around a little stream. YEE’s office is still located here today.
Currently YEE unites 43 member organisations from 25 countries.
From 2003 YEE started to host volunteers who help as members of the office team in daily work of the organisation.
Today, the office team consists of the General Secretary, Projects Coordinator and 2 volunteers.
HOPE worldwide Kenya (HWWK) was registered in 1999, although prior to this, a team of Christians from Nairobi Christian Church, a member of the International Churches of Christ, would reach out to and serve the needy through benevolent activities.
These voluntary activities attracted more people to participate and before long the vision translated to an established institution that would carry out the activities in a legal, coordinated and professional manner.
Initially HWWK received financial assistance from Rotarians for Fighting AIDS and Rotary Club of Nairobi East to help vulnerable children in Mukuru with provision of basic education and appropriate nutrition. Rotary Club of Nairobi East supported HWWK to build a Hall in Mukuru Kwa Ruben to serve the community.
HWWK programs were officially launched on 23rd February 2003 in Mukuru Informal Settlement by the then U.S. Ambassador Mr. Johnny Carson. Thus began our work with HIV prevention.
The work of HWWK has been made possible through resources mobilized from various donors and agencies including the U.S. Government, the Global Fund, the Canadian government, The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, Swedish International Development Agency, Shell Oil Products Africa, the Walmart Foundation, trusts, other charities, and individual donors.
Welcome to the Buckminster Fuller Challenge (BFC) archive! Here you will find a comprehensive history of the BFC program and a curated archive of the ‘best of’ entries reviewed by the program from 2007-2017 making visible the vibrancy and dedication of an emerging field of comprehensive, whole-systems designers. This searchable archive is offered as a resource and tool for educators, the design community, and the general public to use to discover the remarkable ideas and successful projects at work in the world today.
ORIGINS AND HISTORIES
In 2010 Fuller Challenge juror David Orr – the esteemed sustainability educator and author – remarked that human civilization has entered the historical equivalent of shooting the dangerous rapids of a treacherous white-water river. With a broken paddle. Blindfolded.
Buckminster Fuller put it in stark relief with this famous question: Are we heading toward Utopia or Oblivion? He challenged his contemporaries to creatively respond to the urgency of this moment by re-framing the crisis as an opportunity pointing to humanity’s “option to make it – to live successfully without compromising the ability for all of life to thrive.”
Fuller demonstrated through his research and design practice that the resources needed for all forms of life on the planet to live in relative peace and prosperity exist. Creatively deployed, these resources are more than enough to raise the standard of living for everybody.
He called for a revolution by design –not political or military – but a revolution driven by the problem-solving creativity of design combined with the empirical demands of science.
Fuller’s practice took a comprehensive approach, starting with the whole; anticipating future trends and needs; employing the scientific method; and aligned with nature’s operating principles. He saw that this way of thinking and doing was to be the future of design. He called his practice design science. And in the 1960’s he launched the Design Science Revolution with an open call to the world’s creative communities “to make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.”
In 2007 The Buckminster Fuller Challenge Prize program reintroduced Bucky’s vision. After extensive research we determined that the development of a competitive prize – an open call to anyone creatively addressing any of the world’s most urgent problems – would enable us to accomplish several goals:
1. honor the legacy of Fuller and create a prestigious program that would encourage innovation and recognize integrity;
2. draw attention and support to the thinkers and doers applying a comprehensive, whole-systems approach to designing solutions to the
great challenges we face today;
3. leverage the power of a prestigious innovation prize to demonstrate the importance of whole systems-thinking and its integral function in design-
thinking;
4. educate a new generation of designers to take up Fuller’s Challenge to transform our world through design, by showcasing world class projects
and celebrating the people behind them”,
Over the program’s ten-year history (2007-2017) the Fuller Challenge attracted thousands of initiatives from across the globe, tackling every conceivable issue facing humanity and the planet today. Each team submitted an application that was subject to a rigorous vetting process in which our esteemed review team and juries invested hundreds of hours of investigation, research, and debate to select our honored entries.
First recognized in 2011 by Metropolis Magazine as “socially responsible design’s highest award”, the program conferred an annual grand prize of
$100,000 to a project that best fulfilled the entrance criteria and embodied what we have called the ‘spirit of the Challenge’. Winning projects are visionary initiatives that address multiple problems simultaneously, and evoke inspiration for others to study and replicate.
