What is greywater, and how can you safely use it in refugee camps and settlements? How can you capture and use rainwater for food growing in contexts of displacement? This one hour session shares learnings from a recent project funded by Malteser International and conducted by Re-Alliance and Syrian Academic Expertise around food growing in Syrian Internally Displaced Peoples' (IDP) camps. The session focuses on the collection, storage and use of rainfall and greywater. Working in three IDP camp sites in A’zaz and Jarablus in Northwest Syria, the pilot project tested the viability of creating vegetable gardens to grow food irrigated in part by harvested rainwater and greywater. Research has shown the benefits of gardening to those living in temporary settlements by providing fresh and nutritious food, meaningful activity, a sense of belonging or home, and feelings of well-being, particularly in the wake of trauma. It has also shown how replenishing soils, creating healthy water cycles, space for biodiversity, planting trees and perennial crops, and minimising waste can have an equally positive impact on both human and ecological health. In areas of limited rainfall and high temperatures, nearly all food crops will need additional irrigation water to supplement rainfall. By identifying and promoting simple, low tech options for capturing and re-using greywater and rainwater for irrigation, and creating compost from food waste, growing food can become an accessible option for many households. Speakers include Mary Mellett, Juliet Millican, and Jackie Kearney from the Re-Alliance team; Dr Shaher Abdullateef, founder of Syrian Academic Expertise (SAE); and Richard Luff, independent humanitarian consultant and WASH advisor.

Looby Macnamara hosts a discussion about creating opportunities with the Cultural Emergence toolkit in contexts of disaster, displacement or development. Drawing upon lineages of indigenous wisdom, permaculture design and systems thinking, Cultural Emergence provides a toolkit for creating a new understanding of culture. In this session Looby Macnamara, the author of Cultural Emergence, People & Permaculture, 7 Ways to Think Differently and Strands of Infinity, and the co-founder of Cultural Emergence, shares the potential that this toolkit has to create opportunities in humanitarian and development contexts. Find out more about Cultural Emergence at https://cultural-emergence.com/ See more Re-Alliance webinars at www.re-alliance.org/videos

Showcasing the Treebog: a compost toilet which, when built and planted around with trees, bushes and vines, creates biomass resources from the washing water and the plant nutrients found in the toilet "wastes". Treebogs are an example and an expression of Permaculture Design which can be self-built using local materials and trees. Hosting this webinar is Jay Abrahams, who built the first Treebog in 1992, and co-presenting will be Elke Carpus, who is a representative of Jiwnit from Kamyaak Village, in Senegal, where the first two Treebogs in Africa were built in October 2019. The Treebog was developed by Jay for his own and his family’s use, in their ‘off-grid’ cottage in Herefordshire, England. Since then many hundreds of Treebogs have been built in the UK. Other Treebogs have also been created in Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Israel, Palestine, and Nepal, and now also in Senegal - each have been planted with trees native to the region in which they are located. In Kamyaak Village in Senegal, each of the double-cubicle Treebogs is used by around 35 people living in the compounds there. Each of the Treebogs were planted with 25 fruit, nut, pole-wood, medicinal and fodder trees. Among these trees was a Papaya tree sapling, which when planted in 2019 was only 6 inches tall. Eighteen months later, it was 15 feet tall and had produced its first papaya fruit!

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.

In this Re-Alliance webinar, Morag Gamble (Permaculture Education Institute, Permayouth, Ethos Foundation) and Bemeriki Bisimwa Dusabe (Rwamwanja Rural Foundation, Uganda) examine Refugee-Led Permaculture Education & Action in East Africa. Morag and Bemeriki have seen the direct benefit that refugee-led, flexible and responsive approach to permaculture education, action and enterprise is bringing to people in a growing number of refugee settlements and host communities in East Africa. This program is a collaboration between the Permaculture Education Institute, Permayouth, the Ethos Foundation, Rwamwanja Rural Foundation, many local hubs, supporters from around the world, and connections with global networks. Their work is now attracting global attention through magazine articles, film-making and a big part of the Global Permayouth program that is shortlisted for a number of global awards - 2021 including the Lush Spring Prize (Influence Category) and the Hildur Jackson Award 2021. These permaculture education programs in East Africa are reaching many refugee communities. Bemeriki is a highly trained long-term refugee who knows what is needed, what has worked, and also experienced many failed programs. So far he has organised and led training for over 500 people this year alone - Permayouth, foster carers, women’s groups. Morag offers permaculture mentoring, networking, access to educational programs and certification, and coordinates the crowd-funding. Morag and Bemeriki have been working together now for about 2 years and can say with confidence that this approach is changing lives, opening possibilities, building food resilience and self-determination. It is also building global alliances and influencing thinking about ways to support refugees beyond the camps. Within the camps, this work is being noticed. For example, the Office of Prime Minister has offered land for a demonstration farm and learning centre. The Ugandan government Ministry responsible for training has officially certified the Permaculture Changemakers course. The UNHCR nominates people needing this education and opens courses. In this session Morag and Bemeriki share the story of this myceliating refugee-led permaculture education program in East Africa - now an East African chapter of Permaculture for Refugees. They show how this program has grown from one Permayouth program in one camp to a strong movement with a regional online learning community, and an emergence of the culture of permaculture through music, photography, film, books and more.

In this Re-Alliance webinar, Growing Real Food for Nutrition CIC (GRFFN) Co-Founders and Directors Matthew Adams and Elizabeth Westaway explored the future of food and nutrition. Elizabeth and Matthew discussed human's broken relationship with nature, and how a focus on measuring food quality, based on nutrient density, can provide a positive solution to inspire a new way of thinking based on creating symbiosis between humans and nature, where the output is an abundance of health. Agriculture currently uses 40% of the world’s landmass and the policy of cheap food, which is linked to supporting global food supply chains, has led to widespread environmental and social injustice. Putting profit before planet simply does not work. To learn more about GRFFN visit https://grffn.org. To see more Re-Alliance webinars, visit www.re-alliance.org/videos

George McAllister (Center for Agroecology, Water and Resilience) and Gisele Henriques (CAFOD) explore the transformative potential of agroecology and highlight the value that it adds alongside other approaches. Discussing current language and terminology that is used, and reflecting on what unique and political perspectives that agroecology brings to the debate. You can join in the activity using the Jamboard here: https://jamboard.google.com/d/172a1giCD2FSWaeRtLvnQgVwjlzg5_r2SGVZUCXuQ3UA/viewer You can see the presentation here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15bc6JLTH9o2P960Q4Ac3F8xpcnG-24jU/view?usp=sharing

Inkiri Piracanga is an ecovillage in the North-East of Brazil, bringing together the care of people, the water, soil, the regional economy. Inkiri Institute showcase ecological solutions to create healthy cycles, composting organic materials, toilet manure, and agroforestry to regenerate the landscape that was once a degraded coconut monoculture. The community grow food in agroecological systems integrated with native beekeeping and communitarian solutions to reduce the production of waste while building soil and ecological health. Find out more about Inkiri Piracanga at their website here: https://inkiri.com/ Find out more about joining Re-Alliance's thriving community of members here: https://www.re-alliance.org/members

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