Required
Resources and the Future of the Project
In
planning the project, future expenses and the desire to be
self-sufficient financially are major concerns. It is not
the object of the foundation to keep the community participants
dependent on us. As the project evolves, the skills and knowledge
needed to manage the project will be transferred to the community
participants. Of course, the foundation will continue to monitor
progress and act as a source of support when needed.
The
farming methods used will be traditional ones, so the cost
of tools and materials will be inexpensive. The traditional
approach is also more ecologically friendly and thus will
favor the future of the community and the project more so
than a more "modern", expensive, and ecologically damaging
approach. Environmentally conscious farming methods are becoming
more and more in demand in the European and US markets. In
the US, the organic products market has increased 20% each
year for the past five years, and the US government has finally
published standards for producing these products.
The
expenses of the foundation will result from activities for
realizing projects, such as buying seeds, tools for planting
or training materials, as well as fundraising and administrative
costs. Human resources costs should not be very high as the
foundation will not employ a large staff. It's role will be
to coordinate the efforts of others; the community participants,
agricultural experts, government and NGO's in the area, and
participating businesses, all who have decided to dedicate
time and energy to this idea.
Gaining
access to a parcel of land is key to the launching of this
project. If the foundation buys a piece of land, it will encounter
several difficulties. There is the price of the land as well
as the image an outside individual or organization creates
when they purchase land in a small community, which might
have belonged to a member family for generations. Because
the idea is to eventually transfer responsability of the project
over to the community participants, it would be impossible
for the foundation to recover any of the price it paid for
the land without impeding the progress of the project.
The
foundation will ask everyone who wants to participate in this
project to give a contribution. That can be time, work, money,
expertise...for the Moroccan government, the foundation hopes
this will mean putting two plots of land at its disposal so
it can take the first step of conducting the planting trials.
