There are many ways to contribute to the Friends of Muonde and to the work we support on the ground.
See the video below for an introduction and the original appeal for funding we launched in mid-2013 focused on backing the digital technology deployment to get the message out. Although we never raised the funding the enable The Muonde Trust to build a full website, other aspects of the program are now complete – this community now make their own films and photo-collages and use them comprehensively in their community education efforts.
Our main funding focus in 2016 is to enable Muonde Trust to build financial autonomy for its operations and community partners through enabling modest investments in micro-irrigation (solar powered and gravity fed drip irrigation) and to assist the Phiri Award to raise the funding necessary for next year’s award.
Donate
Here is how you can donate to the Friends of Muonde, a project of Earth Island Institute (501c3), which is tax deductible.
To contribute by check (also tax deductible), please make it out to Earth Island Institute (memo line Friends of Muonde), and mail to the following address:
Friends of Muonde
c/o Ken Wilson
3378 Revere Ave
Oakland CA 94605
Please contact us if you would like to discuss further any such donation, or wish to join our mailing list for events in the California Bay Area.
Friends of Muonde has been supporting work in Zimbabwe since mid-2013. Our funders are mostly individuals or small family foundations; some provide monthly gifts, some provide gifts for particular purposes (for example to fund a student A-level bursary), while others have provided general support.
We are particularly grateful to the following for grants of $25,000 or above: namely from the “Works-in-Progress Fund” at Tides Foundation (for support around indigenous agro-ecological innovation in 2013 and 2014), Kephalos Research Fund (for general support focused on soil and water management in 2014 and 2015, and for the second year of the Phiri Award in 2015), the Swift Foundation (for support to the Phiri Award for Food and Farming Innovation Trust to partially underwrite the launch of the Phiri Award in 2014), and from the Community Foundation for Eastern Connecticut (to support the production of a series of videos about Mr. Zephaniah Phiri and his indigenous innovation tradition in 2014).
Going forward we need more support!
In terms of tax-deductible gifts in the US we assure you that apart from the standard overheads of 9% charged by Earth Island Institute to cover their accounting, legal and administrative costs, all funds are remitted to the Zimbabwean efforts on the ground, or used for purchases in California of items they request (like second hand computers). This is made possible since Ken Wilson’s management time is entirely donated as part of his wider contributions to Mazvihwa, financial and practical.
Volunteer
Confident of their Karanga cultural values and indigenous knowledge, the Mazvihwa community enthusiastically welcomes volunteers who come with respect, a desire for mutual learning and a spirit of sharing. They are particularly interested in “practical dreamers” who have hands-on experience relevant to their challenges of improving their lives in a semi-arid environment, especially from other indigenous communities around the world. The women in Mazvihwa are particularly keen to have more women visitors.
A priority at the moment is people with experience of arid land ecological architecture.
Please contact us if you’d have interest in volunteering someday.