I am working with Rick Coleman from Southern Cross Permaculture Institute in Rwanda, we are undertaking a food security project and teaching a full 2 week PDC to local agronomists, members of agricultural cooperatives and local staff of ADRA Rwanda an NGO that is active in the Eastern Province of the Country.

Below is a copy of the overview of week one written by Rick:

Status update by Southern Cross Permaculture Institute.

Been writing from my personal facebook and thought I better send something from here. Working in Rwanda, SCPI has been set the task of moving 38000 people towards food water and income security.

The job has been made easier by mostly government friendly and proactive policies on sustainability. ADRA,the NGO contracting us has already made deep inroads towards this goal.

Key aspects to deal with are an inconsistent rainfall due to global warming. (techniques to adress this are new to a people that always had reliable seasons).

Food diversity is strong but quality is inconsistent. Partly due to rainfall,partly skills and knowledge.Marketing produce relates back to an individual villagers lack of power at the marketplace.

ADRA has already assisted in the formation of cooperatives so this gives us a mechanism to work with. Small community banks are also common. Anyway that's the big pattern. We'll try to get photos but restricted by bandwith.