The winning team also received with The Omnioculi, a commissioned sculpture created by artist Tom Shannon in collaboration with geodesics expert Joseph Clinton.
While one project was selected as the winner, each year the Fuller Challenge program awarded resources and support to an additional 40-60 projects through our Catalyst Program. These projects typically represented the top 20% of the entry pool and received opportunities for additional funding and investment, pro-bono legal services, fast-track access to accelerator programs, mentorship opportunities, and international press coverage.
The projects included in the archive demonstrate that design can and must be applied to every aspect of the global system, and reveal a groundswell of successful solutions to our most complex and urgent problems.
With an expanded view of design’s scope, we were able to recognize design innovation in places and projects that were unusual and new. And in the process we discovered an extraordinary group of passionate people with an unusual capacity to feel a deep sense of generosity for the future. It is our hope that
history will look back on their sacrifice, commitment and creativity to recognize that these were the trimtabs of our time who navigated us to safer shores, calmer waters, a world that works for all.
On behalf of the Fuller Challenge staff, review team and our generous supporters we thank you for your interest in this project and hope you will enjoy this archive!
-Elizabeth Thompson, Founding Director
- Animal Shelter – Many animals in Kenya suffer from neglect, cruelty and abuse. We run a shelter for animals in need; such as lost animals or victims of cruelty. We provide care and a safe environment until animals are reclaimed or re-homed to carefully vetted new owners.
- Investigations and Rescue – We respond to over 6000 calls per year to give help and advice to owners on pet care.
- Education & Advocacy – We arrange and encourage school visits to the shelter to teach children about the importance of animal welfare.
- Spay/Neuter Campaigns – We feel strongly that overpopulation of cats and dogs should be controlled by sterilization rather than by the killing of healthy animals. The KSPCA conducts spay and neuter campaigns in lower income areas when funds are available.
- Humane Slaughter– KSPCA was instrumental in introducing humane slaughter of livestock to Kenya. After having seen the way animals suffer in abattoirs, we embarked on a humane slaughter programme promoting the use of captive bolt pistols. We import captive bolt pistols and blank ammunition, which are sold to abattoirs at cost price. Our inspectors teach slaughter house staff on proper use of captive bolt pistols and their maintenance.
The National Association of Professional Environmentalists (NAPE) is an action organization committed to sustainable solutions to Uganda,s most challenging environmental and economic growth problems. We monitor government actions, conduct research, provide educational materials, develop science-based strategies, organize affected communities, make common cause with other civil society organisations and international organizations, and engage government officials at all levels.
It is an ambitious undertaking, but as lifelong Ugandans we cannot ignore what is happening to our precious homeland. While we stand ready to work with anyone committed to the public interest, we also will not allow powerful political or special interests to intimidate or silence us. We have done so since our founding in 1997.
We choose our actions carefully to use our skills and resources most effectively, addressing our most urgent challenges first, and expand our impact by involving like-minded organizations and individuals, and communities in need.
BORDA (Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association), founded in 1977, is a civil society expert organization focused on the provision of essential public services.
In 2006, BORDA started operating in Africa through cooperation with TED (Technology for Economic Development), a Lesotho based NGO.
In 2010, the regional BORDA Africa office in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania was established. The regional office coordinates the program activities and facilitates a constantly growing partner network within Africa.
In 2017, BORDA opened its latest office in Mali’s capital Bamako.
Our countries of operation — Lesotho, Mali, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia — are characterised by urban migration and rapid urbanisation. In most cases, the infrastructure is unable to keep up with population growth. Local policy-makers and authorities face an enormous challenge: to provide all citizens with adequate sanitation systems. Those living in low-income unplanned communities are particularly affected.
BORDA Africa is specialised in integrated decentralised sanitation solutions in the fields of wastewater, sludge and solid waste management.
Our Services
- Successful implementation of sanitation solutions
- Strengthening local governments, municipalities, and utilities and advising them on sanitation solutions
- Marketable systems and instruments for integrated sanitation solutions in urban areas
- Supported sanitation solutions play an important role in developing holistic solutions for liveable cities
What do we do?
