Towards sustainability and resilience : challenges to ecovillage development in the Gambian community Kartong

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Towards Sustainability and Resilience

Challenges to ecovillage development in the Gambian community Kartong

23-01-2017 Bachelor thesis Interdisciplinary Social Sciences

University of Amsterdam Ted van der Reijden Student number: 6057780 Supervisor: Dorine Greshof Second reader: Lianne Cremers 15.512 words

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4.5 Population ... 24 4.6 Operationalization ... 25 4.7 Ethics ... 25 5. Results ... 26 5.1 introduction ... 26 5.2 Economic challenges ... 27 5.3 Social challenges ... 28 5.4 Cultural challenges ... 31 5.5 Political challenges ... 34 5.6 Ecological challenges ... 36 5.7 Internal challenges ... 37 6. Conclusion ... 40 6.1 Research question ... 40 6.2 Reflection on theory ... 41 6.3 Discussion... 42 6.4 Evaluation... 44 7. References ... 46

Appendix 1: interview guide... 49

Appendix 2: operationalization model ... 50

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Maurice, all the KEN/PECEN members, Sandele staff and other people for the inspiring time I had at Kartong. Everybody was very welcoming and I had a beautiful experience. I hope that the project will continue to evolve in the right direction and that I will be able to contribute to it. Furthermore, I like to thank my supervisor for her laid-back supervision, which avoided unnecessary stress and made the thesis process a much less worrisome time as expected. I also like to thank my mother for her support and my cat for her company in these final early morning hours of my thesis. I should go and catch some well-deserved sleep now.

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Summary

This ethnographic study attempt to identify what challenges are being experienced by the involved actors of the ecovillage development project in Kartong, The Gambia. A participant observation was conducted in combination with a grounded theory data collection and data analysis method. Fifteen respondents have been interviewed to complement the findings. An interdisciplinary approach was applied to adhere to the multidimensional character of ecovillage development and to come to a full

understanding of the complexity of ecovillage development. The results show that a lack of financial and human resources form the main challenge for the project to successfully implement their plans and ecovillage concepts. These challenges are increased by the adverse effects of poverty, loss of cooperation, effects of Western influence, and the level of pro-activity. This study adds to the very little amount of existing research on ecovillage development of African villages. It may provide useful information for rural villages that embrace ecovillage development as a strategy to develop their livelihoods in a sustainable way while building a resilient community in the face of the expected adverse effects of climate change.

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1. Introduction

Despite one trillion dollar on development aid in the last fifty years African countries seem to be worse off than in 1970 (Moyo, 2009, p. xix). While traditional

development projects seem to have failed massively and are rather contributing to the continents problems (Moyo, 2009), the effects of global warming are seriously threatening food sovereignty of the vulnerable African countries (Olivier, 2015). Without sustainable development the continent is on track to a major humanitarian crisis.

The ecovillage concept is presented to Africa by the Ecovillage Movement as a ‘radical alternative’ to locally tackle their developmental problems and contribute to the fight against global warming (Olivier, 2015, p. 7-9). Ecovillage development aims to holistically integrate and develop all four dimensions of sustainable development within a community: economic, ecologic, social and cultural/worldview (Wagner, 2012, p. 147).

This research will focus on identifying the challenges that are being experienced by the involved actors of the ecovillage development project of the Gambian community Kartong. The village leaders signed a document in April 2013 that announced their aspiration to become an ecovillage (Olivier, 2015, p. 22) Being the first village in The gambia resorting to ecovillage development, Kartong holds a pioneering status. Identifying the challenges experienced in the project will add to the still minimally studied subject of ecovillage development in Africa. Furthermore, it will provide valuable information for neighboring villages that also aspire ecovillage development.

The research methods that are employed to identify the challenges are ethnography and grounded theory. Data is collected trough participant observation complemented with interviews. The data that derived from these methods will be analyzed by applying the grounded theory analysis method as described in Bryman (2008) with some elements of the approach of Charmaz (2006). With these methods, it is expected to be able to adequately map the different challenges the involved actors of the ecovillage development project are experiencing.

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2. Theoretical framework

Considering the societal relevance ecovillages have become subjects of increasing interest among mainstream society as well as scholars. In the following sections an outline will be provided on the existing scientific literature on the subject. First, a description will be given of the history and development of the Ecovillage Movement (EVM from now on), along with the current debate that exists in the movement. Subsequently, an overview on the previous research done on ecovillages will be provided. After that the focus will be narrowed down on ecovillage development (EVD from now on) in Africa and The Gambia. Theories from different scientific disciplines will be explored here in order to illustrate the context of the research focus and to explore possible challenges that might be encountered in the research phase.

2.1 The Ecovillage Movement

An ecovillage is a type of intentional community that aspires to create a more humane and sustainable way of life. Before going into the various definitions of ecovillages we might first take a look at how an intentional community is defined. The

Fellowship of intentional communities defines an intentional community as: “A group of people who have chosen to live together with a common purpose, working

cooperatively to create a lifestyle that reflects their shared core values” (Christian, 2013, p. xvi). According to Kasper (2008, p. 13) they may share some or more of the motives and goals of intentional communities but an emphasis is laid upon ecology and sustainability, which forms a base for the design and organization.

