Obstacles to sustainable sevelopmentand ecovillage excellence
A strategy of empowing all of us together
The gold standard definition of sustainable development is “development which:
1)
meets the needs of the present, without
2)
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." (Brundtland Commission 1987).
Like all NGOs, we preach village empowerment. We differ in defining ourselves as a part of the "we" being empowered. "We" includes ministry personnel, international and Senegalese staff, faculty, students, researchers and villagers - we all participate in the ecovillages in the system we seek to empower.
These goals are impossible to meet in the short term in most Senegalese ecovillages:
First,
because the basic needs of Senegalese ecovillagers are grossly undermet, by human rights standards and the means to change this are not yet available..
GENSEN has four main types of village development programs
SEM microcredit (150 projects -rising)
Sponsored projects (one currently with GENSEN headquarters office)
and many through member NGOs and ecovillages
Training of trainers and replication in home villages (ecological and other technologies, project design, etc.
Academic courses and internships bringing students, Peace Corps and other volunteers into the villages
Second, because the main resources that currently meet villagers needs for food and income, in the short term, include agricultural and manufacturing inputs unfriendly to the environment.
Third, because powerful global marketing sells products and materials that are environmentally less sustainable than those used in previous village life.
