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Meet the team who support and facilitate the thriving Re-Alliance network of Regenerative practitioners. Meet the team Core Facilitation Team Correspondents Trustees Volunteers Directorship Ruth Andrade Chair of the Trustee Board Read More → Communications Team Ansiima Casinga Rolande Correspondent and Regenerative Settlements Storyteller Read More → Core Facilitation Team James Atherton Permaculture Lead, Communication & Storytelling Lead Read More → Communications Team Batata Boris-Kaloff Correspondent Read More → Directorship Gisele Henriques Trustee Read More → Core Facilitation Team Jackie Kearney Network & Membership Lead Read More → Directorship George McAllister Trustee and Safeguarding Focal Point Read More → Core Facilitation Team Mary Mellett Research, Content & Compliance Lead Read More → Directorship Peter Mellett Trustee Read More → Core Facilitation Team Juliet Millican Coordinator Read More → Directorship Geoff O'Donoghue Trustee and Finance Circle Read More → Communications Team Sunjae Yun Research & Communications support Read More →

Discover the partnerships and programmes which are showcasing regeneration in action alongside communities. Projects & Partnerships Re-Alliance works alongside trusted partner organisations to co-create and implement regenerative projects throughout the world. Re-Alliance's role is usually in strategic design, project co-design and management, research, as well as producing educational materials, M&E, and disseminating information. See below for more information on some of our recent and current projects and collaborations. Special thanks to our generous funding partners from the public as well as Trusts and Foundations, including but not limited to Treebeard Trust , the JAC Trust and Lush Cosmetics. Regenerative Refugee Settlement in Nakivale Uganda Co-designing and building a Regenerative Settlement with 20 households in Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda + In partnership with: YICE Uganda, Arup, Re-Alliance Regenerative Camps and Settlements: Piloting Interventions Partnering with Re-Alliance members to showcase regenerative interventions in displacement contexts. + In partnership with: Re-Alliance Members Mobile Wind Power Community designed micro-wind turbines for camps and settlements. + In partnership with: School Of The Earth First Response to Trauma Psychosocial support and community building for trauma healing. + In partnership with: SACOD Vermicomposting Toilets In Bekaa, Lebanon, Farms Not Arms built three vermicompost toilets for refugee families. These innovative toilets use worms to convert human waste into compost. + In partnership with: Farms Not Arms Urban rooftop garden in Al-Buriej Refugee Camp Growing food gardens on rooftops in Gaza, showcasing urban growing in places with limited access to land. + In partnership with: Gaza Urban & Peri-Urban Agriculture Platform (GUPAP) Regenerative Urban Agriculture MOCGSE led a project focussed on supporting conflict-affected areas with regenerative urban agriculture demonstration and education. + In partnership with: Mount Oku Center for Gender and Socioeconomic Empowerment (MOCGSE) Regesoil: Community Composting Collective community composting sites in Nakivale Refugee Settlement. + In partnership with: Unidos Social Innovation Centre Ecosan Composting Toilets Urine diversion, dry composting toilets in a barrel, enriching soils for more nutrient-rich crops and healthier people. + In partnership with: YICE Uganda Reimagining urban ecosystems in Greece, with Sporos A community-led initiative transforming urban spaces in Greece into resilient, biodiverse ecosystems through regenerative design and education. + In partnership with: Sporos Regeneration Institute Building Treebogs in Kakuma Refugee Settlement FHE built several twin Treebog composting toilets in Kakuma Refugee Settlement. These are raised composting toilets which feed 'humanure' directly to perennial plant roots. + In partnership with: Farming & Health Education (FHE) Lime-Stabilised Soil Building in Cox's Bazar Disaster resistant eco-buildings made from locally sourced materials in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. + In partnership with: Bee Rowan & International Organisation for Migration (IOM) Non-Digital communications for learning Analogue learning materials for regenerative food growing in refugee camps and settlements. + In partnership with: Kajulu Hills Ecovillages, Green Releaf Grey water and Rain water harvesting for food growing in Syria Piloting Grey water and Rain water harvesting and irrigation for food growing in Syria. + In partnership with: Syrian Academic Expertise, Malteser International Re-Alliance Members' Film Collaboration Participatory filmmaking to share stories of regeneration in action. + In partnership with: Re-Alliance Members

