The Dreikönigsaktion, the Relief Organization of the Catholic Jungschar, is responsible for coordinating the Austria-wide Sternsinger campaign for the professionally based awarding of the collected donations. Promoting children and adolescents, education, securing food, drinking water and medical care, upholding human rights and pastoral work as a ministry to the weakest: over 500 million people in these poverty-stricken areas are living in the poverty regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America reached directly. The Dreikönigsaktion cooperates with reliable local partner organizations. Industrial agriculture destroys our planet and makes people dependent – from seed companies, credit, supermarkets. But a good diet for all does not need more food, but variety from the field to the plate. Diversity protects against malnutrition and crop failures. That is why we champion the rights of smallholder farmers who can provide a stable and balanced diet. For this, peasant farmers worldwide need control over land, water and seeds. And they have to be able to market their products locally. With our partner organizations we organize training courses on agro-ecological cultivation methods. These offer independence from large agribusinesses. Equally, farmers can react better to climate change – working in a soil-conserving and profitable way.

 

AWARD is a non-profit organisation specialising in multi-disciplinary, participatory, research-based project implementation aimed at addressing issues of sustainability, inequity and poverty. Our work is based on systemic, social-learning approaches that build resilience through collective action and custodianship. AWARD works collaboratively with other organisations, developing strong and rich professional networks, striving to build natural resource management competence mainly in civil society and to some degree in government agencies, and private enterprise. The organisation believes this will help provide a foundation for robust and sustainable development policy and practice in South Africa that can stand up to an increasingly complex world. AWARD’s main geographical area of focus, although not exclusively limited to, is in the catchments of north-eastern South Africa such as the Olifants River Basin, which is a major tributary of the Limpopo River and an international watercourse shared between South Africa and Mozambique. We focus on the intersection between natural resources and livelihoods, especially those of the most vulnerable. We work across a number of natural resource and livelihood issues including climate-change adaptation, integrated water resources management, restoration of degraded ecosystems, and support for land claimants in reserve management and beneficiation, and capacity development for government in terms of land-use planning and IWRM. Our emphasis is on building collective action for systemic practice. Through DKA-support, AWARD has worked with small-scale farmers in the Bushbuckridge, Ha-Makuya areas, Sekhukhune and Sekororo areas of Mpumalanga and Limpopo Provinces.

More can be read at: www.award.org.za

 

With a strong focus on empowering rural communities, Mahlathini Development Foundation specializes in rainwater harvesting, conservation agriculture, and intensive homestead food production. They are at the forefront of initiatives that bolster food security, microfinance, and enterprise development, driving economic growth and sustainability in rural areas.Education is central to the Mahlathini Development Foundation’s approach. They design and implement comprehensive rural development programs that facilitate learning for a wide audience, ranging from semi-literate farmers to postgraduate students. Their training processes are inclusive, offering learning opportunities that cater to the diverse needs of adults in various stages of education.In their mission to foster resilient communities, Mahlathini Development Foundation collaborates with a spectrum of government and non-government organizations. Their work is characterized by a deep sensitivity to social issues, actively mainstreaming considerations for gender, disability, and the challenges faced by those living with HIV/AIDS in their projects and initiatives.As partners in the Tala Table initiative, Mahlathini Development Foundation’s ethos and methodologies contribute significantly to the collective goal of nurturing sustainable, self-reliant communities equipped for the future.