Credits
3
Prerequisites
None
Dates
Dec 28 – Jan 16
Program Countries
Malawi
Program Base
Lilongwe and Ntcheu, Malawi
Critical Global Issue of Study
Climate & Environment
Explore how thought leaders and communities in Malawi are addressing food insecurity, climate change, and economic uncertainty by employing agroecological and regenerative thinking, design, and practice.
3
None
Dec 28 – Jan 16
Malawi
Lilongwe and Ntcheu, Malawi
Climate & Environment
Food production ranks among the most environmentally significant of human activities. Agriculture is practiced in every corner of the planet in all but the most extreme of ecosystems. Life-sustaining agricultural practices are, however, often linked to habitat and biodiversity loss, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, and increasingly to the extensive use of chemicals and nonpoint source pollution. Producing food uses twice as much water as all other human activities combined. In this context, and given new challenges posed by climate change, rapid urbanization, and shifts in the balance of the global economy, how can we hope to sustain or even increase food production to meet the needs of nine billion people while ensuring the ecological health of our agricultural systems and the green infrastructure our communities rely on?
This course, based in Malawi, will examine different models of food production by introducing you to the exciting work around design thinking and design as a practice among regenerative movements and thought leaders. You will have direct, hands-on engagement with permaculture practitioners, agroecologists, smallholder farmers, and leading faculty in natural resources management and agroforestry while examining how regenerative design thinking and practices are applied to ecological systems as well as social systems, development, and food production.
This course will include an orientation; introductory activities; 10 faculty-led class sessions; guest lectures that will provide the theoretical frameworks for the course and historical background to the field sites and partner organizations you will visit; readings and assignments; and debrief sessions to synthesize all this material with faculty, local team, and peers.
The course is based at the Kusamala Institute of Agriculture and Ecology in Lilongwe and includes an excursion to an agroecology demonstration farm in Mchinji, a 10-day, rural-stay living with a community of smallholder farmers in the Ntcheu District, as well classwork held at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Explore a range of perspectives on agriculture, agroecology, and regenerative practices impacting food security from farmers to local leaders in Lilongwe, comparing efforts to increase yields through agricultural subsidies with improvements to food sovereignty and nutritional security via alternatives such as permaculture. Journey south to rural communities near Ntcheu and live among smallholder farming families while studying the effects of cultural traditions, climate change, drought, ecology, migration, and international aid regimes on agricultural histories and futures.
Please note that SIT will make every effort to maintain its programs as described. To respond to emergent situations, however, SIT may have to change or cancel programs.
The following syllabi are representative of this program. Because courses develop and change over time to take advantage of dynamic learning opportunities, actual course content will vary from term to term.
Agroecology and Regenerative Design in Malawi – syllabus
(ENVI 3010 / 4 credits)
Agriculture and food production
Nonprofit management
Government
International development
Sustainability and climate change