From Permaculture in refugee settlements, to eco-building in disaster prone regions, to water harvesting in areas severely affected by worsening climate change, Re-Alliance and our members showcase how we can create stability, resilience and abundance, even in times of crisis. What could a regenerative humanitarian response look like? Increasing the impact and influence of regenerative responses to disaster, displacement and development Explore Re-Alliance free guides Re-Alliance promotes a regenerative vision, beyond sustainability, for the humanitarian and development sectors. From Permaculture gardens in refugee camps, to eco-building in disaster prone regions; eco WASH interventions, to integrated nature-based solutions for settlement designing: Re-Alliance members are showcasing how we can create stability, resilience and abundance, even in times of crisis. Watch Videos Play Video Play Video 07:14 Beejvan | Restoring and regenerating sacred food forests in India Beejvan began in 2022 to revive local understandings of tree-based farming. In this film, Founding Director Sanjana Krishnan explores the joys and the challenges of land-based work. The project has become more than a farming practice, but a healing and community-building activity. 🎥 Film by Pankaj Rishi Kumar Play Video Play Video 04:41 YAKUM | Protecting and restoring the bio-cultural abundance of the Amazon YAKUM partners with three indigenous nations in Ecuador to turn degraded land into cultural food landscapes. In this film by Remi Bumstead, Re-Alliance member YAKUM explores the importance of Indigenous wisdom in forest protection and restoration, and the abundance that healthy forests can offer in terms of culture, food, and climate resilience. Arley Paraguaje and Nick Ovenden explain why YAKUM rediscover and replant diverse cultural foods, and safely harvest food from standing forests. Find out more about YAKUM's work at https://yakum.org/ 🎥 https://remibumstead.com/ Play Video Play Video 07:21 Minak | Growing nutritious mushrooms in a refugee settlement Mariam Antoine from Minak Women-led Organisation helped co-create a programme of training women in Nakivale Refugee Settlement to grow nutritious Oyster mushrooms in reusable buckets. In this video, trainees from Minak organisation explain how mushroom cultivation is such a powerful way to grow the health and income of people living in refugee settlements. Re-Alliance worked with Minak to create a how-to booklet for growing mushrooms. Read more about the project here and download the booklet: https://www.re-alliance.org/post/cultivating-mushrooms-in-buckets Minak is bringing to life real examples of #Permaculture in #Refugee settlements. Play Video Play Video 06:08 YICE Uganda | Urine-diversion dry composting toilets Join Winnie Tushabe, co-founder of YICE Uganda, and Ecosan user Uwizeye Salima, in exploring Ecosans. In the Nakivale refugee camp in Uganda, refugees are given a small plot of land to build a dwelling and farm food on. Re-Alliance's partner organisation YICE Uganda (Youth Initiative for Community Empowerment) is working with families to create kitchen gardens but yields are limited because the soil is poor. Re-Alliance and YICE collaborated to build eight urine diverting dry toilets (or ‘Ecosan’ toilets) for families. By separating the urine and faeces, the volume of composting waste is reduced, extending the capacity of the compost chamber and giving an immediate source of fertiliser in the form of urine, which, when diluted 1:10 - 1:20 with water, is an excellent fertiliser rich in nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. Diverting the urine away stops the compost chamber from becoming anaerobic and smelly and the addition of wood ash or saw dust, after using the toilet, acts as a dehydrating cover material. This design used recycled plastic barrels as containers for the faeces, which ensures no ground pollution. Once nearly full, the barrel is moved aside and replaced with a fresh barrel. With the hot composting achieved inside the barrels, compost can be created in under 12 months in the Ugandan climate. The compost is used to enrich the soil around fruiting trees and bushes. Find out more about this design and create your own with our free guides on www.re-alliance.org/publications . Play Video Play Video 07:35 Unidos Social Innovation Centre | Eco-social regeneration in Nakivale Refugee Settlement What could it look like if Refugee Settlements were thriving ecological and social spaces? Unidos Social Innovation Centre is a refugee-led, community-based organisation that engages with young people located in the Nakivale Refugee settlement, South West Uganda. In this video, Unidos founder Paulinho Muzaliwa explains how they support the communities to create abundant Permaculture gardens, grow biodiverse food forests, and build healthy soils. Find out more about Unidos at https://unidosprojects.org/ Donate to Unidos' work here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/water-4-thriving-african-permaculture-group 🎥 7Times Film Production Play Video Play Video 04:36 Ecopoblaciones | Ecopoblaciones Ecuador Ecopoblaciones Ecuador create eco-social regeneration programs that promote the participatory design and implementation of sustainable and resilient populations. Their work integrates ecology, social, economic and cultural aspects, using tools and processes of eco-neighborhoods, eco-social movements, permaculture, ecotourism, bio-construction, participatory leadership, emotional management, well-being, among others. Find out more about Ecopoblaciones Ecuador here: https://ecopoblaciones.github.io/ Find out more about joining Re-Alliance's thriving community of members here: https://www.re-alliance.org/members Play Video Play Video 11:32 Green Releaf | Designing for resilience in disaster and conflict prone regions in the Philippines Green Releaf Initiative prototyped two projects that aimed to respond to and prevent disasters, in contexts of climate and conflict vulnerability in the Philippines. Green Releaf worked with Permaculture as an approach to address food security, regenerative livelihood, and ecosystem restoration. They had a community-led approach, working with early adapters as grassroots permaculture leaders to train as multipliers. They aimed to highlight the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) from the community, honouring their earth wisdom as key to the community's resilience. Featuring grassroots community leaders from areas affected by disasters and displacement where Green Releaf worked, this film begins to document the knowledge learned and practices implemented over time. Play Video Play Video 02:32 What is Re-Alliance? What is Re-Alliance? What do we hope to achieve? These questions and more are explored by some of of the founding members of the Re-Alliance network. Join our membership As part of our network, whether a grassroots practitioner or a member of an international NGO or Aid organisation, you will have access to dynamic knowledge, a vibrant and active community of experts, and a wealth of opportunities for collaboration. Our membership is open to all. The only requirements are an interest, understanding or expertise in regenerative design, experience in the humanitarian or development sectors, and a willingness to comply with our code of conduct and policies. Find out more Read Articles The Farmers and Beekeepers who are reforesting Mount Cameroon Mount Cameroon is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in Cameroon, including endangered forest elephants, chimpanzees, and the elusive primates called Drills. Farmer and apiculturist Evambe Thompson helps to nurture the biodiversity of this critical ecosystem by replanting trees, and encouraging nature-friendly livelihoods. Batata Boris-Karloff The Peacebuilding and Environment Nexus: healing land, systems and communities How do climate change, land conflict, and ecological loss shape violence, and how can environmental cooperation support peace? A regenerative lens on trauma healing, agency, and systems change. Juliet Millican Nakivale Arboloo Toilets: Growing Trees from waste Arborloo compost toilets are movable structures which, when the compost pit is full, can be covered and planted with a tree. The top structure can then be moved to a new location. Mary Mellett Sign up for our newsletters For inspiring stories from our network of practitioners around the globe, to learning about how to integrate regenerative design into humanitarian and development contexts, sign up to our newsletter below. Sign up We can support you Re-Alliance and our members have hosted several training programmes for humanitarian and development organisations and agencies. We can help you and your organisation to integrate regenerative paradigms and practices into your operation, interventions, and policy. Contact us to arrange a meeting and find out more. Contact us