The origins of the term ecovillage can be traced back to May 1991 when Robert and Diane Gilman (1991) presented a research named ‘Eco-villages and Sustainable Communities’. The Gaia Thrust Foundation, an association devoted to furthering the growing movement toward sustainability, commissioned the research and its objective was to produce a report identifying the world’s best examples of ecovillage models. In the following summer Robert Gilman (1991) defined an ecovillage as a “human-scale full-featured settlement in which activities are harmlessly integrated into the natural world in a way that is supportive of healthy development, and can be successfully continued into the indefinite future” (Mare, 2000, p. 4).

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In the course of the following 25 years more definitions have come into existence, in order to capture the changing vision and mission of EVM and it’s driving organization Global Ecovillage Network (GEN). One of the latest definitions, which will be used in this research, is the definition being used by GEN: "An

Ecovillage is an intentional or traditional community using local participatory processes to holistically integrate ecological, economic, social and cultural

dimensions of sustainability in order to regenerate social and natural environments”. This definition is still far from being concrete and clear, but as Meeson (2013) points out this may be deliberate, to stress the importance given to pluralism and diversity within the ecovillage movement (Oliver, 2015, p. 6).

The EVM grew out of the broader field of sustainability movements dating back to the 60’s and 70’s (Mare, 2000, p. 5). They adopted the current name after the successful introduction of the term ‘ecovillage’ in a conference at the Findhorn community in 1995, where they “struck a chord that resonated far and wide” (Jackson, 2004, p. 1). The EVM can be seen as rooted within the anti-globalization movement, a movement originated in the 90’s that opposes the global rise and implementation of the capitalist model, which it considers the main cause of

environmental destruction and increasing inequality (Hammond, 2015, p. 38 – 39). In contrast with this movement however, the EVM does not focus its energy on opposition and protest but rather on building the world they wish to see. With very little resources and support from governments they are building their own ideal world in the form of small sustainable communities. They are ‘walking their talk’, providing an example model for possible sustainable living (Jackson, 2004, p. 2). Their vision is not to oppose the status quo in order to reach societal change, but rather to build a new model that will make the old become obsolete (B. Fuller, in GEN (n.d. (a))).

2.2 Meeting in the middle

Today, an important aspect of the ecovillage research in the academic literature is the debate whether the ecovillage concept can function as a model for societal transition to sustainability on national and global scale. Blouin (2007) states that ecovillages are not able to function as models for the transformation of the entire industrialized society, their scope only extents to sustainable solutions on the local level (Wagner, 2012, p. 87).

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Others (Joubert, 2014 & Jackson, 2004) argue that the ecovillage concept is the way for societal transformation to sustainability on a larger scale. However, this is only possible if the implementation and development of the ecovillage model is being supported by the government. The current president of GEN, Kosha Joubert (2014), stresses the need to couple ‘bottom-up’ with ‘top-down’ processes in order to support societal transition and the scaling-up of grassroots solutions to climate change.

This conceptual duality between ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ is a well-known subject within the social sciences. For example, in his book ‘Seeing like a state’ James C. Scott (1998) argues that top-down development projects of the state to achieve societal change are doomed to fail. He uses many examples of failed government projects to support his thesis that top-down strategies to change utterly complex subjects as societies or individuals do not work because of an

oversimplification of the reality. A lack of ‘metis’, which can be described as locally applicable, practical knowledge and skills, is why these projects inevitably fail (Scott, 1998, p. 313). This is exemplified in relation to Africa by Houngnikpo (2007, p. 267) who states: “Since independence, many African nations have experimented with diverse approaches to economic development; they have failed because the experiments were mostly designed by experts who have never lived in or been to Africa and whose plans did not fit the circumstances in Africa”.

Considering the ideological and philosophical nature of GEN as a ‘grassroots bottom-up’ movement, an association between GEN and national governments may prove to be difficult on the practical level. This is shown by Olivier (2015, p. 35), who studied the EVD project in Senegal. This project, led by the Agence Nationales des EcoVillages (ANEV) is the first in the world where EVD is being carried out by the government. The Senegalese division of GEN, GEN Senegal, already existed before the beginning of the government project. In his article, Olivier reports that the two organizations do not go along very well. GENSEN accuses ANEV of a lack of ‘feeling’ with the local needs and that its program is too narrowly focused on economic development (Olivier, 2015, p. 14 & p. 32). Meanwhile, ANEV criticizes GENSEN for not being credible enough to collaborate (p. 14) due to a lack of structure and cohesive leadership (p. 33).

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2.3 Previous research on Ecovillages

Ecovillages and GEN experience a rising level of interest in mainstream society. As a consequence, ecovillages have also increasingly been the subject of academic

research in recent years (GEN, 2016). In order to capture this growing field of ecovillage research, Wagner (2012) has written a meta-analysis on the subject. Despite the fact that his review dates from 2012, it provides a good overview over which aspects of ecovillages have been studied and reflects what academic disciplines are involved.

Wagner (2012, p. 85) takes into account 59 studies, conducted between 2000 and 2012. Of those studies, 49 have a social science or humanities approach and the remaining ten have a natural sciences approach. Subsequently, he divides the social sciences and humanities realm into three categories: examinations of the perspectives of individuals, sociological investigations, and ethnological and cultural

investigations. These categories can be compared to the academic disciplinary division between psychology, sociology and anthropology, which illustrate the multidisciplinary nature of ecovillages (p. 86).

