Trust for Community Outreach and Education (TCOE)

In collaboration with our sisters from Rural Women's Assembly (RWA) embarking on a seed multiplication journey to reproduce endemic seeds critical to the livelihoods of women in the region

Yesterday was really exciting, met with livestock producers to discuss the role of Livestock in Agroecology and it's impacts in terms of Climamate change, Sustainable rural breeding systems and the value of technology to provide traceability in small scale systems.

TCOE and Rural Women’s Assembly Announce Exhibition: Guardians of Seed, Land, and Life Cape Town, South Africa – The Trust for Community Outreach and Education (TCOE) and the Rural Women’s Assembly are excited to announce the opening of the exhibition “Guardians of Seed, Land, and Life” at the historic Castle of Good Hope. The exhibition will kick off on November 8, 2024, and will be on display until November 16, 2024. This impactful exhibition highlights the vital role of women as seed guardians, showcasing their significant contributions to sustainable agroecology and biodiversity in Southern Africa. Through powerful storytelling, music and captivating visuals, visitors will explore the rich heritage of indigenous seeds and the importance of traditional farming practices. It documents their invaluable contribution to food and seed sovereignty and the struggle to ensure the recognition of women small-scale farmers, peasants and producers in policy frameworks that protect the rights to seed, land and food. The exhibition gives a concrete face to the seed guardian, where she comes from and how she sustains life, her family, her community and the planet. It seeks to depict not a static context nor a one-dimensional view, challenging the usual portrayal of a rural woman as helpless and poverty-stricken. The pride of the seed guardian is evident when she tells her story of how protecting the local seeds has enabled her to send her children to school, build her home and become economically self-reliant. To RSVP, please fill out this form: https://lnkd.in/dx2Vav5y 🌺 🌻 🌱 For more information: Please contact Khunji - khunji@tcoe.org.za 

Convening of actors/role players discussing Farmer Research Networks. McKnight Foundation University of Eldoret Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) PELUM Kenya Association

📣 Pop by at the Mowbray Market and show support for local producers, artisans, growers and farmers who practice ALTERNATIVES and work to keep local food systems in place.

📢 Pop by the Mowbray Market on Saturday 4 May to support and show solidarity with women smallholder farmers, independent farmers, artisans and the seed savers who work so hard to keep our local food systems alive. #agroecology #localislekker #capetown #foodsovereignty #solidarityeconomy #savpoc

📢 Pop by the Mowbray Market on Saturday 4 May to support and show solidarity with women smallholder farmers, independent farmers, artisans and the seed savers who work so hard to keep our local food systems alive. #agroecology #localislekker #capetown #foodsovereignty #solidarityeconomy

🔔 Mawubuye ROADSHOW I We Speak for Ourselves! Today, TCOE will be joining farmers based in the Theewaterskloof Municipality and the Overberg District Municipality, and who are members of the Mawubuye Land Rights Movement and the Inyanda National Land Movement, to deliberate about the future of agriculture for smallholder producers. Discussions will also include confronting the challenges with commonage land. Given climate change and the water crisis, it is essential that smallholder farmers deliberate on local adaptation and mitigations strategies as a collective. #agroecology #smallholderfarmers #climatechange

MUST READ I "The Trust for Community Outreach and Education (TCOE) and the RWA have long been calling for the government to support a “one woman, one hectare” programme to help rural women, who are overwhelmingly at the forefront of hunger... Daily Maverick first met Sheriff Ramoabi in October last year. This month we saw her at work — a fierce young woman who brings to mind the cliché that “dynamite comes in small packages” — short and lean, she is focused, mindful, strategic and busy. Ramoabi is most often found working in a guerrilla garden in Zolani near Robertson. The garden is a few years old and Ramoabi says they have been unable to find the owner to get a lease or permission to farm there. They grow cabbage, maize, a variety of herbs and a few fruit trees. Elsie Sauls is a seed saver — or seed guardian — an integral part of maintaining food systems in especially poor, rural communities. She not only looks after seeds and makes them available for her community, she is also a food producer and holder of local knowledge. The 63-year-old has been a member of the Southern Africa Rural Women's Assembly network of seed savers for more than a decade. Besides teaching people how to start and manage small gardens, she hands out seeds which she has harvested and saved." To read the full article and to find out more about these incredible women, please click on this link: https://lnkd.in/djsf_xfb

📢 Pop by the Mowbray Market on Saturday 6 April to support and show solidarity with women smallholder farmers, independent farmers, artisans and the seed savers who work so hard to keep our local food systems alive. #agroecology #localislekker #capetown #foodsovereignty #solidarityeconomy