This illustrated guide explores how to establish composting at community scale, to build soil health, cycle 'waste', and grow community cohesion. < Back Community Composting This illustrated guide explores how to establish composting at community scale, to build soil health, cycle 'waste', and grow community cohesion. Donate to Re-Alliance Stay updated with our newsletter Download for free: English Español Português عربي Swahili Français

< back Date of completion: 1 Dec 2020 Re-Alliance Members' Film Collaboration Participatory filmmaking to share stories of regeneration in action. With a generous grant of €5000 from Lush Deutschland, we seed-funded the production of 12 short films showcasing inspirational examples of regeneration in action, from Re-Alliance members 8 different countries. These powerful stories of community-based approaches spread messages of hope around the world. An advisory panel helped us decide who to award further grant funding to, and the recipients were awarded up to €3000 to grow their work further. This collaboration welcomed meaningful stories from across the world, giving platform for Re-Alliance members to share their work. For accessibility, we asked that films to be recorded on mobile phones and to last under 6 minutes. Films could be recorded in any language with English subtitles. Small grants of up to €500 were offered to help make the films, which went towards travel costs, purchase of lapel microphones, editing and subtitling in English. All films were uploaded onto our YouTube page and widely shared, tripling visits to our site in a short time as well as giving voice to small marginalised groups. Produced at the height of worldwide lockdowns, the films told stories of resilience and adaptability and facilitated connections and the growth of inspirational ideas at a time when people could not meet but stories could still be shared. You can watch the films here .

This guide is for community responders to help them provide initial psychosocial support in times of disaster or emergency. < Back Community-Based Response to Collective Trauma This guide is for community responders to help them provide initial psychosocial support in times of disaster or emergency. Donate to Re-Alliance Stay updated with our newsletter Download for free: English

This picture-led booklet advises on seasonal food growing in refugee camps, made by Re-Alliance's partner SOILS Permaculture Association - Lebanon, in partnership with German Development Cooperation - GIZ, Mercy Corps, and the World Food Program. Translated from the original Arabic with permission from SOILS Permaculture Association - Lebanon. < Back Seasonal Food Growing in Refugee Settlements This picture-led booklet advises on seasonal food growing in refugee camps, made by Re-Alliance's partner SOILS Permaculture Association - Lebanon, in partnership with German Development Cooperation - GIZ, Mercy Corps, and the World Food Program. Translated from the original Arabic with permission from SOILS Permaculture Association - Lebanon. Donate to Re-Alliance Stay updated with our newsletter Download for free: English, Arabic & Greek