From the field of psychology, research subjects varied from the motivations to become part of an ecovillage, the effects of living in an ecovillage on the individual, sense of belonging and the relationship between humans and nature. Furthermore, the social dimension of ecovillages has also been studied, including topics such as

individual views on communal living and experienced difficulties for individuals in ecovillages (Wagner, 2012, p. 86). Research rooted in sociology consists of studies about the concept of ‘community’ and the emergence, transformation and dissolution of communities over time. Operating at the intersection between sociology and social psychology were the studies focused on organization structures, decision-making policies and the process of admittance and integration of new members (Wagner, 2012, p. 86).

One of these reviewed researches was of specific relevance for the focus of the present study. Kirby (2003) focused on the environmental and social relations in Ecovillage at Ithaca in the United States of America. In the conducted interviews one of the topics of inquiry was the major challenges that have been faced in the first five years of the ecovillage’s existence (p. 326). The challenges found were being divided by Kirby in three categories: personal challenges, interpersonal challenges and situational challenges.

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Kirby (2003, p. 329) refers to ‘consensus issues’ as a type of challenge experienced on the interpersonal level. Consensus is a style of decision-making whereby decisions are only valid when all of the participants have agreed, in

comparison to a majority with a democracy form of decision-making. Although this style has its benefits and is considered important for the development by the members of the ecovillage it also caused tension between the members when the group could not come to an overall agreement. Furthermore, Kirby (p. 329) shows that the communication between the members of the ecovillage proved to be a source of big challenges for the social cohesion within the ecovillage. The members emphasized that open communication is very important in order to avoid internal conflict and a course in non-violent communication has contributed to that.

However, in regard to the focus on EVD in Kartong, there is an important shortcoming in the existing academic research on ecovillages. Most of the research conducted on ecovillages focused on ecovillages located in ‘developed’, or

modernized, countries (Wagner, 2012, p. 86), which cannot be compared to African countries. Karen Svensson (2002) writes that in the more modernized countries ecovillages are mostly of intentional nature; build up by scratch, by a group of individuals or families that share the same values, ideas and desires. In Africa and other countries with a relatively low level of modernization, the majority of the population still lives in traditional villages with the social, cultural and spiritual fabric still intact. The implementation of the ecovillage concept is being motivated by problems such as poverty, rural exodus, disappearance of traditional culture by globalization and the growing numbers of monocultures (Svensson, 2002, p. 12).

Moreover, the ecovillage concept is adopted in order to build resilient communities in the face of climate change and environmental destruction (Joubert, 2014). Instead of construction of an ecovillage from scratch, these villages pass through an ecovillage transition or EVD process. This important difference between ecovillages in modernized and traditional countries limits the relevance of the research conducted on Western ecovillages for exploring the challenges of EVD in Africa. The few researches done on EVD or ecovillages that provide relevant information in relation to The Gambia will be discussed below.

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2.4 Ecovillage Development of Kartong

In addition to the analysis of the government-led EVD project in Senegal, Olivier (2015) also explored the EVD project in Kartong. He writes that the community is confronted with severe developmental problems. Destruction and exploitation of the natural environment, combined with poverty, high unemployment rates and a fast growing population are undermining the sustainability of the community and pose a serious threat for the near future (Olivier, 2015, p. 21). As an alternative to the top-down development projects of NGO’s, Kartong has turned to the EVM to address these problems. The EVD concept was proposed by Maurice Phillips and Geri Mitchell to “protect local culture, traditions and indigenous knowledge while promoting self-sufficiency, environmental regeneration and community spirit”. (Olivier, 2015, p. 21-22).

After the embracement of the EV concept by the village in 2013, Sandele hosted two Ecovillage Design Education (EDE) courses and one Permaculture Design Course. Sandele is the eco-resort Maurice and Geri have build on a strip of coastal land leased from the community for 25 years. In the first edition in 2014, primarily local villagers of Kartong participated. After the EDE they formed a group, which they named Kartong Ecovillage Network (KEN). The second EDE in 2015 hosted participants from eight nearby villages and three Senegalese villages, along with participants from Guinea Bissau. After this EDE the People’s Coast Ecovillage Network (PECEN) that is a ‘community of communities’ and connects the several villages.

In contrast to traditional development projects that primarily focus on

economic development EVD takes on a holistic approach, by taking into account their four dimensions of sustainability: economical, ecological, social and cultural (GEN, n.d.(b)). Since the formation of KEN fifteen projects have been set up including a women garden group, food processing, turtle conservation, permaculture garden, composting, solar boat, a shop, village awareness raisers and cleanups, recycling and a tree planting project (Olivier, 2015, p. 22).

In relation to the subject of the present study on the challenges that the involved actors experience in the EVD project the coming paragraphs will focus on elaborating on the problems and potential challenges in Kartong. These will be supported by theoretical context derived from multiple scientific disciplines.

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2.5 Ecovillage development and poverty

As mentioned before an important motivation for EVD in Kartong, and Africa in general, is to combat poverty and increase the livelihoods of the people in the

community in a sustainable way (Svensson, 2012, p. 12). The level of poverty in The Gambia is high; almost half of the population lives under the poverty line (CIA, 2014) and the country ranks 174th_{out of 188 on the UNDP Human Development Index} (2015, p. 283).

Although it is one of the problems that the project focuses on, poverty may also be a factor that will have an inhibiting effect on the EVD project. This is based upon the poverty trap theory of Jeffrey Sachs (2005). The idea behind this trap is that the people in the poorest countries are not able to increase their livelihoods because the little money they earn or the food they grow is immediately being used to meet their basic needs. In the words of Sachs (2005, p. 57): “The poor are too poor to save for the future and thereby accumulate the capital that could pull them out their current misery”. Sachs (2005) points out that financial aid is required in order to be able to escape the poverty trap.

