Green Releaf Initiative

It’s been a few months since we declared our closure as a non-profit entity. We have been working in the background to formalize our partnerships and turn over with universities and organizations to help us continue our work and we look forward to updating you all about it once these are all final. Learn more about the reasons behind it and our transition steps via bit.ly/GRtransition For now, join us in celebrating our learnings and our impact for the last 7 years of designing for resilience and regeneration in response to disasters and displacement in climate and conflict vulnerable ecosystems in the Philippines. We thank you for all your support and collaboration! #disasters #resilience #regeneration #humanitarianinnovation #communityled #localization #naturebasedsolutions #permaculture #ecosystemrestoration

Its been one year since we journeyed with stakeholders of Cebu City for our Pamumuno Lab, a deep scaling learning journey across ecosystem regeneration leaders working for food sovereignty, regenerative livelihoods, and climate resilience after Supertyhoon Rai (local name Odette). Pamumuno means Leadership in Filipino with the word “Puno” meaning “Tree” as its root word. Last weekend we engaged our partners - the Cebu City government offices on agriculture, disaster risk reduction, and special projects on reforestation to address floods; the Communities for Alternative Food Ecosystems working with a network of smallholder organic farms on the island through the Cebu Farmers market; the Visayas Native Trees NATAD - a network of native trees and bamboo initiatives and cooperatives, and the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI). On the same day was the first of a series of curriculum design writeshops with University of the Philippines Cebu, and Visayas State University and a DRR specialist for the curriculum design of our restoration site models with the stakeholders to address floods, landslides, and unsustainable farming practices. Learn more about this event in the earlier post https://lnkd.in/g866Cx6T. We are grateful to those who joined us in this deep dive (some were unable to due to schedule constraints) from after a year on this learning journey, deepening our understanding of our role as regenerative leaders in the face of our vulnerability in the polycrisis taking place in the world. Our next gatherings would go deeper to the role of the self through a leadership retreat that would support a strategy planning to institutionalize all our next steps for the rest of the learning journey cycle. Our thanks to our partners the Commonland Wetlands International, the Direct Aid Programme of Australian Aid and the Conscious Food Systems Alliance for supporting our journey. #generationrestoration #regenerativedesign #placemaking #wholesystems #theoryu #kapwa #leadership #climateresilience

How might we design our solutions for regeneration together with community? Over the years, Green Releaf has engaged with communities in the frontlines of climate change and conflict. We also assisted in securing food during the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe that survivors at the edges like the grassroots leaders we worked with are the best teachers to guide us in developing our learning site on regenerative ecosystems for resilience and regeneration in Cebu City. Thus we have invited some of our partner leaders from different parts of the country after typhoons, floods, conflict, and the COVID-19 pandemic. They will join us for our next Kapwa Circle - Kapwa Sa Komunidad to share their stories on Saturday, February 10, 2010, 2-5 pm at the Multimedia room of the University of the Philippines Cebu. We hope you can join us and share your experience too and help us design what it means to design our solutions for food sovereignty and climate resilience together. Join us in this next kapwa circle in restoring and re-storying place and belonging with cultural memory and imagination as part of our deep dive strategy retreat series for ecosystem restoration and regeneration leaders. Learn more about our first kapwa circle on deepening our relationship with nature here: https://lnkd.in/gh5B5arW The event series are a part of the #theoryu stages of presencing and co-strategizing of our Pamumuno Lab in scaling ecosystem regeneration in Cebu in collaboration with Commonland Wetlands International Philippines and the Direct Aid Programme of the Australian Aid part with the support of the Conscious Food Systems Alliance for the Ubuntu to Kapwa Project on developing a deep design approach to conscious food systems across the Philippines, Colombia, and Cameroon with Allianzas para Abundancia and Better World Cameroon with support from Global Ecovillage Network Oceania & Asia and Gaia Education. Special thanks to LUSH Re-Fund, Re-Alliance, and Permaculture for Refugees, Catholic Relief Services, World Food Programme, Pilipinas Smart foundation and local government partners of the work done with these communities from 2017-2022 RSVP via bit.ly/RSVPpamati. Register on or before Friday February 9, 6 pm For More information: contact Kat via +63 926 385 2670 or email coordination.greenreleaf@gmail.com #resilience #regeneration #regenerativeaid #humanitarianinnovation #permaculture #foodsecurity #climateresilience #climatechange #covid19

It was truly special to work with this gathering as part of our deep dive for our Cebuano Stakeholders who are part of our Pamumuno Lab learning journey in scaling solutions for ecosystem regeneration after supertyphoon Rai /Odette.

“In Philippine culture, there is an underlying belief in the psychic unity of humanity. All human beings – even animals, plants and minerals -- share this innermost sacred core: ubod ng kalooban. This is implied by the concept of “kapwa,” the deepest meaning of which is shared divinity …with this interdependence implied by a shared matrix of being seeks affirmation in a celebration of togetherness: pakikipagkapwa.” - Felipe de Leon, Jr. How might we design our solutions from a deeper place with our shared sense of belonging and purpose with nature, community, and our selves? 
 Join us in restoring and re-storying place and belonging with cultural memory and imagination through our Kapwa Story Circles, a series of strategy retreat sessions for ecosystem resilience and regeneration leaders. Our first session out of four kapwa circles will open the series with sacred earth wisdom bearers who will share guidance on how we might connect deeper to our ancestral and biocultural heritage to guide our restoration and regeneration aims. Event details: February 3, 1-6 pm, venue in person TBA, online via zoom. This is a gathering made possible by our partnership with the Living Story Landscapes Project and its partners for “From Ubuntu to Kapwa” project on developing a deep design approach to conscious food systems in with the Restorying Landscapes in a Changing Climate project. Cebuano stakeholders who are part of our Pamumuno Lab for scaling ecosystem regeneration are invited to join in person as part of our deep dive together. RSVP via link in bio or go to bit.ly/RSVPpamati Registrations close on JANUARY 31. For more information: contact Kat via +63 926 385 2670 or coordination.greenreleaf@gmail.com #indigenouswisdom #earthwisdom #traditionalecologicalknowledge #bioculturalheritage #resilience #regeneration Our thanks to Commonland Wetlands International Philippines Australian Aid for supporting these deep dive sessions as part of our Pamumuno Lab collaboration for scaling ecosystem regeneration in Cebu after Supertyphoon Rai.