This picture-led booklet, made in collaboration with GUPAP and Sporos, explores how to grow Permaculture-inspired gardens on the roof, especially designed for communities with limited access to land. < Back Building a Garden on the Roof This picture-led booklet, made in collaboration with GUPAP and Sporos, explores how to grow Permaculture-inspired gardens on the roof, especially designed for communities with limited access to land. Donate to Re-Alliance Stay updated with our newsletter Download for free: English Español Português عربي Swahili Français

< back Date of completion: 1 Jan 2023 Lime-Stabilised Soil Building in Cox's Bazar Disaster resistant eco-buildings made from locally sourced materials in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Re-Alliance founding member and natural building specialist Bee Rowan, collaborating with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), and a group of refugee Rohingya peoples living in Cox's Bazar, undertook a Lime-stabilised Soil building project. Lime-Stabilised Soil (LSS) is a sustainable, eco-friendly building material composed of a mixture of soil, lime, and other natural materials. LSS building is a low-carbon and cost-effective strategy, making it an effective, locally sourced solution for many displacement contexts. In Cox's Bazar, prone to disasters such as flooding and fires, LSS buildings are shown to be more resilient to fires, floods, and extreme heatwaves. To test Lime-stabilised Soil technology’s effectiveness compared to conventional building materials like cements, the Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, was chosen as the test site. This area frequently faces crises of monsoon floods, cyclones, fires, and heatwaves. Existing shelters often fail to withstand these climate-related disasters, leaving the camp community highly vulnerable. The team created effective Lime-stabilised Soil mixes using local subsoil collected from 11 different camps. Using this new material, a fire resilience test was conducted to explore its potential as a fire-resistant material. The results were positive. While a traditional shelter burned down in just five minutes, the LSS-plastered shelter remained intact after 20 minutes of direct fire exposure. This experiment demonstrated the material’s effectiveness as a firebreak in a real-life scenario. Beyond fire resistance, LSS has also shown superior compressive wet strength and thermal performance, which helps shelters cope with heavy rains, flooding, and intense heatwaves. The efforts to showcase LSS technology quickly gained support, leading to wider scaling and adoption. IOM received additional funding to build over 2,000 LSS shelters across the camp. Also, large agencies including UNHCR and Caritas adopted the technology, resulting in a pilot of 51 LSS shelters. Moreover, this project has received approval from the Bangladesh government to increase the use of LSS in the camp. Lime-stabilised Soil has strong potential as a future technology for shelters in displacement contexts worldwide. Already, approximately 300 Rohingya refugees were trained in shelter construction and have begun training groups. Continued interest and commitment to Lime-stabilised Soil building will help reduce reliance on conventional, unsustainable materials, providing safer and more resilient shelters in vulnerable communities globally. For more information, visit this blog .

< Back Sunjae Yun Research & Communications support Sunjae is a volunteer and researcher, currently in her second year of a BA in Social Science. To support Re-Alliance, she focuses on documenting members' work by conducting key research, drafting project pages, and creating social media content.

< Back Peter Mellett Trustee Peter is personally committed to regenerative projects as a way of continuing the work of his son Paulo Mellett, an environmental activist and fierce advocate of the use of integrated regenerative design. Paulo’s work was cut short in 2014 when he succumbed to the relentless effects of severe malarial infection. Peter’s work with Re-Alliance is an attempt to answer the question ‘How can I work with others to sustain and develop Paulo’s creative values as we try to make the world a better place?’ Peter has worked as science teacher, educational science writer and editor and as a curriculum developer for MSc distance learning courses at Bath University. His training includes BSc Chemistry and an MA in Education specialising in Educational Technology, Organisation Theory and Action Research.

< back Date of completion: 1 Dec 2021 Grey water and Rain water harvesting for food growing in Syria Piloting Grey water and Rain water harvesting and irrigation for food growing in Syria. This capacity strengthening project included the development of vegetable gardens in IDP camps in Northern Syria with partner organisation Syrian Academic Expertise. Working in three IDP camps in A’zaz and Jarablus in Northwest Syria, this pilot project tested the viability of creating vegetable gardens to grow food, partially irrigated by harvested rain water and grey water. The project started with training events including five successful webinars for our INGO sponsors and the production of a grey water booklet by SOILS Permaculture Association Lebanon . The growing plots varied in size, from home gardens to community gardens in A’zaz, and a school garden in Jarablus. The aims included introducing regenerative strategies to improve food security, mental health and community cohesion. Working with a large INGO, Re-Alliance acted in an advisory capacity, with our subcontracted partners, Syrian Academic Expertise, providing research, training and mentoring support. The gardens were successfully established with food grown, harvested and eaten. The gardens were highly popular with camp residents, with many more requests for participation than the pilot could facilitate. Bi-weekly mentoring visits were undertaken by our partners while Re-Alliance conducted monitoring and evaluation and the production of learning materials including an NGO guide to using harvested rain and grey water .