GreenSouth: Cultivating Vocational Ecologies of Practice

We are thrilled to share our participation in GreenSouth—a vibrant regional collaboration bringing together partners from Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Mozambique to strengthen vocational education in biodynamic and organic farming. Supported by Erasmus+ and rooted in a shared commitment to sustainability, equity, and relational learning, GreenSouth is not just about skills development—it’s about reimagining how we learn together for the future of food, land, and community.

At its heart, GreenSouth asks: What kind of learning truly serves the future of farming? What kind of training grows not just crops, but community of practice?

Since April, we’ve hosted two generative gatherings at Kufunda.The first convened organisations working in agroecology and farmer support—mapping the living ecosystem of practices, gifts, and gaps already present in Zimbabwe. The second centred the voices of farmers themselves, whose insights, challenges, and lived experiences are guiding the unfolding of this work.

Across both spaces, a clear thread emerged: True vocational education cannot be parachuted in. It must be co-created with those who hold lived experience of the land. This is not about delivering a static curriculum (there are already many!)—but about tending a living ecology of learning.

Through GreenSouth, we will:

• Align training with real market and community needs.

• Develop tools that support trainers in their unique contexts.

• Offer new courses in biodynamic and organic farming.

• Encourage the emergence of more women leaders in sustainable agriculture.

• Share what we’re learning, widely and generously.

And perhaps most importantly: we are weaving a web. A web of relationship, reciprocity, and co-responsibility—with farmers, trainers, organisations, and local ecologies.

Stay tuned as this work continues to deepen. This is just the beginning.