This is an important feature to take into account regarding the EVD project in Kartong because the project is not funded by the government of The Gambia in contrast to the EVD of ecovillages in Senegal (Olivier, 2015). The lack of capital could form an important challenge to the EVD project in Kartong, as Christian (2013, p. vii) showed that financial resources are an important reason why 90% of the

ecovillages never come of the ground or dissolve in a premature stage.

In addition to the lack of capital to make the investments for EVD, poverty also seems to have a negative effect on the possibility for sustainable behavior of individuals. Julius Coles (2008), a former president of the NGO Africare illustrates this in a column about the challenges to sustainable development. He writes: “Trees are cut for fuel wood, land-degrading farming systems have been adopted, wildlife are being hunted to extinction, all in an effort to satisfy today’s pressing livelihood needs. Unfortunately, these activities have not only worsened the situation of the poor living in Africa today, but they will also have implications for future generations to come” (Coles, 2008, p. 1).

To a certain extent this effect of poverty on unsustainable behavior may be understood by the theory of human behavior of Abraham Maslow. In his

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represents his ‘hierarchy of needs’. He states that humans are being motivated by five different needs, which are hierarchically ordered in his pyramid. The first basic need that humans have is physiological needs such as air, water, food and shelter. This need is followed by security needs, social needs, self-esteem needs and the need for self-actualization (Maslow, 1943, p. 372-382).

Maslow (1943) states that humans will only be concerned with the fulfillment of the needs higher in the hierarchy if the previous needs are being met. For example, if security needs are not being met, humans will not pursue the fulfillment of their social needs. This theory relates to the case of sustainable development in Africa in the sense that in his model poverty can be seen as the lack of security needs

(economical security) or in some cases even physiological needs (lack of food and water). In light of this theory, poverty can be expected to form an obstacle to

sustainability, as this cannot be pursued when the physiological and security needs are not being met.

2.6 Culture of dependency

In addition to this possible negative effects of poverty on the EVD project, one of the respondents of Olivier (2015) points toward the existence of a ‘culture of

dependency’ that he experiences as a challenge for the EVD project. He explains: “There is a collective lack of confidence. This is a bit of a legacy of colonial rule that tells Africans that they are not capable of doing things themselves, worsened by years of failed NGO projects” (p. 21). The existence of a culture of dependency due to colonial rule is supported by Ali Abdi (2000) who states that colonial rule had a great influence on the culture of the colonized countries, and has drained the self-esteem of the nations and raised the doubt in the individual and collective capability (Abdi, 2000, p. 12).

Furthermore, Kenyan Nobel peace price winner Wangari Mathaai (2011, p. 1) endorses the contribution of development projects of NGO’s to this ‘culture of

dependency’ during the last fifty years. She states that the disempowerment that it has caused among the African people is one of the biggest and most unrecognized

problems, equating it with inadequate infrastructure and bad governance as bottlenecks to development. According to Mathaai development aid taught most Africans that they cannot take care of things themselves and created apathy and a lack of confidence (Mathaai, 2011, p. 1).

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This challenge of a dependency culture that the EVD project is facing can be elucidated by the structuration theory of Anthony Giddens (1979, in Calhoun et al., 2007.) In his theory Giddens poses a duality model where he opposes structure and agency. He refers to agency as the free will of individuals, as their ability to make their own choices and act independently in the world (p. 232). Structure on the other hand, can be understood as the social forces that exist outside the individual. These are the rules, norms and social context that form the structure that influences the levels of agency among the individuals (p. 235.)

When we reflect on the dependency challenge in the EVD project from this structure-agency perspective it appears that the existing structure of colonial history and western development efforts seems to have decreased the level of agency of the population of Kartong. The EVD project tries to break with this structure by

empowering the community and encouraging individual responsibility to take ownership over their own future (Olivier, 2015, p. 8).

On top of this dependency challenge, the respondents of Olivier (2015) mention additional negative effects of Western development programs and exposure to the Western culture. Respondents point out that the western-led development strategies have created selfishness and exploitation of the local environment due to their emphasis on the monetary system (p. 21). One respondent states: “thanks to Western development and the influx of tourism to the Gambia many people are now seeing only the economic value of the trees whereas before they were considered living beings” (p. 31).

In his article about the EVM, Ross Jackson (2004) argues that this can be attributed to the imposition of the neo-liberal economic model in Africa. The dominant neo-liberal system does not take the destruction of the environment into account in its models. Jackson (2004, p. 4) states that the neo-liberal system does not put any value to the environmental social aspects of our society, and thus actively encourages the destruction of those.

2.7 Ecovillage development and climate change

In addition to achieving sustainable development, EVD also aims to increase the resilience of communities to withstand external shocks (Joubert, 2014 & Olivier,

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2015, p. 30). In the case of Kartong this is important to take into account, as The Gambia is particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change and this may undermine the EVD project. The University of Notre Dame ranked the country 157th on its Global Adaptation Initiative (ND-GAIN, 2015). This scale measures the vulnerability of a country to climate change by combining the environmental threats with its ability to adapt to these.

