Prerna Community Organization

Darjeeling, West Bengal, India

The Prerna Community Organization works with communities in a participatory format to strengthen Ecosystem health, system level food production, and community management of its resources in an equitable and inclusive manner.

Challenge:

Introduce permaculture as a solution to create community strength and self-reliance.

Solutions:

In 2004, after a PDI-run Permaculture Design Certification course, Prerna adopted Permaculture as an organizational level strategy. Since then they have hosted many Permaculture Design Certification courses, some in different states. They have developed a permaculture-based farmer training that has variations for adjusting it to different demographics and project deliverables (CEPF, Tea workers, village farmers), worked consistently with bio-conservation, waste management, organic farming, and community health and empowerment. 

PDI team members continue to work with Prerna, providing educational assistance for 2 or more trainings per year, and contributing to their ongoing project work.  

Project Lead:Rico Zook