HerStory Podcast Series
HerStory Podcast Series
Episode 33: Meet YCI’s HerStart partner, Practical Permaculture Institute of Zanzibar (PPIZ)
In this episode, Elinam Akogo, HerStart Social Entrepreneurship Fellow, speaks with Agness Bweye from the Practical Permaculture Institute of Zanzibar (PPIZ), one of YCI’s HerStart partners in Tanzania.
Agness shares how PPIZ empowers women and youth through permaculture education and sustainable livelihood initiatives. She explains the core ethics of permaculture—earth care, people care and fair share—and how these principles are applied to address the intertwined challenges of climate change, poverty and environmental degradation on the island. Agness also highlights the impact of YCI's HerStart program, which provides support through volunteer HerStart Fellows, capacity building and funding.
Welcome to Youth Challenge International's Hair Start Hair Story podcast series, youth Challenge International, OYCI launched the Hair Start Innovate the Future program in 2020. As part of our initiative to advance women's equality globally, our goal is to provide 10,000 women in Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda with the resources and supports they need to successfully launch and grow their social businesses. We are sharing real stories of young women who are leading change in their communities. Y C's , hair Start Innovate. The Future program is funded in , passed by the government of Canada to progress Canada's feminist international assistance policy. Learn more@y.org or hair start.org .
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to a new podcast episode of the Her Stories series. My name is Iena Kuru and I'm a social entrepreneurship and communications fellow with Y C's her start program here in Zanzibar, Tanzania. Today we have the chance to have a guest from one of y CI's local partners in Tanzania, sharing stories and insight on how her organization is empowering women and youth in local Zanzibar communities. Joining us today is Agnes Wei , the program's manager of the Practical Permaculture Institute of Zanzibar, or PPIZ, an organization dedicated to teaching and sharing permaculture knowledge with communities all around Zanzibar, educating the youth, women and others. Welcome Agnes.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Ellie <laugh> ,
Speaker 2:Can you please introduce yourself to the listeners?
Speaker 3:Uh , my name is Agnes <inaudible> and I work with the Practical Permaculture Institute as the programs manager, I manage the programs department, which has different , uh, projects that are working in the Zanzibar communities.
Speaker 2:Can you tell us what , uh, permaculture means and how does PPIZ fit into this global movement?
Speaker 3:PPI permaculture is, can, can easily be defined as sustainable livelihood and , uh, regenerative designing. And it is a global movement that started so long ago in , in the 1970s. It is nothing new because it is the ways that people have been living for so many years in the back before , uh, the development of technology and innovations , uh, that are good in some way, but also destructive in some other ways. So the only thing that permaculture is trying is to combine the development that we have of technology with, with the ancient wisdom that has been existing for ages in communities all over the world because people had a lot of , uh, knowledge that is very sustainable. But now I think we are forgetting some components of life, and that is why we are becoming more destructive. So Permaculture has, has three ethics, which can be defined as a core of permaculture . Uh , we have healthcare people care and fair share . And when you come to look at these three ethics, they touch , uh, the community life , um, as in people care , and then the environment and the climate in the earth care . And then we have the economy, which is very important in , uh, fair share. So these three pillars have to align because people depends on nature. They also depends on the economy because they're doing activities to sustain their livelihood.
Speaker 2:Can you talk about your background and how did the purpose of PPIZ align with your career?
Speaker 3:Okay. So I studied mass communication and , uh, within, when while I was studying, I , I lost , uh, interest of working with , uh, the media or in the communications. And then I started working with the community development projects a lot. Um, I engaged myself at the university. I engaged myself in the gender club when we were doing a lot , um, raising awareness about gender issues at the campus , uh, where I was studying. And through that I got so much into the community works and development , uh, works, which was , uh, something that I really liked more than what I studied about. And then I started engaging with other non-government organizations doing community projects. So for me, because I was doing service, I , um, that was really what I really liked. I got in , uh, involved so much into social justice , uh, movements, and that for me defined what I really wanted. And when I came here, the first project I worked with was a project that was empowering young people, both men and women. It was , uh, 50% women, 50% men, and they were coming from those kind of background. They didn't have high education, they didn't have a lot of opportunities. And I , I really fell in love with my job. And since then I've been working with the Practical Cher Institute now for six years because I really think , um, we are doing something great.
