Inspiring initiative

Deep Medicine Circle (DMC) is a worker of a colour-led non-profit organisation that aims to “heal the wounds of colonialism through food, medicine, restoration, story and learning.” They emphasize the importance of healing and care for Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities and non-humans. DMC is formed by a collective of farmers, elders, physicians, healers, herbalists, lawyers, ecological designers, scholars, political ecologists, educators, youth, storytellers and artists. They pursue “earth-based, Indigenous ecofeminist principles of organising, with participatory governance structures and circles of decision-making.” In producing solutions to the climate crisis, they turn to indigenous knowledge to repair the broken relationships between people and nature.

During the pandemic, the Deep Poverty Network was established in 2019 as a solidarity network “that carries rights-based work in dozens of poor neighbourhoods that tackle urban poverty” in Istanbul. Besides their educational and policy activities on the root causes, dimensions and implications of poverty as lived by the most vulnerable (homeless, unemployed, Roma, and on the brink of starvation), the Deep Poverty Network carried out a food access campaign to 1000 families, 60 of which are women-led. It was founded by activists, researchers, sociologists, psychologists, and journalists.

The idea is to empower homeless women by encouraging them to demonstrate their culinary skills at street markets and festivals. This contributes to reducing the stigma associated with homelessness, proving that these vulnerable people are able and desire to work and help them to integrate into society.

The Good Garden is an innovative contribution to the joint effort from the local community and organizations to combat the violence against women in Serbia. It is a social enterprise engaged in the organic production of vegetables, especially cherry tomatoes, without pesticides and artificial fertilizers. Apart from that, the initiative provides training to the participants to learn social entrepreneurship, as well as organic production, with the support of the provincial agricultural expert services.