11 July, 1911 hrs, Lisbon time. From amongst 181 nominations worldwide from 117 countries, Dr Angela Merkel, Jury Chair, announced winners of Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity 2024, in the presence of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa – President of the Republic of Portugal, António Feijó – President of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The jury included Sunita Narain, Centre for Science and Environment. Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity, GPH, celebrates outstanding contributions to climate action and climate solutions that inspire hope and possibility across the world. The winner(s) get 1M Euro as prize money. Arguably the world’s largest agroecology transformation programme, Andhra Pradesh Community-managed Natural Farming (APCNF), working with small producers, particularly women, being implemented by Rythu Sadhikara Samstha, RySS, has won GPH 2024 jointly with Rattan Lal (USA/India), a scientist who pioneered a soil-centric approach to agriculture; and SEKEM (Egypt), in recognition of its Economy of Love Food Systems change work in sustainable agriculture, through the Egyptian Biodynamic Association – a network enabling farmers to transition to regenerative practices. Vijay Sir, and Nagendramma – Women SHG leader, Champion NF farmer, researcher, trainer, coach – received the GPH Medal on behalf of APCNF-RySS.
APCNF-RySS proposes to use its share of the prize, 0.33M Euro, towards Global Scaling of Natural Farming – exposure, demonstrations; training local champions; seeding best practitioners in their farm villages as community resource persons, for developing local models, champions; developing material, module, toolkits in their contexts; planning, system architecting, taking it viral; and so on.
At MSSRF, Chennai today and joined FOLU consultations on Food Systems Transformation, towards nutrient intense-diverse healthy diets available to all. Conclusions included: expanding scope of policy, engendering, small farmer-farmworkers, local prosumers, nutrient availability to all, repurposing-restructuring subsidies-incentives-support, decent jobs-livelihoods, local governance, engaging samaaj, baazaar, sarkaar et al. Consultations celebrated APCNF representing ‘NF in India’ receiving GPH 2024. It recognises the immense possibility and future promise. As Soumya spoke, I recollected: Swaminathan sir gave me the degree; Nithya was my senior; and Vijay sir got the MS Swaminathan Award from East Madras Rotary last year in the presence of Soumya Swaminathan.
As Aurobindo confirmed: can we get learners’ lens – we can learn everything; we learn best from our peers; we may tell, but we cannot teach anything really? Can we engage and challenge the minds of learners? Academic rigour, structure pushes the learner to get out of the comfort zone, to move into the unknown, unexperienced, and uncharted. Teachers and peers do not let learners flee. It should stretch them to the hilt, but let them not break down. After the stretch, with tension, fear going away, the learner moves one big step upwards. Probably the learner may not slip back. Mentor takes the learner forward. A new mentor for a new journey. This calls for learner’s agency – willingness, abilities, and spaces. Can we build the agency to exercise these? Then these journeys are joyous. The learners, mentors are consumers, producers, service providers, entrepreneurs, researchers et al.
Can we articulate what (plus where, when, whom…), to be observed, measured? These probably take us to results. Only plans and actions matter. Diligent. Rest would happen. Can we define, measure, do?
Yes, we can. If we coexist, if we co-flow, co-work. In N? suphalayoga for 7L.
Click here for a compilation of Yogakshemam updates.