Village Earth
Encyclopedia
Village Earth: The Consortium for Sustainable Village-Based Development (CSVBD) DBA: Village Earth is a publicly supported 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-governmental organization
(NGO) based in Fort Collins, Colorado
. The organization works for the empowerment of rural and indigenous communities around the world with active projects with the Oglala Lakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
in South Dakota, the Shipibo-Konibo of the Amazon
region of Peru, India, Cambodia, and Guatemala. Village Earth is associated with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)http://www.colostate.edu/Orgs/IISD/ at Colorado State University
. Village Earth is also the publisher for the Appropriate Technology Library http://www.villageearth.org/Publications/ATLibrary/ATLDVD.html and The Appropriate Technology Sourcebook http://www.villageearth.org/pages/Appropriate_Technology/ATSourcebook/, a low-cost rural-development resource initiated by Volunteers in Asia in 1975 but transferred to Village Earth in 1995.
grew from the reformist tradition of development which emerged in the 1970s as a reaction to liberal and neoliberal development policies which were blamed for increasing income gap and as well as increasing human migration from rural to urban areas around the globe. . To address this situation, reformist approaches attempt to achieve greater equity, sustainability, and local self-reliance through an integrated multi-sector approach emphasizing the use of "appropriate technology
" the creation of local participatory institutions .
While the roots of the Village Earth approach can be traced to reformist traditions of development, it combined many practices used in community development programs around the world in a new way. In particular these include:
s” or GSOs. According to Carroll(1992): "A GSO is a civic development entity that provides services allied support to local groups of disadvantaged rural and urban households and individuals. In its capacity as an intermediate institution, a GSO forges links between beneficiaries and the often remote levels of government, donor and financial institutions. It may also provide services indirectly to other organizations that support the poor or perform coordinating or networking functions. It may also provide services indirectly to other organizations that support or perform coordinating or networking functions.”
Village Earth advances its mission through the following means:
, (deceased Jan. 11, 2009) then president, Miriam Shinn, and Edwin F. Shinn. The purpose of the conference was to find ways to cause sustainable-village-based development (SVBD) to occur in Third-World villages to help meet the needs of the world's rural poor.
Village Earth (originally called the Consortium for Sustainable Development or CSVBD) was born at a conference on Sustainable Village-Based Development held from 27-October 1st, 1993 at Colorado State University. It was organized by Maurice L. Albertson
, (deceased Jan. 11, 2009) then president, Miriam Shinn, and Edwin F. Shinn and attended by approximately 250 delegates from 40 different countries. The purpose of the conference was to find ways to cause sustainable-village-based development (SVBD) to occur in Third-World villages to help meet the needs of the world's rural poor. The majority of those in attendance were from developing nations, and most of those individuals represented non-governmental organizations working in very grassroots and participatory projects around the world. More than 200 papers were submitted and formed five volumes of Proceedings. By the end of the conference it was agreed that the organizers should form a consortium made up of the participants. The purpose would be to launch several pilot projects, establish a newsletter to be sent to all conference participants and to find ways to make the proceedings generally available to attendees and the interested public. CSVBD was to serve as a sort of information hub for the different chapters, provide training in the methods discussed at the conference, provide monitoring and evaluation services and coordinate demonstration projects on the ground. According to Ed Shinn, “Perhaps one of the most important functions of [Village Earth] is to insure that the local NGO build teams with expertise in key development sectors that can interact with both the public and private sectors to secure needed resources."
The conference, as well as the roots of the Village Earth approach, were heavily influenced by Agenda 21 produced at the United Nations Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro on June 14, 1992. In particular, its recognition that poverty is not the problem, rather, lack of access to resources is the primary obstacle to building a better life for the majority of the world's poor. As such, the Village Earth Approach was designed to transform the role of the NGO from being a service provider (health, irrigation, education, etc.) to functioning more as an “intermediary,” working to mobilize village leadership and planning and from that, develop linkages to resources institutions such as governments, single sector NGO's, universities and the private sector. In development circles, an NGO that works in this capacity is referred to an “Intermediate” NGO.
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
(NGO) based in Fort Collins, Colorado
Fort Collins, Colorado
Fort Collins is a Home Rule Municipality situated on the Cache La Poudre River along the Colorado Front Range, and is the county seat and most populous city of Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Fort Collins is located north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. With a 2010 census...
. The organization works for the empowerment of rural and indigenous communities around the world with active projects with the Oglala Lakota on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is an Oglala Sioux Native American reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Great Sioux Reservation, Pine Ridge was established in 1889 in the southwest corner of South Dakota on the Nebraska border...
in South Dakota, the Shipibo-Konibo of the Amazon
Amazon Basin
The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela...
region of Peru, India, Cambodia, and Guatemala. Village Earth is associated with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)http://www.colostate.edu/Orgs/IISD/ at Colorado State University
Colorado State University
Colorado State University is a public research university located in Fort Collins, Colorado. The university is the state's land grant university, and the flagship university of the Colorado State University System.The enrollment is approximately 29,932 students, including resident and...
