FOUNDATION

Every year we donate a part of our takings to international NGO’s . We are most grateful for your interest and your indirect support to these programmes. Obviously, your direct help by means of monetary contributions will also be more than welcome.

INDIA
Vidharba - Help smallholder farmers to safeguard their survival while protecting the environment and climate thanks to organic farming methods!

In Vidharba, one of the poorest regions of India, an agricultural policy based on monoculture and chemical products has led thousands of smallholder farmers to misery. Now they are also suffering the effects of climate change.

These people depend on your help.
There are about 5000 smallholder farmers from 100 villages who would like to make the change to organic farming on their land and preserve natural resources.

Your donations will make these changes possible (à)
The most fortunate ones collect rainwater to water their crops and reduce the erosion caused by flooding.

Farming families learn how to improve their land without using chemical products by employing methods such as crop rotation and mixed farming, and applying compost and green manure. They rear livestock and produce organic manure with the dung.
These farmers fight pests with crop rotation, improved tillage techniques, biological pesticides and innovative methods such as pheromone traps.

The villagers plant thousands of fruit trees in order to benefit from a more varied diet and to sell the fruit. The inhabitants of each of these 100 villages grow maize, cotton and red lentils in their own seedbeds which are adapted to the climate and do not rely on chemical fertilisers.

Your donation will make smallholder farming families better equipped to adapt to climate change and give them the means to support themselves.
By contributing, you will also be helping the environment because farmers will no longer be polluting the land with chemical products and therefore CO2. What is more, fruit trees fix CO2 and counteract erosion.

ADES Solar Cooker Project in Madagascar:
preserving the environment, alleviating poverty and improving health

The miracle of natural Madagascar is in danger
Deforestation, and resulting erosion, is widespread in Madagascar and has led to the loss of 90% of the county's unique forests. Soil erosion leaves behind a scared landscape and agriculturally unproductive land. The main cause of deforestation in Madagascar is the collection of firewood for cooking.

Traditional cooking methods are inefficient
Large quantities of wood are used for cooking due to the use of traditional open fires that are inefficient and a health hazard. The use of charcoal is even worse as the charcoal production consumes even larger amounts of wood and the resulting charcoal is more expensive. A Madagascan family might consume about 100 kg of charcoal per month at a cost equivalent to 1/6th of an average monthly salary.

Solar cookers can replace wood or charcoal cooking
With ideal conditions for the use of solar energy in the south and west of Madagascar, solar cooking is a viable alternative to the use of wood. This reduces deforestation, reduces the burden of collecting wood, improves health conditions and creates local job opportunities in Madagascar.

Simple technology produced locally
The Association pour le Développement de l'Energie Solaire Suisse-Madagascar (ADES) produces the solar cookers at its workshops in Tuléar and Ejeda, Madagascar, working with local people and using local materials. By the end of 2007, ADES had produced and sold over 2'200 box cookers and 100 parabolic cookers, and plans to increase production to some 1,000 cookers per 2008.

Publicity campaign
Demonstrating the effectiveness of its solar cookers is an important part of ADES's work. Exhibitions and training sessions take place regularly, and thanks to the financial support of NGO donations, the cookers are offered at subsidised prices. This means that the cookers are affordable to the largely poor who are reliant upon firewood and charcoal, providing a typical payback of 4-6 months for a Madagascan family.

In the year 2007 ADES received the national and International Price "Women's trophies" from the Yves Rocher Foundation and the Swiss Solar Price. 2008 ADES received the Doron Price.

www.adesolaire.org

2007 THE "GIVE A COW" PROJECT

Through the NGO, Alternativa3, a fair trade product distributor, we found out about the Zuá Foundation that works in Colombia.
Alternativa3 helps the Zuá Foundation find money to buy 10 cows (22,000 €) destined to "Los Senderos" rural study centre in the municipality of Sasaima. The Zuá Foundation is a non-profit-making Colombian organisation that offers help to neglected, extremely vulnerable Bogotà children, as well as their families.
Sasaima is 60 km west of Bogotá in the Cundinamarca region. There, several families who decided to get out of the poor quarters of Bogotá formed a rural cooperative with a sustainable development project.
Its income comes exclusively from the fruits and vegetables cultivated on the property, breeding chicken and the sale of their products in the local market.
Its only cow, Silvana, does not give enough milk for all the families in the community. Cow's milk is a rich source of proteins and, therefore, is an important part of their diet. By having more milk, they could supplement their own diet with yoghurt and cheese and sell part of what they produce. This income is necessary for educating the children and adults, building the houses and developing the agriculture and stockbreeding.

Information:

www.regalaunavaca.com
www.fundacionzua.org