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A model Congolese village

Agricultural independence, community self-sufficiency and sound environmental practise are the pillars of this eco-village in the Ruzizi Valley, Congo.

Photo: Alexander Petroff

In 2006, Alexander Petroff, founder of Working Villages International (WVI), journeyed to Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to promote the development of sustainable communities. Petroff had heard about a progressive village chief in the Ruzizi Valley who was willing to donate land so WVI could start an eco-village.

Victims of the country’s 10-year war, which has left 5.4 million dead and thousands more starving, now inhabit the village. The eco-village is based on Gandhi’s teaching of swadeshi, or localized economics, comprising agricultural independence, community self-sufficiency and sound environmental practise.

Along with the necessary land, Chief Obeni donated a dilapidated plantation to house WVI headquarters. Hundreds of villagers cleared land and renovated the building. Many assumed WVI would go to the nearby town of Bukavu to purchase a roof for the facility. Instead, Petroff paid villagers to put up a thatched roof with harvested grass and bamboo, thus keeping profits local. With the land cleared, volunteers planted a garden and built a half-mile road by hand in just a few days. Hoping to avoid what Petroff deemed “the Great White Hunter model”—wherein a foreign presence remains in the village—WVI helped the rural community thrive by recruiting gifted locals to provide leadership.

Two years after the WVI created the eco-village, many things have changed in the DRC. For the first time in 40 years, the government is democratic and, officially, the war is over. But fighting still rages. The number of dead continues to rise, and annual personal income has stagnated at $100. Starvation and despair still plague much of the country.

In the midst of that, Congolese agronomist Fiston Malago, recruited back to his native Ruzizi Valley by Petroff, trains locals to practise a form of sustainable agriculture seldom seen in central Africa. His methods range from mulching and composting to raised-bed gardening and green-manuring. WVI now employs around 500 villagers to farm organically, making it the largest employer in South Kivu province.

In an area where hunger is a looming problem, WVI has so far this year produced more than 200,000 pounds (91,000 kilos) of rice, a figure that’s growing by 50,000 pounds (23,000 kilos) a month, making WVI the leading area rice producer. The crop first goes to workers and their families, then to locals.

WVI also provides management and start-up capital to replace war-devastated infrastructure from homes to schools. This eco-village has become a model for how to build peace in the Congo.