---
# System prepended metadata

title: EcoCOW APC member envsus application

---

# EcoCOW APC member envsus application

What is waste is changing fast 

Villages did not have a word for garbage in their vernacular. All “waste” was organic material which found its compost pit at the house or in the neighborhood. Compost was one of the main fertilizers for plants and farms. However, over the last few decades there has been an inundation of chemical fertilizers. Most farmers now completely rely on these fertilizers and pesticides for plant care. The significance of this is two fold: 1. While these products are an additional expense to the farmers they also degrade the soil causing a vicious cycle of dependency on these chemical products, and 2. Women take the burden of farmer debt by either pawning their jewelry or getting micro loans from self help groups.

However, there is a new product line called bio fertilizers and plant care products [m1] that has attracted some attention in rural areas and our villages. While these products are claimed to be effective products, the price tag on these are pretty high. One of our permaculture residents [r1] has also been making comparable bio fertilizers and plantcare products [l1] and exposing the farming community to these will lead to a more balanced turn around of a) cost saving, b) soil nurturing and 3) women enterprises. We have started experimenting with these products with some of the farming community with positive responses.

Our wish is to create awareness material for sharing about the benefits of these organic earth friendly fertilizers and plant care products, the awareness workshops, and to lead the women into a collective of support services for community farm products and entrepreneurial self help groups. The process documentation, product availability and resource map related to the makers, support groups, advisors, consumers and community feedback would be available on our COWMesh captive portal. Thus bringing stay at home women, maker women, marketing women to collectively engage and demonstrate the win win aspects of these products. That the raw material is all local and making costs of these products are less than 10% of the market value of these. We hope to see a virtuous cycle of rural production that directly contributes positively for climate change, esp., when we can foresee the scalability of these as products that are produced in rural regions that are made available also to urban gardeners.

We foresee that such engagements help bring digital technologies to the community women while also seamlessly allowing entrepreneurial possibilities to those who are expected to be “home bound” by their patriarchal families.

We also plan to provision soil fertility testing facilities so women can engage in analytical dialogs and an online accounting facility so they can discuss the cost saving, effect on yield and entrepreneurial income potential.

Our community radio and electronics lab is already working with women and the community to make small things like LED lamps, solar chargers and devices like community radios using electronic and plastic waste. Our craft center is a maker space that worked on making all natural craft products using the natural resources available in the area [c1]


Look forward to your feedback and hope to make this into an envus proposal.

[m1] modicare agricultural products
https://www.modicare.com/images/WellKids/Agriculture%20Range%20Training%20Presentation.pdf 

[l1] http://j.mp/altfrm intro video we made to visitors at the annual fair at the temple town.

[r1] https://www.travellersuniversity.org/post/a-nomad-for-whom-the-world-is-a-home 

[c1] http://crafts.janastu.org 

[c2] http://open.janastu.org/projects/cowmesh

[cx1] Rich in nitrogen, Fish Amino not only reduced the requirement of nitrogen fertilizer, but also served as a growth promoter enhancing yields. Being produced from wastes which hitherto resulted in health problems, fish amino also served as a means to reduce pollution in the region.
Fish Amino Acids fertilizer products are high in good old NPK - nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Without proper photosynthesis, plants will not grow. This process relies on the production of chlorophyll, which needs to absorb energy from the sun. Amino acids will help in the production of chlorophyll, which leads to quality photosynthesis.

---

1. What is the objective of this project?: 
Our objective is to encourage an earth friendly, self sufficient, chemical fertilizers and pesticide avoiding methods of a community network that uses the wifi mesh network as a platform that not only becomes a source of learning and sharing but also for entrepreneurial aspirations that are climate friendly.
2. What target community or audience will you work with?: 
Women of all ages in the villages who 1. do not have mobility due to patriarchal systems at work and 2. youth and women who wish to start their own enterprises (using the collective product output from the community)
3. What activities will you implement and what will be the output(s) of each?: 
Activity: 
1. 
10 workshops and awareness building audio visual media production; Production and marketing workshops, Each workshop can span an average of 2 days with accommodation and food as necessary.

1.1
6 Workshops on making earth friendly bio fertilizers and plant-care products  and exposing the farming community to these along with details on a) cost saving, b) soil nurturing and 3) women enterprises.

1.2
2 workshops on marketing and networking as a producer collective.
Outputs: 
1. Sharing of these on Community Wifimesh Network as a platform for collaborative climate friendly  enterprise 


Activity: 
2. Mapping community engagement with the program on the captive portal. This activity will include community representation and updating on the wifi mesh portal.
Outputs: 
2. Rendering the resource map on Community Wifimesh Network. With an active stock of products at different locations in the area.
Estimated date of completion: 
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Activity: 
3. Use of the products made by the community for the larger community and reaching out to nearby towns and youth leaders to propagate the practice and benefits; Social media awareness building of both the mesh as a platform and the significance of climate friendly practices
Outputs: 
3. interdependent climate friendly local system of entrepreneurial activity for women in the villages and inviting neighborhood villages and towns for workshops, production and lager significance of the collective work.
Estimated date of completion: 
Friday, December 30, 2022

5. How will this project contribute to your organisation? (Or to each of the participating organisations, in case of a joint proposal): 
Development of a captive portal as a platform cooperative and community network usage for climate awareness are significant positive activities for our organization. COWmesh is part of our rural research lab and our wish is to exhibit and expose the potential of community cohesiveness that mesh networks can bring about to a locality.
6. Which priority(-ies) of this call does this project relate to: 
Environment friendly processes that lead to a larger awareness building regarding climate change is the need of the hour and networks that encourage community awareness is a tough task at hand. Call priorities this project addresses:

Impact objective 2: Transformative practices, models and systems for environmental justice are identified, developed, adopted and promoted among the APC network.

