GoodHeart | MAIA Foundation championing sustainable development
Implements eco-villages in Denham Town, Hannah Town
Published:Saturday | March 19, 2022 | 12:07 AMKeisha Hill/Senior Gleaner Writer
THE MAKING An Impact All-Together (MAIA) Foundation, a non-profit organisation, is committed to shaping today’s young minds into tomorrow’s climate leaders. As an environmental charity, it is committed to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals to make Jamaica carbon neutral. In furtherance of this objective, the MAIA Foundation has developed two eco-villages into vibrant and positively charged community projects.
With the Kingston Metropolitan Area accounting for approximately 60 per cent of Jamaica’s population, and with one-fifth of the Jamaican population living under the poverty line, according to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, Marvin Campbell, founder and chief executive officer of the foundation, said they are working with vulnerable communities to overcome crucial gaps in technologies, knowledge, poverty, food insecurity and lack of entrepreneurial opportunities.
“The survey suggests that even before the COVID-19 outbreak, youth unemployment was above 18 per cent. Evidence had shown that before COVID-19, around 40 per cent of children from poor households in Jamaica did not regularly attend school, and between 25 per cent and 33 per cent of children attended school without having eaten because of limited household incomes,” Campbell said.
“As households face the effects of disruption in food supply chain, loss of employment, high levels of violence, cuts and income loss caused by the coronavirus, it is expected that the food and nutrition security challenge will be made worse by insufficient access to adequate food for some and poor eating habits for others, in near and medium-term,” Campbell added.
According to Campbell, the development and implementation of sustainable and climate-smart practices and models have been missing in those areas, and now more than ever, the need is urgent to adjust our thinking and transform these spaces and people.
“The project has been viable from the onset and has been growing weekly. The previous large space cleared by the MAIA Foundation at Golden Heights has been further built out by community members, who have established a wholesale, barbershop and a meat shop,” Campbell said.
“It has become very clear to us that the community members of Denham Town are craving opportunities to establish new livelihoods and ways to empower themselves, while uplifting the environment in which they live,” he added.
POSITIVE RESPONSE
Eco-villages have been implemented in Denham Town and Hannah Town in west Kingston, and Campbell said the responses have been overwhelming and positive. In both eco-villages, they have been planting crops including okra, callaloo, sweet pepper, cucumber, sorrel, Scotch bonnet and basil.
“We ensure that the organic seedlings that we plant out have passed the flowering stage, which allows for easy handling and fast reaping. These first stages of the eco-village installations were meant for one thing, and one thing only, exciting the community members while providing added nutritional value for their daily life,” Campbell said.
The foundation has also planted 10 to 12 feet fruit trees, including jackfruit, soursop, ackee, naseberry, mango, breadfruit and Otaheite apple, and six to seven feet banana and plantain trees. Some of the trees have already begun to bear fruit, including the ackee.
Campbell said they are taking steps to implement a training programme that will take advantage of the food-growing systems and new repurposing methods. The foundation will also partner with Lamayzac Development to build a learning centre in Golden Heights.
“The Learning Centre is a dedicated safe space for underprivileged students, dreamers, and friends. The learning centre, built completely eco-friendly, will fit perfectly into Jamaica’s first eco-village and aligns design-wise with the entire concept,” Campbell said.
He said it will assist the children of Golden Heights with issues in the learning curve and will also double as a training and workshop facility for the participants of the eco-village.