Speaker 2:What are some of the biggest challenges faced by the communities that you work with? Uh , especially in terms of climate issues, but also environmental preservation?
Speaker 3:The communities we are working with are facing a lot of challenges, especially because of climate change. Uh, we know we are , we are living in a small island and , uh, land is very limited and we are surrounded by the ocean. So anything that is affecting , uh, the island is affecting people directly. Our communities are highly depending on the ocean. Uh , we are working with Fisher and communities a lot. And when the , uh, environmental issues like ocean pollution and land pollution is affecting them highly because it is affecting their livelihood directly. So if the communities were depending on the ocean , uh, let's say fisheries, and then they are no longer , uh, the resources are no longer abandoned, they cannot get resources easily because of overconsumption, now they are going to destroy the , the forests that are surrounding them. They're cutting them down so that they can sell firewood or they can get a source of energy and they're creating even a larger problem again. So all the problems are intertwined because the environment, when it is affected, then it is affecting people's livelihood. And when they are livelihood is affected, they're going to even , um, over deplete their natural resources. The three ethics people are facing difficulties , uh, in the economy. Um, things such as poverty, it's affecting people's livelihood. And when they are not well, they cannot even be well physically, mentally , um, they health are affected. Their all overall , uh, community welfare is affected. And also the environment is even affected more because now they're going to over exploit so that they can sustain the other things like the economy and their own social welfare. So we are trying to tackle that by talking about permaculture . And then we are introducing the alternative sources of income. For example, we go to the communities that are depending highly on the forest , uh, that is starting down the trees to get firewood and charcoal. So these people, if you don't give them solutions, they will continue cutting down the trees because that is how they're sustaining their livelihood. But when you go there and then you tell them, have you thought of , um, having a home garden that will solve your problems of buying food because you are going to grow your own food. And , uh, afterwards you are going to have, if you have a surplus you can sell and then you are earning income and uh , maybe you can make compost manu and sell it, and then you have an alternative. You don't have to depend on the forest because this is protecting you. Um , and it is if you preserve it also for the next generations, they're going to have resources that are there present for them. So those are the problems that we are dealing with.
Speaker 2:How has the Her Start program supported
Speaker 3:PPIA in tackling some of their challenges? So the HAS START program came during the time, which was very, very tough for the institute. Uh, it was during covid and the world was going crazy, you know, you didn't have a lot of funds because all the funds went to , um, the emergency , uh, emergent crisis that was there. And then Hasta started , uh, to support the young women , um, who have ideas to tackle their social challenges using , uh, entrepreneurship. So the START program has first helped a lot PPI Z on the capacity development because we received a lot of trainings on how we can deliver trainings to the communities, how to , um, design programs, how to do monitoring and evaluation, which was very, very valuable because we lost so much as bpi and it was only the two, two of us by then because we lost all workers , uh, during covid , people resigned. Um, and we didn't have the , the , the capacity. So the capacity building was very, very helpful. And even when we added some new members, hasta was there to help us train them , uh, to become the best in, in the work. So in the area of capacity building , uh, that, that is how it has been helping a lot. But for the community, the HAS START Project , um, has two things. First, the , the Hast , which is a mother project. So the young people that are going, the young women that are going through the Her Start program, after they complete the incubation phase of the project, they see social venture, mm-Hmm <affirmative> , they receive a catalyst fund. You don't get a lot of projects that is giving catalyst fund for young women to establish their businesses, which is very, very crucial because sometimes people have very, very good ideas, but because they like , uh, they lack the , uh, funds to , um, realize their ideas and implement whatever they want to do, it becomes very difficult and a challenge for them. So the HAS START program is very supportive of the young women because it gives them the skills, the knowledge , um, enough training to establish your business. And if your idea is good and scalable, they're supporting even the establishment of the idea and the growth of it. So the funding part, I will say it's a very, very important because it compliments the skills. Um, and if someone is very empowered already with knowledge and then they get the Catalyst Fund, there is nothing to stop them to block their ways. And another thing which is a very, very , uh, great