Team Planning, Community Organizing, Advocacy, and Lobbying Training

Team Planning, Community Organizing, Advocacy, and Lobbying Training

Jul 4, 2023 | From the Executive Director, Uncategorized

Hal led two days of dynamic sessions for the GSSP Team sharing his deep experience in community organizing and how to leverage the various government mandated resources that are available to our Seed Savers Community organizations like BASS and CSS.

Drawing from his profound experience in community organizing, Hal shared invaluable insights on its significance in our work in the Philippines. These dynamic sessions served as a unifying invitation, reminding us that community organizing is the essence of our mission, supporting us to amplify our impact, nurture partnerships, and cultivate a global movement dedicated to seed sovereignty and sustainable agriculture.

 

“Being a Community Organizer (CO) is a way of life!” Hal shared at one point during the session. This could not be more true and is a value that all members of the GSS Team hold true. This work is about passion and knowing that together we can make the world better.

 

Hal’s CO framework is deeply rooted in the writings and teaching of Saul Alinsky the author of Rules for Radicals (among other titles).

“If people don’t think they have the power to solve their problems, they won’t even think about how to solve them.”- Saul Alinsky

 

Hal’s guidance served as a powerful reminder of how community organizing drives the engine of change and propels us closer to our vision of seed and food sovereignty. This is our role at GSS, to be a facilitator and accompany our partners on a process and journey for them to fully step into their ability to solve, lead, and guide the better future they know is possible and want to build.
Nurturing Collaborations: GSS Team Tours BASS’ Field Sites

Nurturing Collaborations: GSS Team Tours BASS’ Field Sites

Jul 4, 2023 | BASS, Other Partners, Uncategorized

We recently had the pleasure of reconvening with our cherished partner farmers at the Benguet Association of Seed Savers (BASS), and it was an absolute delight! Spending time with our partner farmers, learning from their expertise, witnessing their love and care, and building genuine connections have fueled our commitment to creating a more seed sovereign world for our partner farmers in the Philippines. 

The meeting was a vibrant gathering of minds, where powerful seed wisdom was shared and discussed. Coming together with these dedicated farmers, we celebrated the beauty and resilience of traditional seeds, exchanging knowledge that has been passed down through generations.

It is in these moments of connection and collaboration that we truly witness the magic of seed saving, reinforcing our commitment to nurturing this invaluable partnership. 

Seeds have a magical way of bringing us all together and we especially loved that by the end of the day everyone was leaving with more shared knowledge from each other’s farms.

We toured three of our partner farmers operations in Benguet!

The first tour was at Manong Macario’s farm where he shared with us his incredible wealth of knowledge of indigenous and wild crops. 

His farm is tucked back in Shilan, La Trinidad and he has built a diverse and wonderful eco-system with native and high yielding crops.

In this picture, he is holding Konig a root crop that he uses as a rice alternative! He also showed us his traditional seed drying area where the ash from the fire helps dry the seeds.

Manong Mac is a wealth of knowledge and helping preserve many forgotten techniques!

We then toured Annette’s farm, the newly elected President of BASS, who has a lovely oasis of a farm and a vast array of beans being saved and propagated. She and her husband run a beautiful farm tucked away in Daclan, Tublay, Benguet. They spent the pandemic making many improvements to the farm and the work has paid off!

It is a peaceful oasis and beautiful demonstration of a diverse eco-system aptly named Nature Lovers Garden. Annette is a prolific seed saver as well. It was wonderful to see her wide variety of beans being dried during our farm visit and learn about her technique of using ash inside her on farm seed storage jars to prevent pests.

Lastly, we toured Pastor Andrew’s, founding BASS Member farm in which he has built a diverse eco-system in his 200 sq meter lot! He has wild spinach growing everywhere and he explained how tobacco leaves are used as an insect repellent when storing seeds. We all enjoyed some seed foraging at his place! 

In the fields, we witnessed the love and care our partner farmers poured into their farms. Their dedication was evident in every plant, every seed, and every meticulous gesture. From tenderly tending to crops to preserving heirloom seeds, our partner farmers’ commitment to sustainable agriculture was evident. Being surrounded by the veggies of their cultivation, we gained a profound appreciation for the intricate tapestry of life they wove through their hard work and nurturing hands.

Moreover, farm visits provide an opportunity for us to check the progress being made by our partners in seed production and also help build community with our farmers!

Save Seeds. Grow Food. Celebrate Heritage!

GSSP Team Touring Farms

Annette’s Seeds!

