LOOKING BACK | 2023
Strengthening the network of female farmers
This year Navdanya curated its ongoing successful trainings offered at the Biodiversity Conservation Farm with its women-centered group Mahila Anna Swaraj (MAS), continued the facilitation of seed exchanges at its community seed banks, and once again managed the sharing of knowledge among participants at its Seed and Food Festivals.
Earth University
2023 brought a plentiful year of courses on the farm and online. Some courses included: “Eco Feminism: The Creative Power of Nature & Women,” “Return to Earth: A-Z of Biodiversity, Agroecology & Regenerative Organic Food Systems,” “Gandhi, Globalization and Earth Democracy,” and “Soil Not Oil: Regenerating Biodiversity & Living Soil to Address Climate Change.” Facilitators of these courses included Andre Lue, Satish Kumar, and Dr. Vandana Shiva.
OUR YEAR IN VIDEOS
Thanks in part to generous donations, this year FON created the video series Diverse Women for Diversity: Voices of Resilience. In March of 2023, our Friends of Navdanya team traveled to India to interview Indian women farmers and international thought leaders at Navdanya’s Diverse Women for Diversity (DWD) festival about the perseverance & possibilities to build climate-resilient communities when we transition away from toxic industrial farming and move toward a sustainable and regenerative future.
Diverse Women for Diversity Festival
Navdanya Member farmers from all around India and thought leaders and policymakers from around the globe gathered to celebrate and share knowledge with cooking, music, dancing, seed planting, and presentations. The week was preceded by the collaborative efforts of creating Navdanya’a Ecofeminist Manifesto: Making Peace with the Earth, authored by twenty-three international scholars, environmentalists, and activists.
