The Involvement of the Australian Conservation Foundation

Some History

The ACF program, jointly with ICIODI, established the first NGO permaculture and urban agriculture (pc/UA) team in Havana, taking over the moniker of the "Green Team" (started in 1994). Training courses were run and 'Se Puede' magazine was published, with financial and technical support from Australians, and a good subsidy from AusAID.

A year later, the Cuban team valiantly continued work in the vacuum left when their employer ICIODI was dissolved. Another year later, the Cuban team came under the control of la Fundacion de Antonio Nuñéz Jiménez por la Naturaleza y el Hombre (FANJNH or FNH). At that stage, the ACF was the only supporter (funding, training, coaxing, etc) of the permaculture and urban agriculture program of the Fundacion.

The most important task of the ACF program was always community and organisational "capacity building", with the aim of leaving the communities and organisations self-reliant, ie. not dependent on foreign aid or so-called "experts". Thus, for example, we were very reluctant to build demonstration sites or training centres, as this would detract from the energy and spontaneity and "ownership" of initiatives at the true grass roots. We constantly impressed upon out Cuban organisational counterparts that the best local people should not be co-opted into "projects", but rather instead, that they be supported and encouraged in what they themselves had initiated.

Occasionally, a foreigner would get overly enthusiastic, and themselves lead the building of a garden or pond or compost scheme or demo site. Every single one of these cases resulted in a legacy object that was eventually abandoned some time after the foreigner had left Cuba.

Many people, over a number of years, were involved in getting the Metropolitan Park (PMH) project(s) going (and all the other projects). It is worth mentioning Eugenio Gras, who revised and translated-to-English some of the first versions of PMH project documents.

And many Australians have been involved in this movement; for years Wayne Wadsworth was the Aussie side of the team initiating many of the projects, providing life-changing inspirational energy, and long before the ACF was involved in the Green Team; Pamela Morgan has been working as one of the Cuban team in Havana since 1997 doing "capacity building" and project management and permaculture of the highest quality. Her humility and diplomacy (and success) is attested to by the fact that her name is never mentioned in the stories like those above; always a Cuban is empowered to have "ownership" of a project, no matter how much of the money or guidance or training came from foreign aid.

The truth is that almost all of the ideas and drive and technical expertise has always come from Cubans; with the role of foreign aid generally being as an 'enabler' - the strength of Cuban culture and society wouldn't allow it to be any other way!

The project with the Botanists Association of Cuba (ANAB*) will

• establish a Centre for Domestic Fruit Growing and Preserving,
• improve an existing fruit and nut tree nursery,
• plant 16 hectares tree stock as components of a new city-wide community education program,and
• establish a community participation and reforestation model in one neighbourhood of Havana.

Both of these project are due to be completed later in 2001.
Information about previous ACF projects in Cuba

Donations to the ACF projects can be sent to:
ACF Cuba Appeal
340 Gore St
Fitzroy
VIC 3065
Australia