. Village Earth is also the publisher for the Appropriate Technology Library http://www.villageearth.org/Publications/ATLibrary/ATLDVD.html and The Appropriate Technology Sourcebook http://www.villageearth.org/pages/Appropriate_Technology/ATSourcebook/, a low-cost rural-development resource initiated by Volunteers in Asia in 1975 but transferred to Village Earth in 1995.
Objectives
The roots of Village Earth's approach to community developmentCommunity development
Community development is a broad term applied to the practices and academic disciplines of civic leaders, activists, involved citizens and professionals to improve various aspects of local communities....
grew from the reformist tradition of development which emerged in the 1970s as a reaction to liberal and neoliberal development policies which were blamed for increasing income gap and as well as increasing human migration from rural to urban areas around the globe. . To address this situation, reformist approaches attempt to achieve greater equity, sustainability, and local self-reliance through an integrated multi-sector approach emphasizing the use of "appropriate technology
Appropriate technology
Appropriate technology is an ideological movement originally articulated as "intermediate technology" by the economist Dr...
" the creation of local participatory institutions .
While the roots of the Village Earth approach can be traced to reformist traditions of development, it combined many practices used in community development programs around the world in a new way. In particular these include:
- A sustainable livelihoods approach which recognizes the multi-layered and interrelated survival strategies of rural families and communities and seeks to build on assets and eliminate underlying constraints through an ongoing process of participatory reflection and action.
- The clustering and networking of local institutions to promote regional self-reliance without compromising local autonomy.
- The development of multi-sector service centers to link local institutions to local, regional, and global resources.
- The creation of mutual agreements and clarification of roles between internal and external activators (locals and outside community workers).
Philosophy
Village Earth differs from many traditional development NGOs in the following ways:- At the heart of the Village Earth approach is the recognition that lack of access to resources, such as land, clean water and credit, is the fundamental issue faced by the majority of the world's poor. Ending global poverty is not as simple as just increasing people's income. Rather, to be sustainable, poverty alleviation programs must work to increase the fundamental rights of poor communities to access resources while building long-enduring and equitable institutions for their protection and management.
- Influenced by the ideas and methods of Paulo FreirePaulo FreirePaulo Reglus Neves Freire was a Brazilian educator and influential theorist of critical pedagogy.-Biography:...
, Village Earth engages in a long-term dialog with communities to reveal and transform the underlying, and often inter-generational, causes of poverty. This approach differs from the approach used by many NGOs, which often define the problem, draft the proposal, and project a timeline prior to their engagement with communities . - Rather than focusing on problems impacting communities, Village Earth starts with a community's long-term vision for the future. According to the organization, if communities focus only on "fixing" problems, they may not actually be transforming the underlying structural contradictions causing their problems. By first clarifying a long-term and shared vision for the future, communities are free to imagine an entirely different future and begin working to create it http://villageearth.org/VE_BLOG/2007/12/village-earth-efficiency-indicators.html. This principle goes against theories of development based on modernizationModernizationIn the social sciences, modernization or modernisation refers to a model of an evolutionary transition from a 'pre-modern' or 'traditional' to a 'modern' society. The teleology of modernization is described in social evolutionism theories, existing as a template that has been generally followed by...
which locate the concept of development in a continuum of progress, mostly based on Western cultural and economic concepts. - The necessity for the tandem use of appropriate hard and soft technology, a concept pioneered by Village Earth founder, Dr. Maurice L. AlbertsonMaurice L. AlbertsonMaurice Lee "Maury" "Quickshot" Albertson , PhD, civil engineer, a teacher of water resources management over a long career at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado and former head of the Colorado State University Research Foundation.-Biography:He was born and grew up in Hays, Kansas...
. According to Albertson (1992) "It is the structure and process of social participation and action by individuals and groups in analyzing situations, making choices, and engaging in choice-implementing behaviors that bring about change. As with hard technology, the appropriate soft technology is related to the villages being able to organize, operate, and maintain the technology with a minimum of outside technical assistance (e.g., from professional social workers). It usually aims at changing the sociopolitical environment."
Structure
Village Earth can be most closely classified within a specialized subset if Intermediate NGO's, referred to in the literature as “Grassroots Support OrganizationGrassroots Support Organization
Grassroots Support Organization are a specialized subset of Intermediate Non-Governmental Organizations that provides services allied support to local groups of disadvantaged rural or urban households and individuals...
s” or GSOs. According to Carroll(1992): "A GSO is a civic development entity that provides services allied support to local groups of disadvantaged rural and urban households and individuals. In its capacity as an intermediate institution, a GSO forges links between beneficiaries and the often remote levels of government, donor and financial institutions. It may also provide services indirectly to other organizations that support the poor or perform coordinating or networking functions. It may also provide services indirectly to other organizations that support or perform coordinating or networking functions.”