The effects that climate change already has and will have on The Gambia have been investigated by Jaiteh & Sarr (2012). They conclude that: “overall predicted climate change and variability will present important short-term and long-term challenges to development efforts in the Gambia” (2012, p. viii). The consequences of climate change for The Gambia on short-term will be an increase of extreme weather that will likely influence the food production. Furthermore, windstorms and floods will become more frequent and with higher intensity. Especially the increase of periods of drought and the intensity of these pose a serious challenge to The Gambia (p. viii).

Furthermore, long-term effects of climate change will also pose challenges to the development of The Gambia in the form of sea-level rise, which will cause coastal erosion that in turn will have potentially negative effects on tourism sector of The Gambia. At the moment the tourism industry is of essential value to the Gambian economy and provides an income for many Gambians (Jaiteh & Sarr, 2012, p. viii).

In conclusion it can be said that EVD can be considered as a very viable strategy for the development of Kartong into a sustainable and resilient community. By taking into account all dimensions of sustainability it applies a more holistic strategy

compared to conventional development projects that have not been able to contribute to the development of Kartong. However, in the mission of KEN to develop Kartong in The Gambia’s first ecovillage it will inevitably face many challenges due to the difficult context it is operating in.

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3.1 Problem definition

The theoretical framework shows that although ecovillages and EVD has been a growing subject of interest among scholars, research is mainly focused on Western or modernized countries (Wagner, 2012). Recently however, a few researches have been conducted on the emerging EVD in Africa. EVD is presented as an effective

development strategy for sustainable development of traditional villages. It provides a holistic alternative to the failed conventional development for villages to address the many developmental problems they are facing (Olivier, 2015, p. 21). Furthermore, EVD aims on developing resilience to climate change consequences and contribute to the global effort to reduce and reverse these effects (Joubert, 2014).

However, debate exists about the right strategy to increase and scale-up EVD. Some argue that top-down government-led EVD cannot be successful, as it does not take into account the essential grassroots nature of ecovillages. Others say that bottom-up community-led EVD cannot succeed without support of the government due to a lack of structure and resources (Olivier, 2015, p. 31-32). Whether the last statement is true is an important question for EVD in Africa and has not yet been studied in scientific research.

In an attempt to provide an answer to this, the goal of this research is to identify and capture the challenges that the community-led EVD project in Kartong is encountering. Kartong is one of the very few examples of villages that embraced EVD as a community-led strategy to address the developmental problems and build a resilient community in the face of climate change. This study will focus on

economical, social, cultural, ecological and political features of the community

Kartong that may pose challenges to successful EVD. The results of this research may prove to be of much value to Kartong as well as other villages in The Gambia that are interested in EVD.

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3.2 Research questions

To identify and capture the challenges the EVD project is facing, a focus will be laid upon the experiences of the involved actors of the project. The central question in this research is: What challenges do the involved actors experience in the ecovillage development project in Kartong?

In order to provide a complete answer to the research question five sub questions are formed. These sub questions correspond with the different dimensions of EVD as described by GEN (n.d. (b)) in its literature and EDE curricula. These are economical, ecological, social and cultural. The fifth sub question covers the political dimension, which is added because of its expected relevance in answering the research question. Furthermore, the dimensions in the sub questions are based on external literature that point towards possible challenges, as is described in the theoretical framework. 1. What challenges are being experienced within the economic dimension of the ecovillage development project?

Research has shown that insufficient financial resources are an important contributor to the fact that an estimated 90% of planned ecovillages never get of the ground or dissolve (Christian, 2013).Although the situation in Kartong is much different due to its goal to develop an already existing village, it is clear indication that a lack of financial resources might pose a challenge to the EVD project. Furthermore, as Sachs (2006) and Maslow (1943) have pointed out, poverty among the population may also undermine the EVD project.

2: What challenges are being experienced within the social dimension of the ecovillage development project?

In the social dimension challenges may be present in the form of communication problems or disagreements among the different actors within KEN. Research of Kirby (2009) showed that the communication and decision making with a group proves to be important sources of challenges in the ecovillage she studied. Furthermore, a lack of agency among the population of Kartong caused by historical and contemporary structures (Giddens, 1973) may also provide a challenge to the EVD project. 3: What challenges are being experienced within the cultural dimension of the ecovillage development project?

The choice for this sub question on possible challenges within the cultural dimension is based on the effects of exposure to the West on the culture in Kartong as described in the theoretical framework. Olivier (2015), Abdi (2010) and Mathaai (2011) speak

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of the existence of a culture of dependency, which entails an individual and collective lack of confidence and pro-activeness. Furthermore, a loss of cooperation as a result of individualization and the increased importance of money can be expected as challenges to the EVD project (Olivier, 2015 & Jackson, 2004).

4: What challenges are being experienced within the ecological dimension of the ecovillage development project?

This sub question takes into account any ecological challenges to the EVD project. The destruction of the natural environment (Olivier, 2015) together with the effects of climate change may pose serious challenges for the EVD project (Jaither & Sarr, 2012).

5: What challenges are being experienced within the political dimension of the ecovillage development project?

This sub question serves to explore whether any challenges are experienced in relation to the government or other power relations within the community. Because the EVD project is community-led they might experience difficulties with the government, prohibiting laws or local authorities as they are trying to change the community.