We provide specialised support services and expertise aimed at adding value and filling gaps in existing capacity. Specialising enables us to keep abreast with emerging international best practice, and to continually build our hands-on skills and practical experience. We are continually striving to introduce new approaches and methodologies that respond to rapidly changing realities, and we are always keen to work with our customers to explore new opportunities and directions. Our four main current areas of expertise are outlined below.
Conservation planning
Planning for conservation – whether for an ecosystem or natural landscape, a national park or a community wildlife area – is a vital yet underutilised tool for achieving the delicate balance between preservation and use of an area’s natural resources. We believe that planning provides the means to build stakeholder consensus around the conservation and development goals of an area, and to overcome sometimes divergent and conflicting needs. We also believe that management plans not only provide a vital framework for the long-term management of a conservation area, but can also be used by stakeholders as a yardstick to measure progress. All our plans are developed using participatory planning techniques which allow stakeholders to contribute fully to their development. They have a simple logical structure which keeps technical language to the minimum to ensure the plans are easy to understand and straightforward to implement.
Programme and project design and evaluation
Good programme and project design is the cornerstone for achieving tangible and lasting conservation impacts. Crucially, this requires developing an understanding of the underlying processes that lead to the unsustainable use of natural resources, and how these processes can be influenced and reversed. This provides the basis for developing a “Theory of Change” of how the programme or project can best achieve tangible outcomes and ultimately realise conservation and sustainable development impacts, by identifying and addressing the necessary drivers of change, including factors such as financial sustainability, institutional capacity, socio-economic conditions, and legal and governance systems.
Impactful project design also relies on a good understanding of what can be practically achieved on the ground, not just in theory on paper. To strengthen our understanding of the factors that enable a realistic project intervention, we have also built up strong skills in the evaluation of a wide range of conservation and development projects, both as evaluation team leaders as well as in specialist capacities.
Wildlife law enforcement and trafficking
Illegal killing and trade in African wildlife, especially of iconic species such as elephants and rhinos, has now reached crisis proportions. Illicit wildlife trafficking is now the fourth largest illegal trade internationally after arms and drugs trafficking, and trafficking in human beings. In recent years, tens of thousands of elephants have been killed every year for their tusks. Faced with this unprecedented level of poaching and organised wildlife crime, many conservationists now fear that species such as elephants and rhinos may disappear in the wild within our lifetime.
CDC is assisting international, national and site-level efforts to address this crisis in several ways. Firstly, we are working with key agencies to develop new project initiatives designed to bolster efforts to combat wildlife crime and to strengthen law enforcement efforts at both site and national levels. Secondly, we are assisting in the identification and promotion of wildlife law enforcement best practices, in order to ensure that interventions are based on the best available knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. And thirdly, we are helping to understand the status of law enforcement and wildlife trafficking prevention measures, so that national governments, conservation organisations and donors know how best to focus their resources to stem the tide in wildlife losses.
Conservation and sustainable development governance
Across Africa, there is a growing disparity between the livelihood needs of a rapidly expanding human population and the conservation needs of Africa’s outstanding but increasingly vulnerable biodiversity and habitats. From our experience over the years, we believe that natural resource governance systems are especially important for reconciling conservation and human development needs. This includes aspects such as natural resource institutions and legal frameworks, resource ownership and use rights and responsibilities, and mechanisms for equitably distributing the costs and benefits of conservation. CDC’s work in this area has focussed on developing an understanding of the socio-economic factors at play in unsustainable resource use and biodiversity loss, as a basis for designing more effective natural resource governance mechanisms. We have also provided practical support for the development of natural resource governance approaches that respond to changing socio-economic and environmental circumstances and increasing human development expectations.
The Grevy’s Zebra Trust (GZT) is the only organisation in the world with a mission focused solely on conserving the Grevy’s zebra. Recognising that the survival of the Grevy’s zebra depends on its ability to coexist with people living in northern Kenya, GZT believes these communities must be at the centre of designing and driving conservation efforts. GZT therefore works in partnership with communities from monitoring Grevy’s zebra through citizen science, to co-designing site-specific and tailored solutions to threats facing the species. In all of its work, GZT seeks ways to use data and information to inform decisions and solution for positive conservation outcomes.
