Duayee, Liberia
Sustainable Village Project
Ecosa Summer 2010

Overview
•A Look at Duayee
oHistory
oCultural info--Needs and wants
•Ecology
oclimate, rainfall, soil types
•Economics
oFood
oMicro-financing
oEcotourism
oEnergy
•Society
oBuilt environment
oEducation
oPublic Health
• Conclusion

Charles Taylor

Gbehyi chiefdom
•Mano/Gio ethnic
•Mande Fu language
•Christian/ indigenous religions
•3,200 people in Duayee--
headquarters
•weaving, basket-making, pottery,
historically did metalwork

UN Millenium Development Goals
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
4. Reduce child mortality
5. Improve maternal health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development

Liberian Ecology

Climate
Tropical--hot and
humid (lies within the
tropic of cancer)
•In winter: dry with
hot days and cool to
cold at night
•Harmattan winds:
dust-laden winds
from the Sahara
blow from
December to March
•In Summer: wet,
cloudy with frequent
heavy showers
Nimba County: avg
temp 70-80 degrees F
Nimba County: avg
precip 50-95 inches/yr

Ecosystem
Three main ecosystems in
Liberia
•The Coastal belt
oMangrove swamps
oshallow lagoons
oTidal creeks
•Plateaus
oBroadleaf evergreen
Forests
oGrasslands
•Mountainous area
oBroadleaf evergreen
and deciduous forests
oGrasslands
Nimba County: Brush, grassland, cultivated
crops and treecrops AND Broadleaf
deciduous and evergreen forest

Topography and Watershed
The Yah River is a
tributary to St. John River

Food Systems
Research and Precedents

Current Food Situation in Liberia:
•high levels of food
insecurity and child
malnutrition
•Upland soils degraded
•Subsistence
farmers unable to
produce enough rice -
import
•Staple crops: Rice and
cassava
•Small number of live
stock

Current Agricultural Practices in Liberia:
•Subsistence farming
•Deforestation – has
increased by 17%
since the end of the
1990’s.
•Slash and Burn
cultivation has
increased
•Agribusiness

Crop Production and Exports
Main Staple Crops:
• Cassava (313,000 tons)
•Rice (210,000 tons)
•Bananas (90,000 tons)
•Plantains (35,000 tons)
•Yam and sweet potatoes
•
Cash crops:
•Cocoa
•Sugar cane
•Coffee (3,000 tons)
•Rubber (35,000 tons)
•Palm Oil (42,000 tons)

Current Initiatives:
•intercrop jatropha
•introduce bee keeping,
goat nursery, sheep, and
"can rat" nursery
•aquaponics
•design landscape for
edible plants and trees
•Co-op of farmers
contained within the SVI
network
•construct dry grain
storage and food drying
systems
•Sustainable Village
Service Center

Suggestions for Improvement of Food System
•
•Develop alternatives to slash and
burn such as Food Forest Gardening
and other organic methods that help
build soil.
•Implement Integrated Pest
Management
•Develop local economy where profits
are going to the growers, not foreign
corporations
•Incorporate goats and chickens into
food system
•
•Train farmers in seed saving and provide
access to tools

Precedent: Growers' Cooperative
CONACADO:
•Democratically run cooperative
organization in the Dominican Republic
•Helps small-scale cocoa producers.
•Founded in 1988
•Links 10,001 small scale producers
through 8 regional departments -
called Bloques (blocks) that serve 182
base associations.
Mission:
•Improve the income and living
conditions of cocoa producers and
their families
•Supporting a sustainable approach to
property management
•Strengthening business and
organizational practices
•Strengthening community
development.

Precedent:
Nyumbani
Village,
Kenya
• Eco-village: 1000
orphans/100 elders
• Half-acre family
"shamba" gardens
• 50-acre
intercropping
community farm
• animal husbandry

From Green to Evergreen
Problem: There is mass famine in 3rd world nations.
How to produce enough food to feed the hungry?
1940s-1960s-- Green Revolution:
Increased productivity WITHOUT regard to ecological/social harm
pesticides, irrigation, synthetic fertilizer, and
MONOCULTURE of improved-performance seed
1960s- Present day--Evergreen Revolution:
Increased productivity WITH regard to ecological/social harm
restoration of ecosystems through water harvesting, composting,
sustainable land practices ie. agroforesty, and
POLYCULTURE of genetically-modified seed
Is technology the answer to Liberia's food problem?
If so, to what degree?

Economics
Partnerships, Micro-finance, Tourism
and Energy Infrastructure

Global Partnerships
•Mittel and Firestone
•Distributed over 40,000 tools and 20 metric tons of rice seed
to 333,000 farmers in 2006.
•Employment increased.

