Section 5: Designing for Food Sovereignty
This section illustrates the design process I have undertaken to inform my strategic pathway in working for food sovereignty on a practical and personal level.
Overview
This section presents designs for organizing for food sovereignty on multiple levels following my personal and political reflections, active reading and practical organising experience. I have aimed collate this learning into a readable diagram as a more accesible way of organising this information. I have also identified life design ideas to improve my work as an organiser.
Visioning Food Sovereignty
A common technique in Transition initiatives is that of visioning - imagining the future but with intention then working backwards to identify steps that could be taken to achieve this vision. This was the first creative exercise I had undertaken in designing a strategy for my food sovereignty work. Please read my vision for Food Sovereignty in Glastonbury here.
I have also found inspiration in the Reclaim the Fields zine that features an agricultural vision for RTF.
Life Re-Design
Following a greater awareness of what it will take to achieve food sovereigy combined with analysis of my own organising strengths and weaknesses, I have developed a working list of life 're-design' elements that should hopefully make me more effective in the coming year. Read them here.
Ecosystems accept feedback, they self-regulate and adapt. In order to self-regulate my time and energy outputs I will use the below checklist, from the liberation ecology project, to question my efforts and redesign where necessary:
Ask myself:
« Who is benefiting from this work?
« What are the yields?
Will this work:
« Improve life for nonhumans?
« Improving the health of the land?
« Help my community to work for self-determination and autonomy?
« Help my community to use and control its own resources sustainably or regeneratively?