3.3 Scientific and societal relevance

Within the Global Ecovillage Network ecovillages are presented as a local solution to the global problem of global warming and climate change. In order to support this statement many scientific researches have been conducted on ecovillages and their ability to function as a model for societal transition (Blouin, 2007 & Wagner, 2012). However this research is limited due to its focus on Western modernized countries. Within the scientific literature about ecovillages there is still very little research that has focused on the developing countries. This study adds to the scientific research on the possibility for traditional villages in Africa to employ community-led EVD as a strategy for sustainable development and adaptation to climate change effects. It aims to identify the challenges that are being experienced in a community-led EVD project, which contributes to extending the scientific knowledge about the possibilities and feasibility of EVD in Gambian villages, and to a certain extent African villages.

This study may prove to be very useful for KEN and the EVD project in Kartong. It will provide an overview on the challenges the several actors are experiencing and may shine a light on challenges that are yet unknown. With its

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leading role in the EVD in The Gambia the results are expected to also be very relevant for the neighbouring villages that aspire EVD as an alternative strategy for sustainable development. It is expected that this study might even be more relevant for these other villages, as KEN is probably to a large extent already aware of most of the challenges it is facing.

Considering the necessity for rural villages in The Gambia, but also in Africa in general, to employ effective strategies to adapt to the expected consequences of climate change this study makes an important contribution. It may help EVD groups of other villages to become aware of possible challenges, which could enable them to avoid these challenges. Furthermore, in the face of the global challenge to transition into sustainable ways of living the EVD approach is becoming a popular possibility. However, debate exists about whether the ecovillage concept could also be applied on a larger scale. With a population of approximately 5000 to 6000 the EVD project in Kartong provides a contribution to answering this question.

3.4 Interdisciplinarity

Menken et al. (2014, p. 22) point out that interdisciplinary research typically addresses problems derived from complex systems. They address two main drivers toward interdisciplinary research: the inherent complexity of nature and society and the need to solve societal problems (p. 24). EVD in Kartong can be seen as operating on the intersection of these complex systems of nature and society, driven by the necessity for societal transition considering the current unsustainable human activities (Joubert, 2014).

EVD is a complex process, which can be approached and studied from

multiple academic disciplines. Thus, in order to come to a thorough understanding of this process, all of the different disciplines must be taken into account. Better yet, the disciplines can be integrated. Furthermore, in relation to the complexity and diversity of African societies Linda Semu (2013) states that in order “to evaluate and

understand the continent’s economic, political, social, and cultural dimensions an interdisciplinary approach is required”.

As mentioned before, the focus of this study on the experienced challenges in an EVD project has not previously been studied. However, existing scientific

literature regarding EVD and related subjects has been explored to create a framework of possible challenges. In order to construct such a framework an

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interdisciplinary approach has been applied. Theories and research from the scientific disciplines and sub disciplines of psychology, sociology, environmental studies, and development studies have been used for this and integrated when possible.

The psychological discipline is used to show how a lack of fulfillment of basic needs affects the capability of individuals to engage in sustainable and environmental aware behavior (Maslow, 1943). Integrated with the poverty trap theory of Sachs (2006) from the scientific sub discipline of development studies this explains how poverty and lack of capital may pose challenges to the EVD project in the economical dimension.

Furthermore, this is added with the sociological structuration theory of Giddens (1979, in Calhoun et al., 2007) that shows how the agency of people is influenced by structures. His theory is used to elucidate the culture of dependency theory that was found in the field of development studies. The lack of agency due to the existence of a culture of dependency is joined with the theory of Jackson (2004) about the adverse effects of the emphasis on money in the neo-liberal economic model. Together they make up for the cultural dimension of expected challenges.

Finally, different research methods have been integrated. A participant

observation has been integrated with conducting interviews, while applying grounded theory for the analysis of the data. The integration of these methods was useful to come to a comprising understanding of the challenges.

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4. Research Methods

4.1 Research strategy

The focus of this research is to capture what challenges the involved actors experience regarding the EVD project in Kartong. For this reason, the ontology of this research is constructivist, as most of the experienced challenges are expected to be socially constructed phenomena, created by the interplay of all the involved actors (Bryman, 2008). Because in this case study the challenges are identified trough the experience of the various involved actors the use of a qualitative strategy is employed.

Qualitative research focuses on the understanding and interpretation of the experiences of the respondents. It tries to capture the perceptions of the subjects, which is difficult to accomplish using a quantitative strategy (Bryman, 2008).

Furthermore, this research has an interpretive epistemology because this research focuses on identifying the challenges or the EVD project based upon the experiences of the actors involved. This epistemology is focused on understanding human behavior (Bryman, 2008) and is considered most appropriate in order to capture the experienced challenges to the EVD project. Some of the expected challenges, for example, a lack of resources or environmental problems, need little interpretation and could also be identified using a positivist method. However, such an approach would not be able to cover many of the other challenges such as the social and cultural.

4.2 Research design

Because of the goal of bringing forth a detailed analysis of the situation of Kartong regarding the challenges they experience, this research is to be considered as a case study design (Bryman, 2008). The aim is to provide an in-depth elucidation of the challenges that the involved actors are experiencing. This study can be seen as a representative or typical case (Bryman, 2008) because of its possible role as an example for other traditional villages developing into ecovillage within Africa and other parts of the world. Although its transferability is limited to a certain extent due to unique characteristics of the challenges in Kartong, valuable information can be provided for other EVD projects.

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4.3 Research methods

In this study, an ethnographic research method is combined with a grounded theory approach to data collection and data analysis. An ethnography method is

characterized by the immersion of the researcher in the social setting for an extended period of time. As has been done in this study, the researcher observes the behavior of the members of the setting, listens to conversations and engages in informal

conversations. Furthermore, the ethnographers collect complementing information on subjects that are difficult to observe by conducting interviews (Bryman, 2008, p. 402).