Microfinance
•Micro Loans
•Community Savings
Accounts

Village Earth: Consortium for
Sustainable-Village Based
Development
•“Appropriate
Technology” Library
and Sourcebook

Las Gaviotas, Colombia
•30 year old
sustainable village
•Small scale
renewable technology
•Reforested area
despite acidic soils.
•Consistent Peace

Costa Rica – Sustainable
Tourism•Certification for
Sustainable Tourism
•Ecotourism
oRainforest Alliance
oRainforest tours
•Volunteerism
oAttracting hands that
can help and boost
economy while there.

Tropical Sustainable Buildings
Concepts, Materials, and Precedents

Current Housing
“There is a need to develop housing estates” - Nimba County Development Agenda
The 1998–2000 National Reconstuction Program placed housing issues as a priority for

"This is a library we were supposed to build, but didn't"

Current Housing Infrastructure Issues as Defined by the Nimba
County Development Agenda for 2008-2010

Tropical Sustainable Building Design Concepts

Ventilation

Shading

Orientation

Insulation:
•Lightweight and low heat-
storing materials (i.e. wood,
bamboo, grass, palm
•Keep attic heat out – using
vents
Roofs:
•Currently have a lot of
metal roofs – good for
rain catchment.
•Thatched roofs –
readily available
material, breathes,
good for humid
climates.

Natural Lighting

Vegetation

Precedent: The Soe Ker Tie House in Thailand
•Non-Profit group
TYIN focuses on
developing
humanitarian
architecture
•Buildings for an
Orphanage
•Worked closely with
locals
•Used local bamboo
•Used traditional Thai
building techniques
•Each hut collects
rainwater, has
natural ventilation,
and safely handles

Precedent: Rainwater Harvesting in the Philippines
•Rainwater harvesting initiated in 1989
•About 500 rainwater storage tanks were constructed in the Capiz Province
•Locals trained during process
"Rainwater harvesting could end much of
Africa’s water shortage" - UN Report

Dwellings
Building
Materials

The area is rich with
building materials, but
the village is depleted.
The rain forest is the
closest and best
source for traditional
building materials.

Using locally grown,
sustainable building
materials will help to
prevent rain forest
loss.

Bamboo
•Bamboo is a sustainable
building product.
•In the time it takes to grow and
harvest commonly farmed
timber, bamboo can be
harvested seventeen times.
•Bamboo has twice the
compressive strength of
concrete and the same tension
strength as steel
•Bamboo planting included in a
larger integrated system could
act as a living machine in water
purification and also serve as an
effective wind break

Clay
•Clay is abundant in the
region.
•Clay has been
used for
centuries as a
building
material
•Clay
construction is
easy
•Clay can have
many uses and
aplications

Earth Bags
•Earth Bag
construction
uses on site
materials.
•Earth bag
building is easy.
•Earth bag
constructions is
extremely strong
and durable.

Constraints
•Educated
workers
•Skilled workers.
•Funding for small
business.

Education

Current Educational Systems
Tufeia FoundationTeach Self Defense, provide scholarships,
afterschool programs, community college, internet service, community
peace clubs, trauma interventions and young women specific
advancement programsDuayee SchoolYouth Development
Committee built schoolVery little support, no books or official
curriculum

Culture Around Education
•Challenges facing education
oK-12 costs about $75 USD per year
oTeachers poorly paid and trained
oSex for Grades
oWest African Examination Board criteria rarely met for
graduation
oLack of Materials

Reviving Curiosity
•Liberian based books through community
publishing
•African Books Collective
•Oral Traditions
•Not basing education on tests and grades
•Reintegrating Nature into curriculum
•Getting the community involved in the
education process

Rainforest as a Classroom
•Field Labs maintain an
area for researchers to
study the rainforest and
learn from its ecology.
•Students get opportunity
to learn from Rainforest.

Center for Appropriate Rural
Technology (CART)
Community-driven project that functions as a life skills center
in the heart of Sicambeni Village, South Africa
SKILLS TAUGHT:
•Raised aerated
beds
•Brick machine
•Dams
•Biodigester
•Thatching
•Indoor gardens
•Sustainable
Houses

Opportunities to Build Capital
•Training the Natural Resource
Management Team
•Teacher Training
•Medical Training

Public Health

Current Personal Hygene

Health Care
•Existing Clinic
oServes surrounding
villages as well

Improving Sanitation
Solar Water Distiller
Grey Water Systems

Waste

The magority of the
waste in the area
consists of human
and animal waste, bio
mass, and
houshold rubbish.

Bio mass and human and animal
waste contain methane that can be
harvested as a form of natural gass.

Methane digesters
are an efficient and
effective method of
harvesting methane
from waste and bio
mass.
After methane has
been harvested, the
remaining material
can be composted
and used to
ammend soil.

With apropriate facilities,
bio mass can also be
burned to create electricity
and can be processed into
bio fuels.

Other types of waste can
be recycled or reused in
alternative building
products and crafts.

Giving consideration to the delicate history of conflict in the
region, sustainable practices in all areas of the community
have great potential to create a resilience that will expand
the pride of village members and the peace and stability
between surrounding villages.