Australian Conservation Foundation
August 22, 1996
By Adam Tiller, Environment and Development Officer

• Project name: Food Gardener Education in Urban Havana, Cuba, 1995
• AusAID CDC reference: 95/02/0026
• Australian NGO: Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF)
• Partner agency: Fundación de la Naturaleza y el Hombre (FNH)
• Implementing agency: 'Proyecto de Permacultura' (formerly the GOFP) jointly managed by the ACF and the FNH.
• Date commenced: March 1995 Date completed: March 1996
• Sector of activity: Urban Community Education and Training in Agriculture, Environment and Food Security.
• Environmental assessment: not undertaken - ecological sustainability is underlying philosophy and ultimate objective.

Project objectives, as per project design:

• Increased numbers of productive urban food gardens.
• Increased participation in food gardening, target 25,000 new gardeners.

Original project outcomes, as per project design:

• Model food gardens (20) with seedling nurseries
• Community educators (86) to promote food gardening
• Community food gardener training reaching 8,000-15,000 people
• Community Seed Banks and Seed Saver Network
• Magazine on food gardening, Se Puede, 6 issues, 10,000 copies per issue.
• Library, information service, planting calendars.

Project outcomes modified during the course of the project:

• Seedling nurseries were not established. Instead, the Community Seed Bank project was instigated. (Lack of materials for nurseries meant that seed saving was a more appropriate method of plant propagation) Apart from the seedling nurseries, all other project objectives were fulfilled and outcomes achieved or exceeded:
• 109 instead of 86 community educators were trained (due to unanticipated enthusiasm from third parties).
• As a result, the project reached 30,000 people.
• The project increased the focus on improving the quality rather than the number of new food gardens. (Many more people than anticipated were beginning new gardens, but were giving up due to poor results).
• Ninety percent of food gardens were classed as private individual or shared gardens, rather than communal or community gardens. (These numbers are determined by the people, beyond the influence of the project).

Additional objectives added to the project implementation plan during the course of the project:

• Increased knowledge and use of medicinal plants. (Unanticipated agency expertise and community demand raised what had been a minor objective to a major objective, easily integrated, being part of 'permaculture').
• Preservation of biodiversity of traditional plant varieties. (What had been an underlying long term objective of the ongoing program in Cuba became a major objective of this project when it became clear the other objectives would be fulfilled ahead of schedule, and that the target community was sufficiently sophisticated to understand how preservation of biodiversity improves food security and ecological sustainability).

Additional outcomes achieved by the project:

• The project team ran the first Permaculture Design Certificate course in Cuba. (The level of enthusiasm for 'permaculture' as such had not been anticipated in the project design. The partners demanded the PDC).
• Training & publishing on medicinal plants integrated into all project outcomes (as per additional objective)
• Preservation of biodiversity of traditional plant varieties integrated into all project outcomes.
• Design and instigation of Community Seed Bank project (as an outcome of the 'biodiversity' objective).

Note: Refer to the full Final Report for further details. Successes & difficulties experienced during the project, how they affected the implementation of the project:

Successes:

• the mainstreaming of project objectives in major Cuban institutions, as a result of individuals in senior positionsin the FMC (Federation of Cuban Women) and the Ministry of Agriculture taking on the project objectives. As a result, the project target outcomes were achieved ahead of schedule, under budget.
• the high participation of women (more than 50% overall). As a result, it is more likely that project benefits will reach children and aged people traditionally cared for by women (as per WID raison d'être).
• participatory teaching methods were effective and enthusiastically embraced, ensuring that courses provide for participant needs.

Difficulties:

• follow-up of community trainers and model garden owners proved difficult and inadequate, due to transport difficulties, large geographical spread of project sites, and shortage of staff with expertise in low-input horticulture skills. The quality of the model gardens was reduced. Some community trainers, without sufficient ongoing support, lacked confidence, delaying some community training.
• monitoring of outcomes (eg. number of gardens, demography of gardeners, yield volumes, variety and calendar diversity) was not part of the project design, as it was assumed adequate figures would be available from other institutions. But the available figures are crude, and whilst this did not affect the implementation of the project, these figures are inadequate for use in planning future projects.
• the general instability of Cuba caused by the 'special period', the decaying infrastructure, the U.S. embargo, and the complete restructuring of Cuba's agricultural and industrial production, and imports and exports, meant that the management of the project had to be quite dynamic in the face of such change, and Australian field staff had to refer back to Australia frequently, consuming time and resulting in higher fax and telephone expenses.
• inadequate Spanish language skills of one of the Australian technical field staff impeded their effectiveness.
• insufficient number of books, especially in Spanish, in the library, given the unanticipated high demand.

Lessons for the future learned from the project, including issues relating to the environment and women in development (WID), and how these affected the implementation of the project:

• Basic WID methodology really is effective.
• Field staff (local and foreign) who are women are required to initiate WID components of the project.
• Long term community and institutional links greatly benefit the project, and without them, given the present situation of rapid change in Cuba, the project would be almost impotent.
• Good general education levels in the population greatly benefit the project:
• Very high literacy levels mean project can easily reach all sectors of society through publications.
• Broad science education means environmental concepts are easily learned.
• Government with participatory philosophy assists the project, as general project objectives are aligned with government programs. (primary objectives target needs, aiming reach those most in need).
• The project cannot rely on individuals, particularly given the instability in Cuba, and must allow for this.
• It is difficult to change cultural habits. If such a need is established, local people must manage this process, but in consultation with the foreign agency staff, who can assist with an outsider's perspective.
• Foreign field staff and institutions should not be too strict in maintaining a hands-off approach in the face of requests for assistance and intervention by local staff and community. The project was most effective when demands for assistance from the field staff coincided with what the field staff wanted to offer.
• For the geographical scope of the project to include all of a large city like Havana, then either it must be well justified and extra resources be provided to deal with such a great area, or the scope must be reduced.

The project is sustainable in terms of the issues in the ANCP Manual of Procedures (MOP) Section 9.5(e)

A Financial Statement of Income and Expenditure for the project is attached.

Declaration: "I declare that to the best of my knowledge the funds allocated to the project referred to in this form were used in accordance with the international development assistance criteria set out in the AusAID/NGO Cooperation Program Manual of Procedures and any variations to the proposal as subsequently advised to AusAID in writing".

Signature Date:

Adam Tiller
Environment and Development Officer
Australian Conservation Foundation
From: www.peg.apc.org/~adamt/cuba/outlin95.htm
Email Adam Tiller at adamt@peg.apc.org for most recent Microsoft Word version of this document.