Annette’s seeds

Annette’s seeds

Annette’s Farmers Never Quit shirt

Annette with Sherry and Hal

Annette’s farm

Annette’s oasis

Manong Macario

Manong Macario and Hal

Manong Macario

Manong Macario

Manong Macario

Pastor Andrew

Pastor Andrew

Pastor Andrew sharing knowledge

Pastor Andrew’s cultivations

Hal with seeds

Annette’s seeds

Annette’s Farm

Cultivating Connections at our Meet and Greet Event in Baguio with Philippines Executive Director Hal!

Cultivating Connections at our Meet and Greet Event in Baguio with Philippines Executive Director Hal!

Jul 4, 2023 | BASS, Other Partners, Uncategorized

We recently hosted a momentous Meet and Greet event in Baguio with our Philippines Executive Director Hal! We gathered our farmer leaders, friends of the organization, creatives, and more to meet Hal and hear about our plans moving forward.

It was a wonderful opportunity for the Philippines team to express gratitude, strengthen relationships, and discuss future collaborations with our current and future partner farmers! This event was marked by warmth, enthusiasm, and a shared commitment to preserving Indigenous seeds and supporting farming communities in the Philippines.

By engaging in open and fruitful discussions, Hal and community members explored avenues for future collaborations, shared insights and experiences, and brainstormed innovative strategies to address the developing challenges in the field of seed sovereignty.

 

One of the highlights of the meet and greet event was leveraging Hal’s expertise and insights. Current and future partner farmers gained valuable perspectives that will shape their future initiatives, projects, and partnerships in the Philippines and beyond!

This meet and greet fostered the many meaningful connections, built trust, and provided a platform for community dialogue – ensuring that our initiatives are aligned with the needs and aspirations of our farming community in the Philippines!

We are grateful to be part of such a vibrant community of supporters here in Baguio/ Benguet and look forward to all the collaborations to come from this support network!

GSSP Team at Meet and Greet

Hal and Sherry

Sherry with BASS Farmers

Hal Smiling Speaking to the Guests

Nellie Ballola, Sherry, Hal

Sherry and Provincial Board Member Atty. Ruben Paoad

Hal Sharing with Guests about Directions

Mapping the Way Forward: Global Seed Savers’ Strategic Planning in Action

Mapping the Way Forward: Global Seed Savers’ Strategic Planning in Action

May 31, 2023 | Activities, Uncategorized

Our Global Seed Savers Philippines team recently held an inspiring strategic planning retreat facilitated by our new Philippines Executive Director Hal Atienza! The retreat was an opportunity for our team to chart a path forward and shape our strategic roadmap for the years ahead. The purpose of the activity was to review the strategic direction of GSSP and come up with the 5-year strategic plan using the logical framework.

One of the key outcomes of the retreat was the development of a visionary roadmap for Global Seed Savers. Guided by a commitment to seed sovereignty, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable agriculture, the GSSP Team collectively crafted a comprehensive vision for the future. They identified key priorities, such as expanding access to locally adapted seed varieties, strengthening community engagement and empowerment, and forging strategic partnerships to amplify their impact. 

The team also tackled questions like: 

1) Where are we now?

2) Where do we want to be? 

3) How will we get there?

4) How do we know we made it?

 

It is important to determine how effective our strategies are in relation to our goals. Then the team was able to assess our effectiveness and efficiency in terms of our governance and management processes. Only then can we determine our impacts by looking at our relevance and sustainability. 

Aspirations become more realistic if we are able to define a clearer strategic direction. Meaning, our yardstick of performance management stays in place.

Because of the 4-day strategic planning, the GSSP Team was able to: 

1) Define a clearer vision-mission statement 

2) Develop our goals with corresponding strategies 

3) Formulate our Slogan (GSS mantra), “Save seeds. Grow food. Protect heritage.”

 

The retreat also provided a valuable platform to identify and address challenges faced by Global Seed Savers and the broader seed-saving community.

 The team engaged in focused discussions to explore solutions for preserving traditional knowledge, mitigating the threats posed by climate change and industrial agriculture, and overcoming barriers to seed conservation and sharing. By collectively addressing these challenges, Global Seed Savers aims to foster resilience, adaptability, and sustainability in our global food systems.

The strategic planning retreat was not simply an intellectual exercise, but a call to action. This strategic planning retreat served as a powerful catalyst for change, harnessing the collective wisdom and passion of seed savers worldwide. Through collaboration, innovation, and a shared commitment to sustainability, Global Seed Savers is sowing the seeds of a resilient and prosperous future for our planet and its inhabitants. 

