P
roject:
TICK BIRD
A NETWORK OF INTERNATIONAL VISITOR CENTRES
TEACHING GLOBAL & LOCAL SUSTAINABLE LIVING
Charity No. 1118476
Mission: Create an international network of visitor centres showcasing sustainable living.
“Our biggest challenge in this new century is to take an idea that seems abstract - sustainable development
- and turn it into a reality for all the world’s people.” - Kofi Annan, Former Secretary General of the UN
Funding:
We are in the process of forming a women’s co-operative at the new Malawi Tickbird Visitor
Centre to run a fair trade education workshop which will produce the world’s first Fairtrade certified organic
essential oil products, such as soap, to generate income for the centre. We are currently fundraising for
equipment for the workshop and an expert to provide hands-on training for the co-operative, with fair trade
training specialist skills being brought in from the UK, subsequently empowering each woman in the group.
This knowledge will then be passed from the group to the smallholder farmers of NASFAM (National
Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi) who will visit our site to learn about essential oils. In accordance
with equal opportunities, a good percentage of the farmers are women. We will also be developing an outreach
programme to assist the transfer of plants and knowledge to the local communities.
The farmers will be growing the organic essential oil crops which will allow a welcome diversity away from
growing tobacco. Furthermore, income will be provided to both the smallholder farmers and the members of the
newly formed women’s co-operative. Based on agronomist figures from a UK essential oils marketing expert,
Darryn Payne, returns to smallholder farmers will be at a minimum of 200% up on tobacco. Malawi’s exports
are currently dominated by tobacco and unfortunately the health and economic dangers for individual farmers
(and often their children) caused by this industry are felt across the country. Malawi now faces disaster as
tobacco prices per kilo are rock bottom – the Burley crop (main export type) has been reclassified internationally
as an additive. This policy, driven by the Canadians and now the US, is set to devastate this vital income stream
for a rural society that is already struggling.
Build A School is working very closely with Dyborn Chibonga, the CEO of NASFAM, who represent 100,000
smallholder farmers in Malawi, and a chartered chemist to help achieve this by Summer 2011. Build A School is
the first organisation in the world to secure Fairtrade status for organic essential oils such as citronella, geranium
and tea tree and has joined with NASFAM to begin the cultivation, expansion and export of these oils to
international markets. The charity is working with the Fairtrade Foundation in London and has two guaranteed
markets through certified customers already (once the oils are ready for export).
Organisation:
Build A School is a UK registered charity founded in 2007. The charity has worked
closely with the Malawian government and the UK Department for International Development. In 2008 it
formed a corporate partnership with HSBC to fundraise for schools in India and the Philippines. The charity has
successfully constructed two schools in Malawi and is about to start their third this year. In 2009 it purchased
land on the Bunda Road, Lilongwe, Malawi with a plan to develop the site into the ‘Tickbird Visitor Centre’ in
line with it’s mission statement “To provide education in sustainable living”. This centre will teach global and
local sustainable living in a central and accessible space for the Malawian people. Build A School also runs a
for-profit arm through two stores in the UK which are part of the largest chain of fair trade shops in the country.
This access to the UK fair trade market will provide a key route for sales from the products produced at
international Tickbird Visitor Centres. The business supports Build A School and lower UK overheads.
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P
roject:
TICK BIRD
A NETWORK OF INTERNATIONAL VISITOR CENTRES
TEACHING GLOBAL & LOCAL SUSTAINABLE LIVING
Charity No. 1118476
Background:
Solutions to problems are everywhere. However, the problem is the solutions are
seldom where the problems are. For decades NGOs and governments have trialed model villages, or specific
projects to target health, shelter, education etc. Knowledge, skills and equipment are brought by the donor to
the receiver with mixed success. In the 21st century, we now have improved communications and
opportunities to share the best ideas and technologies for the benefit of those in need. In many countries the
frustration lies in the fact working solutions are not replicated, or great technologies and ideas remain in
laboratories or in the hands of a few disparate groups scattered across the world. This new century has seen
the creation of a development framework through the Millennium Development Goals, yet perversely the
people targeted by the goals know little or nothing of the work done in their name. As mobile phone access
mushrooms in rural Africa, and broadband capacity sweeps the globe, there exists a space to showcase and
scale the best ideas in sustainable living to those most in need. A network of accessible physical visitor
centres can showcase the latest practices in sustainable living. Citizens of our global village can take this
content online to create an innovative forum where, from solar laptops to growing anti-malaria plants in
remote villages, local and international expertise can be brought together. Kofi Annan was right when he
described the concept of sustainable development as abstract. Making it a reality “for all the world’s people”
IS possible IF the poor majority are invited to the discussion, in a space with global reach with local focus.
Objectives: 1)2)
Develop a network of sustainable living visitor centres across the world.
Grow an online forum (Tickbird.tv) using knowledge gained from the network,
visitors and partners.
3) Partner companies, NGOs and other groups to scale relevant ideas and technologies.
Strategy:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Open three visitor centres in Malawi, India and UK to the public. More sites to follow.
Connect the sites online to allow the flow of information in sustainable living.
Generate funds from each site through fair trade workshops and online revenues.
Trial programmes at the three sites with local communities with a view to scale.
Malawi Site - BUNDA ROAD, LILONGWE
4 Acre Plot
Activities: 1) Visitor centre - Showcasing renewable energy, technologies and sustainable products.
2) Agriculture
3) Livestock
4) Fair trade
5) Online
Outcomes: 1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
- Meeting space for visitors and specialists in sustainable development.
- Food production and soil management.
- Medicinal plants.
- Goat management.
- Workshop to produce fair trade goods to create income for centre.
- Education space to provide education in fair trade processes.
- Internet space for visitors to share knowledge with others in network.
Facilitate the scaling of sustainable ideas and technologies to national community.
Scale trial groups on-site in food and medicinal plants to national community.
Scale trial groups in livestock management to national community.
Train Malawians in benefits and management of fair trade products.
Share, compare and evaluate knowledge from site to international community through
on-site internet – a “Which?” magazine model for aid.
Contact: Ann Page +44 (0)1227 456 400 [email protected] www.buildaschool.org.uk
Build A School, 1st Floor, 33 Burgate, Canterbury, Kent, UK CT1 2HA
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