component of Hasta is the partner innovation fund, which you get every year in different thematic areas. I mentioned earlier that the first year we did , uh, climate change. Uh, this year we are doing gender. You get a chance to come up with the idea that is focusing on this thematic area. And for this year we are doing , uh, a project on gender dealing with young mothers and , uh, the women who were married young at the age under 18. And , uh, the project is called Believe in New Tomorrow Initiative. Uh , we call it ti ti Swahili means a young lady. Mm . So it's a perfect , um, uh, reflection of what we are doing. A young lady who got pregnant and she was married, forced to , to get married at a very young age. She doesn't have skills. She has a lot of other issues. And then these , uh, young women are , are receiving training , uh, that is, that means skills development. And then they're getting a psychosocial support because a lot of them have been traumatized by their experience and they have very, very difficult issues they're dealing with. We've had women who are even suicidal and they've attempted to take their own lives. So THROUGH HAS Start program, they're receiving , um, therapy sessions and they are working with the, the person who is taking them through their journey. And they've been testifying saying that now we've seen New Hope. They lost all the hope. They couldn't see a better tomorrow anymore because of their experience. But through the Partner Innovation Fund, they're getting this help. And now we are happy that a lot of people have heard of what we are doing. They really, really, they are really willing to support, but always initiated by Hasta through the Partner Innovation Fund. So it gives us a chance to try our own wild ideas to support our community, because most of the time you get funds that are very strict. You have to do this and this, but the PIF it doesn't give you that restriction of thinking. You have to come up with your own idea. It only has to align with thematic area. And , um, we've been so happy because it is supporting our community. If the women are not well psychologically, emotionally, and even physically, they cannot , uh, support the development of their communities. So we are so happy for that, because this is giving our communities any new hope through the women that have been traumatized a lot, but now they find a new hope through the BTI project.
Speaker 2:Can you tell us about the future goals , um, of the organization? What's next for the next year or even for the next five years? What is the vision?
Speaker 3:The , the major, major vision is to achieve the , the goal of a hundred percent organic zanzibar, which is a very huge and scary goal, but we are going to go for it. But for the next five years, we are , we want to focus on supporting, improving the livelihood of our communities, because sometimes it is poverty that is causing people to des destroy the environment, to over exploit the resources and , uh, doing the things which are not so good for the environment and even for their communities. So we want to focus on , um, livelihood improvement so that people can have decent , uh, income and decent lives. And that is when, when even you are giving the knowledge of preservation, it'll be well , uh, received in the community because people have taken care already of the basic needs For someone who doesn't, who can't even afford the basics, need basic needs of life, it's very difficult for you go there and tell them about protection of the environment or there is climate change in this. So we want to focus on the livelihood and also the gender aspect. Um, I know <laugh> , we've been so scared of it because we think it is something which is very difficult challenge, but I'm so glad because the women of PPI Z have been pushing a lot for the gender projects. They wanted actively, yes , me, me included, and my fellow <laugh> women, female staff. We are like, yo , we need to do projects in gender codes . You cannot talk about the environment and forget the , uh, welfare of the community. So we really want to focus also on , uh, on the women empowerment, especially on the island, because it is something that is not , um, it is spoken, but it's, you know, we , we don't dig deeper as to how deep the problem is. Yeah . And what are the challenges that are facing the , the , the women of the island. Thank you very much, Agnes. Welcome . Thank you for your time. Thank you, <laugh> .
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining us today and learning about how you challenge International has partnered with young women to advance gender equality globally and create a social entrepreneurship ecosystem with a positive impact for all. If you enjoy this hairstyle, innovate the Future podcast episode. Please subscribe and share our episodes on social media. A special thanks to the fellows that volunteered their time in Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda, who help create these episodes, Y C's , hair Start Innovate the future and fellowship programs are funded through the government of Canada's volunteer corporation program, providing skilled Canadians opportunities to volunteer with global partners and advanced Canada's feminist international assistance policy. Join us and thousands of young people around the globe creating a better future together. Learn more@yce.org or hair.org .