How Building with Natural Elements Leads us to Balance

How Building with Natural Elements Leads us to Balance

May 2, 2023 | Activities, Uncategorized

Our Communications and Marketing Manager Sarah, along with 12 other participants from Olongapo, Las Pinas, Cavite, and Makati, attended the first section of the Natural Building Workshop hosted by Subli Farm in Batangas. 

Subli Farm, which is managed by the family of Asha Peri, is a permaculture farm which follows the seed-to-table model of growing food. The farm is also the venue of the Ecology of Food courses which aims to teach participants how they can get the most life force and nutrition from their food while they balance the need for great tasting meals. 

Asha and her mom Ludy (now 72) went to the Earth University at Navdanya in India in 2018. There, they learned from Dr. Vandana Shiva about the impact of GMOs on Indian Farming and made many parallels to the struggles Filipino Farmers face. From that point on, Asha became a kitchen activist, organizing events like the Food, Farming, Freedom course,  which offered a new view on sustainable food for Filipinos. 

At Subli farm, the yoga room, lecture room and the dormitory buildings are all built with earth materials and resources. The Natural Building Workshop is a renovation of their kitchen area. Sarah and other participants built benches for the dap-ay, two shelves for the music area and seed storage, and a wall to protect the area from the elements!

This event is a two part workshop. The first one that was just concluded taught participants how to mix the materials for earth building, how to build structures, and how to mold clay tiles. 

The second part of this workshop (May 13-14, 2023) will be concentrated on wattle and daub (using bamboo as rebars for wall structures), plastering, and finishing with clay.

These skills are essential to sustaining environmental balance; where nature uplifts our spirits and surrounds us with a healthy future. There is so much we can do with these skills like maybe building a seed library made of earth or building resilient homes for our community!

“Earth is forgiving. Natural building takes time, but the output will also stand the test of time. With natural building, there is no waste. When it is time to tear down the structure you have built, everything goes back to the earth, or you can reuse it again for another structure.” – Sarah Sabado

Volunteer Perspective on Visiting The Seed Savers

Mar 23, 2016 | BASS, Uncategorized

Image above: Boaz explaning his planting system

A few weeks ago our Seed Savers Group spent an entire Saturday visiting each others’ farms. We were lucky to have J. Forte, a Filipino-American volunteer participate in this program. Below are his reflections about spending the day visiting the land of our passionate organic farmers.

Reflections By Volunteer:  J.Forte, from Los Angeles, CA

Graduate from UCLA, Philosophy Degree

 “God bless this gift of nourishment that will sustain our bodies so that they may serve you better” said Pastor Alex, prior to a mid-morning snack that was hosted in the humble living room of his abode in the agricultural region of Tublay, Benguet just north of Baguio City.

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The Seed Savers Group, supported by Friends of ENCA Farm, had assembled to conduct a tour of their individual farms. The group has banded together to promote the importance of preserving the genetic lines of heirloom seeds, (seeds from strains of plants that have not been genetically modified in laboratories), and the importance of using organic farming methods to raise, sustain, and harvest crops for consumption.

The farmers who hosted the tour were quite enthusiastic to show off their farms, their methods, and the fruits of their labor. They spoke highly of the peaceful culture of the farming region and made sure that their visitors felt welcomed and had plenty of delicious organic food to sample. While touring the individual farms, all of which are environmentally sustainable, it also became evident that the individual farmers are each very sincere in their belief of a philosophy and movement that makes good-natured sense. Perhaps it’s that what they are doing is in line with the same kind of godliness behind that sincere prayer offered over a couple of simple store-bought snacks by Pastor Alex.

However, as Pastor Alex expressed, there is unfortunately not much to show for the adoption of the organic foods philosophy. While the organic foods movement has increased its following worldwide, it still meets age-old challenges. These challenges typically revolve around a lack of exposure to education concerning food, and more significantly, profits. If there are no severe, immediate, and noticeable repercussions for consuming fruits, vegetables, and herbs that can’t be labeled organic, then what’s to keep a farmer from using a genetically modified seed that will yield a product that is resistant to the pests which plague a particular region? What’s to keep a farmer from using unnatural chemical pesticides to protect his profits? What’s to stop a consumer from saving money at a grocery store?

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On the bright side, thanks to organizations like Friends of ENCA Farm, the culture of organic foods is indeed gaining ground here in the Philippines, although significantly behind nations where the general perspective is more health conscious. As long as there is support in the form of increased education about the organic foods movement, increasing market demand for natural whole foods, and opportunities such as eco-tours to places like ENCA Farm, the good ideas and philosophies behind producing and consuming organic foods will surely better manifest.

Galvey farm handpicking worms to feed their compost                        IMG_0554

Volunteer Joah

Volunteer J.Forte on the way to the farm tours.