L’Institut Africain de Gestion Urbaine (IAGU) est une ONG internationale créée en 1987 dans le but d’appuyer les municipalités et les autorités des villes de l’Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre à renforcer leurs capacités de planification et de gestion pour améliorer la gouvernance locale, l’environnement et lutter contre la pauvreté.
La mission de l’IAGU est d’accompagner les municipalités de l’Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre à renforcer leurs capacités de planification et de gestion pour
construire des villes inclusives, prospères et durables.
L’IAGU agit par l’entremise de l’appui technique aux collectivités locales, la diffusion des innovations issues de la recherche et des expérimentations locales, la conduite de missions de prestations de service et de renforcement de capacités. Il exécute son mandat sur la base des demandes formulées et des besoins exprimés par les collectivités locales, les organisations communautaires de base, les agences de coopération et autres acteurs de la gestion urbaine. Il assiste à cet effet en permanence les villes africaines dans l’élaboration, la formulation et la mise en œuvre des stratégies et politiques locales de développement durable.
Il procède par la recherche/action participative, la formation, l’information, l’appui technique et la conduites d’études de faisabilité et sectorielles à travers trois (3) pôles : Planification environnementale, Gestion des Déchets et Agriculture urbaine. Son personnel d’encadrement est constitué de chargés de programme et de chargés de projet qui sont des ingénieurs, des environnementalistes, des géographes-aménagistes, des géomaticiens, des socio-économistes et des sociologues.
L’IAGU est devenu une institution de référence internationale dans les domaines de la planification stratégique environnementale, de la gestion des déchets, du développement durable de l’agriculture urbaine et de la promotion des stratégies d’adaptation aux inondations urbaines. Il conduit des programmes et projets de recherche-action, d’appui technique et de formation sur les problématiques de développement durable des collectivités locales en Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre en général, au Sénégal en particulier. Il demeure une organisation professionnelle, performante, reconnue pour son expertise et sa capacité d’innovation dans la formulation des réponses à apporter aux besoins des municipalités et des villes en perpétuelle mutation. Il est accrédité par le Programme des Nations Unies pour l’Environnement (PNUE) et est devenu l’institution d’ancrage de l’UN Habitat en Afrique francophone. L’IAGU travaille aussi en collaboration avec le Centre de Recherches pour le Développement International du Canada (CRDI), le Programme des Nations Unies pour le Développement (PNUD), la Banque Mondiale, Cities Alliance, les agences de coopération bilatérale, les agences gouvernementales, les municipalités ainsi que la plupart des acteurs de la gestion urbaine au Sénégal et dans la sous-région.
We are an environmental justice NGO, established in 1999. We work with smallholder farmers, other civil society organisations and government to ensure that people have control over their food, agricultural processes and resources, and other natural resources, within a biodiverse, agroecological and sustainable system.
As a country and as a world, we face multiple food, energy and climate change crises. Within this context, and with a clear commitment to securing, developing and protecting smallholder farmers’ rights, Biowatch South Africa challenges industrial agriculture and demonstrates agroecology as a means of ensuring biodiversity while attaining food and seed sovereignty and social justice.
- Biowatch supports and works with smallholder farmers, building on their traditional farming knowledge to stengthen agroecology practice and secure farmers’ rights.
- Biowatch contributes to building platforms for civil society to develop joint understanding of and action towards securing biodiversity, food sovereignty and social justice.
- Biowatch challenges and supports government to implement policy and practices that promote, facilitate, and actively encourage agroecology, and that safeguard people and land.
- Biowatch resists corporate appropriation of natural resources. Much of our own work, and our work with others, is focused on changing the discourse around, and the disconnect between, the destructive industrialised food system and the devastating impact this is having on our planet and the life we share it with.
Our head office is in Durban and we have a rural office in Mtubatuba, northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Ajima Farms Energy Division is an exciting, young social enterprise located in Nigeria that seeks to promote energy access in rural off-grid communities. Their Waste-2-Watt project uses biogas to generate electricity. Through targeting energy access to productive activities, Fatima, the founder of Waste-2-Watt, seeks to ‘transform off-grid communities by expanding energy access for socio-economic development.’ We asked Fatima and Sabrina, from the finance advisory team at BfE, for some more insights into the journey that Ajima Farms has taken so far.