Creating Resilience in Bangladesh

Offsetting salinated soil in Banishanta with raised-bed measuring

May East, of Gaia Education, explains how permaculture programmes have created sustainable livelihoods and resilience for communities across Bangladesh

“We live in the world when we love it.” Rabindranath Tagore

Bangladesh is one of the most climate vulnerable countries in the world. The low-lying coastal districts of Khulna and Bagerhat are especially so. Cyclones, tidal surge and extreme flooding have devastated agriculture and food production, increasing mortality rates and destroying the livelihoods of many communities. More than 23% of the families in the region suffer from a shortage of food, with approximately 11% of community members unable to eat two meals a day. In this region over 50% of agricultural land is affected by salinity caused by tidal flooding during the wet season and upward movement of saline ground water during the dry season. With very low organic matter content in the soils, communities struggle to get the yields necessary for their food security and livelihoods.

APPROACH

In 2013, Bangladesh Association of Sustainable Development (BASD), Gaia Education and CIFAL Scotland launched a four year project, Building Capacity and Empowering Communities, funded by the Scottish Government to improve sustainable food security and livelihoods of 42 vulnerable communities of Southern Bangladesh.

This project-based learning is building the capacity of community leaders to manage sustainable village development, horticulture and organic vegetable production, and canal fishery projects. In addition, villagers are learning the skills necessary to build climate change-adapted homes across the region utilising natural building techniques.

From the start, the project adopted a holistic approach to poverty reduction while promoting a paradigm shift in food production and disaster management: from conventional relief-and-response practices to an integrated and regenerative risk reduction culture. Supporting this approach has been the introduction of ecovillage and permaculture design practices, which have made significant progress toward the realisation of regenerative communities embedded in their bioregions.

Australian permaculture designer Max Lindegger has visited the region and in consultation with villagers, resource persons and trainers, adapted the Permaculture Design Course curriculum (PDC) and the Design for Sustainable Settlements Bangladesh curriculum (DSSB) to the regional needs. In this process, 24 community feedback sessions were conducted with 405 community members in Khulna and Bagerhat districts. Furthermore, before translating the workbooks into Bengali, key stakeholders from BASD, Gaia Education, CIFAL Scotland, Stamford University Environmental Science Dept, and Government officers fed into the curriculum design process.

Dalit community member proud to have received her Permaculture Design certificate

The project followed a strict equal opportunities policy and gender balance criteria. Marginalised members of the community, such as sex workers and women from Dalit communities, had the opportunity to participate and lead community projects, becoming proficient with organic vegetable gardening in their limited land and home compounds.

RESULTS

Over three years, 140 community members from 42 communities have participated in a series of Design for Sustainable Settlements, Permaculture, and Climate Change Intervention courses. Courses have been facilitated by West Bengali permaculturist Pradyut Nayek and BASD leader, Boniface Gomes, and regional growers and educators. Villagers acquired practical skills in composting, vermiculture, mulching, herbal pesticides and raised-bed cultivation, resulting in significant improvement in the productivity of the salinated soil. Brinjal (aubergine), sweet pumpkin, gourd, okra, radish, tomato, cabbage, spinach, red and green leaves, chilli, potato, bean, korola, jinge and many other varieties have diversified their diet with direct impact on their health, well-being and self-esteem.

Furthermore, the project strengthened community participation in natural resource management with a total of 27 community-led, small income generation projects.

Women from Khulna smashing different types of leaves for liquid compost

Integrated design with energy, fishery, vegetable and pulses

Nine community organic gardens, six vermiculture and six horticulture sites, plus six canal fisheries have demonstrated the practical application of the lessons learnt in the heart of their communities.

More than 75% of participants involved in small business projects were women who have increased their family income and emerged as leaders in the battle against the effects of climate change. These same women have opened the first organic shop in Banishanta market, where they are selling their surplus produce and enriching their livelihoods.

Community members were convinced that the robustness of plants and the high productivity of the nurseries are a direct result of the natural techniques of vermicomposting, vegetative and liquid composting, and mulching on saline tolerant raised beds. Most of the communities have initiated vermiculture projects with an initial grant of 1,000 worms which has gradually increased to 4,000–5,000, producing between 120–150kgs of vermicompost to be used in their own gardens during the rainy season. The horticulture project of Banishanta, for instance, implemented by four women has produced 3,000 young plants of mango, coconut, lemon, jackfruit, guava, sobeda, kul, amloki, mehegni and arjun. The Horticulture Project at South Kainmari in Mongla has gone further towards a wider diversification with 500 lemons, 40 coconuts, 300 mangos, 100 apple kuls, 300 jackfruits, 500 guavas, 200 java plums, 200 neem, 300 mahogany, 700 chombol, 250 baels, and 300 shirish.

With the learning taking place in their gardens and compounds through hands-on practical exposure, participating villagers have gradually assumed the role of educators to the wider community in spreading the techniques and sharing the results of their productive yields. Inspired by these trained change agents, both directly and indirectly, women and men of different ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds are now engaged in similar horticultural and small income generation projects achieving remarkable success in terms of increased food production, household income and community vitality.

National media reports that Bangladesh has entered a rising phase as the crisis over infrastructure is ending and progress is being made in the socio-economic field. For too long Bangladesh lived from hand to mouth while the Tiger economies of Asia powered ahead with high growth development strategies. With its people struggling for survival there was no scope then for thinking about sustainable development. Now there is a real opportunity for Bangladesh to provide a model of sufficiency economy for sustainability, a model that accepts moderation in development and challenges greed-based lifestyles. It is a model that promotes ecosystems-based solutions for new food systems with tangible results in wellbeing, resilience and the prosperity of local communities.

May East is the Chief Executive of Gaia Education and the visionary behind the organisation’s Project-Based Learning activities.

This article was originally published by Permaculture Magazine.

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