The fieldwork was done during a one-month stay with the KEN group. In the fieldwork, a participant-as-observer role was adopted, which means that the

researcher was a fully participating member of the group and that the identity of the researcher as researcher was known by the involved actors (Bryman, 2008, p. 410). The data was collected through observations, informal conversations and meetings during the fieldwork. These participant observation techniques provided a lot of valuable information in answering the research question. Furthermore, qualitative semi-structured interviews have been conducted in order to complement the data.

In addition to this, the grounded theory method was applied. This was done because still only little was known about the subject of challenges to community-led EVD projects. Grounded theory particularly emphasizes induction, which means generating theory or concepts out of data. In the process of grounded theory data collection, data analysis and generating theory are closely related (Strauss & Corbin, 1998, cited in Bryman, 2008). In order to be able to include all possibly relevant data a very open and flexible approach to the studied subject needs to be taken (Sbaraina, 2011).

Grounded theory is a type of research method as well as a method for the analysis of data (Bryman, 2008). In the present study of the EVD project in Kartong grounded theory is used for both possibilities. The grounded theory method is used as a research method in order to capture all of the still unknown challenges as well as a data analysis method in order to identify and categorize the experienced challenges. Grounded theory methodology dates from 1967 and has been developed by Glazer and Strauss and challenged the dominance of quantitative research in the social sciences of that time (Charmaz, 2003, p. 55). Out of this initial grounded theory method, several other approaches were developed: the approaches of Corbin,

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described above by Bryman (2008) is complemented with some elements of the approach of Charmaz (2003).

Although Charmaz’s approach focuses on discovering and revealing processes (De Boer, 2011, p. 29), which differs from the goal of this study to capturing

challenges. However, her method of data analysis, which will be described below, and her use of ‘sensitizing concepts’ are employed. ‘Sensitizing concepts’ are being used as points of departure for the formulation of interview questions (Charmaz, 2003, p. 60). In the present study they are expectations of possible challenges based on the existing literature and information about Kartong and The Gambia. The ‘sensitizing concepts’ used in this study are addressed in the operationalization scheme.

As mentioned before, in grounded theory an emphasis is laid upon explaining the data by the formulation of theory through inductive analysis (Sbaraina, 2011). However, the application of grounded theory in this study is rather to generate concepts in order to identify the challenges than the formulation of theory. Because this is an important aspect of grounded theory (Sbaraina, 2011, p. 1), we may rather speak of the application of aspects of the grounded theory method than the conduction of a thorough grounded theory study in line with the methodology’s guidelines.

4.4 Data procession and analysis

For the collection of data two methods have been used. First, field notes were taken of all relevant observations and informal conversations with people in the month of volunteering at the EVD project in Kartong. Secondly, interviews were conducted with the involved actors to complement the findings. These interviews were digitally recorded with a smartphone and transcribed using the transcription program

‘transcribe’. Observations, excerpts of informal conversations and memos were written in a notebook.

The data has been analyzed by using a grounded theory method. This process consisted of multiple phases. First, initial coding is applied: accurate but open reading of the data combined with assigning codes to the data (De Boer, p. 29). Because of the specific focus of this study on challenges only data was coded that was of any

relevance to this focus. The coding consisted of a few words that summarized the piece of data as well as the thematic nature of it regarding the different dimensions. The written data in the notebook has not been digitalized. Coding was done by hand;

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stickers of different colors were given to the pieces of data if they belonged to a specific dimension.

Subsequently, all the codes were organized according to the dimensions they belonged to. From this overview corresponding codes within the dimensions were grouped and labels were given to the overarching subject of the group. In this way concepts derived out of the data. This process is called ‘focused coding’ in Charmaz’s approach (De Boer, 2011, p. 29). The concepts that emerge out of the ‘focused coding’ can add new concepts to or adjust the previously created ‘sensitizing concepts’. This process is called ‘theoretical sampling’ (ibid) and leads to the identification of the actually experienced challenges of the involved actors of the EVD project.

4.5 Population

The research population consists of all possible actors involved with the EVD in Kartong. First of all, this includes the members of the Kartong Ecovillage Network (KEN) group, as they are highly involved and steering the process of EVD. A choice was made to focus this study on KEN and not on the broader PECEN network, as more villages would need to be involved in the study and the goal was to generate an in-depth analysis of one project.

Secondly, the less directly involved staff at Sandele and the villagers of Kartong have been taken into account. Finally, attempts have been made to include external actors such as governmental officials of the Gambia, GEN international members, and unforeseen actors that proved to be relevant for answering the research question. However, only one government official has been interviewed.

In this study, purposive sampling was employed. The idea behind purposive sampling is that respondents are selected on the basis of their relevance to the

research question (Bryman, 2008, p. 416). The reason for this type of sampling is the expectation that not every inhabitant of Kartong is involved with or aware of the EVD project. Although none of the inhabitants was excluded beforehand, trough the

participation in the social setting respondents have been selected that were expected to possess relevant information for the research question.

The forms of purposive sampling that have been used together are maximum variation sampling and theoretical sampling. Maximum variation sampling focuses on collecting a wide range of different perspectives on the research problem in order to

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provide a complete picture (Quinn, 2001, p. 234-235). This was done until no new challenges would arise out of the new respondents, a process which is called

theoretical saturation (Bryman, 2008, p. 416). Theoretical sampling is done in order to generate new categories or concepts (Glazer and Strauss, 1967, cited in Bryman, 2008, p. 415), which applies very well to the focus of this study on identifying challenges. Theoretical sampling is an important aspect of the grounded theory approach, which has been applied in this study.