Village Earth advances its mission through the following means:
- Providing grassroots support services to communities in the form of training, networking, research, and organizational sponsorship.
- Training and consulting with other intermediate and resources organizations in our approach and methods.
- Promoting the development and dissemination of appropriate technology information.
History
The CSVBD was founded in 1993 as a result of a mandate on the part of participants at the International Conference on Sustainable Village-Based Development September 27-October 1st, 1993, at Colorado State University. Founders were Maurice L. AlbertsonMaurice L. Albertson
Maurice Lee "Maury" "Quickshot" Albertson , PhD, civil engineer, a teacher of water resources management over a long career at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado and former head of the Colorado State University Research Foundation.-Biography:He was born and grew up in Hays, Kansas...
, (deceased Jan. 11, 2009) then president, Miriam Shinn, and Edwin F. Shinn. The purpose of the conference was to find ways to cause sustainable-village-based development (SVBD) to occur in Third-World villages to help meet the needs of the world's rural poor.
Village Earth (originally called the Consortium for Sustainable Development or CSVBD) was born at a conference on Sustainable Village-Based Development held from 27-October 1st, 1993 at Colorado State University. It was organized by Maurice L. Albertson
Maurice L. Albertson
Maurice Lee "Maury" "Quickshot" Albertson , PhD, civil engineer, a teacher of water resources management over a long career at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado and former head of the Colorado State University Research Foundation.-Biography:He was born and grew up in Hays, Kansas...
, (deceased Jan. 11, 2009) then president, Miriam Shinn, and Edwin F. Shinn and attended by approximately 250 delegates from 40 different countries. The purpose of the conference was to find ways to cause sustainable-village-based development (SVBD) to occur in Third-World villages to help meet the needs of the world's rural poor. The majority of those in attendance were from developing nations, and most of those individuals represented non-governmental organizations working in very grassroots and participatory projects around the world. More than 200 papers were submitted and formed five volumes of Proceedings. By the end of the conference it was agreed that the organizers should form a consortium made up of the participants. The purpose would be to launch several pilot projects, establish a newsletter to be sent to all conference participants and to find ways to make the proceedings generally available to attendees and the interested public. CSVBD was to serve as a sort of information hub for the different chapters, provide training in the methods discussed at the conference, provide monitoring and evaluation services and coordinate demonstration projects on the ground. According to Ed Shinn, “Perhaps one of the most important functions of [Village Earth] is to insure that the local NGO build teams with expertise in key development sectors that can interact with both the public and private sectors to secure needed resources."
The conference, as well as the roots of the Village Earth approach, were heavily influenced by Agenda 21 produced at the United Nations Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro on June 14, 1992. In particular, its recognition that poverty is not the problem, rather, lack of access to resources is the primary obstacle to building a better life for the majority of the world's poor. As such, the Village Earth Approach was designed to transform the role of the NGO from being a service provider (health, irrigation, education, etc.) to functioning more as an “intermediary,” working to mobilize village leadership and planning and from that, develop linkages to resources institutions such as governments, single sector NGO's, universities and the private sector. In development circles, an NGO that works in this capacity is referred to an “Intermediate” NGO.
See also
- Appropriate TechnologyAppropriate technologyAppropriate technology is an ideological movement originally articulated as "intermediate technology" by the economist Dr...
- BioregionalismBioregionalismBioregionalism is a political, cultural, and environmental system or set of views based on naturally defined areas called bioregions, similar to ecoregions. Bioregions are defined through physical and environmental features, including watershed boundaries and soil and terrain characteristics...
- Community-based economicsCommunity-based economicsCommunity-based economics or community economics is an economic system that encourages local substitution. It is most similar the lifeways of those practicing voluntary simplicity, including traditional Mennonite, Amish, and modern eco-village communities...
- Gandhi's "Principles of Swadeshi"
- Sustainable agricultureSustainable agricultureSustainable agriculture is the practice of farming using principles of ecology, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment...
- Rural community developmentRural community developmentRural community development encompasses a range of approaches and activities that aim to improve the welfare and livelihoods of people living in rural areas. As a branch of community development, these approaches pay attention to social issues particularly community organizing. This is in contrast...
- Rural sociologyRural sociologyRural sociology is a field of sociology associated with the study of social life in non-metropolitan areas. It is the scientific study of social arrangements and behaviour amongst people distanced from points of concentrated population or economic activity...
- SustainabilitySustainabilitySustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
- Renewable resourceRenewable resourceA renewable resource is a natural resource with the ability of being replaced through biological or other natural processes and replenished with the passage of time...
- Small is BeautifulSmall Is BeautifulSmall Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered is a collection of essays by British economist E. F. Schumacher. The phrase "Small Is Beautiful" came from a phrase by his teacher Leopold Kohr...
- Paulo FreirePaulo FreirePaulo Reglus Neves Freire was a Brazilian educator and influential theorist of critical pedagogy.-Biography:...