4.6 Operationalization

As discussed, grounded theory is characterized by an open and flexible research design. However, in this study ‘sensitizing concepts’ are being developed out of the literature to have points of departure available for the formation of questions that could be used in informal talks and interviews. The ‘sensitizing concepts’ take the place of indicators in more general research. They have been distributed among the five dimensions that derived out of the literature research. The operationalization model can be found in appendix 2.

4.7 Ethics

Although most of the subjects that are discussed in this research were not very personal, some ethical guidelines were followed in order to avoid any undesirable outcomes of the participation to this study for the respondents. For example, critical comments on the project or involved people might be taken personally by others. For this reason, all the respondents remained anonymous in this thesis, as they were told before any documentation would happen. This is also the case with all off the information gathered by the participant observation Furthermore, before every interview, permission was requested to record the interview.

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5. Results

5.1 introduction

In the following chapters, the results of this ethnographic study will be presented. The results will be discussed in line with the dimensions in the sub-questions: economic, social, cultural, ecological and political. An additional dimension that was found during the fieldwork makes up for the last chapter. This dimension covers the challenges that were found which could be categorized as internal. The grounded theory method provided many new concepts in addition to the ‘sensitizing concepts’ in the operationalization. These new challenges that were found will be addressed in the dimension they belong to.

Being involved with the group as a volunteer provided very good access to the population. The researcher was able to join all of the events and meetings of KEN, PECEN and the Sandele staff, including a five-day mini EDE. Because of this, it was very easy to become acquainted with the majority of the involved actors of the EVD project. Although an initial reluctance to some, most of the KEN members agreed to be interviewed. Some KEN members also provided interviews with villagers upon request of the researcher. However, the researcher found it more difficult to approach women, some exceptions made, which resulted in an underrepresentation in the respondent sample.

In total sixteen interviews were conducted, of which ten were with KEN members, five with villagers and one with an official from the department of agriculture. The interviews were conducted at Sandele or in the village and varied between ten minutes and one hour. With two respondents, the coordinators of the EVD project, multiple short interviews were conducted as an addition to the initial interview when new questions or information emerged. In the beginning one focus group was held with three participants, unfortunately, however, the data file was lost. Furthermore, many observation were made during meetings, events and informal conversations with members and villagers.

In the following chapters, the respondents will be referred to with numbers when quoted or used to support a finding, statement or challenge. This is in line with the choice of the researcher to keep the respondents anonymous. The respondents that have been interviewed will be referred to as R1, R2, R3, R4, etc. Whether the quote or statement is based upon one of the interviews or the field notes of the researcher can

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be seen by the distinction (PI: personal interview) and (PO: personal observation). The personal observation, of course, also includes informal conversations. Transcripts of the interviews can be found in the appendix. The field notes of the observations have not been digitalized, as that would take too much time. The field notes can be collected from the researcher upon request.

5.2 Economic challenges

Out of the theoretical framework, the economic dimension emerged as a dimension where possible challenges could be expected. Possible challenges that were identified were a lack of financial resources and adverse effects of poverty. In the fieldwork, attention was paid to these while exploring possible other challenges in this dimension.

As expected, the economic dimension turns out to play a critical role in the EVD project in Kartong. A lack of financial resources seems to have a major impact on the progress of the project as this was addressed as the main challenge by almost all of the subjects. This lack of financial resources proves to be a challenge in different ways and often is an underlying factor contributing to challenges in other dimensions.

First, the lack of financial resources has a direct impact on the projects of KEN. According to various members, the main reason why some of the projects are not functioning is a lack of money. For example, the food processing and the

permaculture garden have become dormant due to a lack of money. Start and working capital are needed to get things started and running until it can provide some income for the involved people (PO & PI: R1, R2, R3, R5).

Secondly, the high level of poverty among the Gambian population makes it extra difficult for KEN to achieve their goals. Most of the people in kartong are struggling to meet their needs and feed their families. This also applies to the members of KEN who are either breadwinners that are very busy keeping their

families fed and dealt with or members of a family and feel the pressure of the need to contribute to their families. As one of the respondents (PI: R2) puts it strikingly: “it is difficult to work for the future if the present doesn’t allow you to”.

For other, former members this caused them to stop being involved in KEN. The lack of financial resources for the projects seems to have caused disconnection for some of the people who were part of the group after the completed EDE’s. A

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participant of one of the EDE’s explains: “They train us and inspire us but afterwards we don’t receive the financial support we need to start and set things up” (PI: R11). Another respondent says that “the inspiration is there in the beginning, but because of a lack of funds it falls apart because people need to earn money to survive” (PO).

Furthermore, the high poverty level of the population of Kartong causes some additional challenges to the implementation of the EV concepts and projects. Some of the people in Kartong see no other choice than to engage in unsustainable human activity like tree cutting, they have no other option to earn an income and feed their family. This makes it hard to convince people to behave otherwise one of the members of KEN explains, “you can’t just say stop cutting the trees, you have to bring them an alternative to make an income” (PI: R8).

Finally, one of the members mentions that the farmers in Kartong tend to be quite risk-averse because of the little money they have. This results in a reluctance to employ the new permaculture techniques, apply for a (high interest) loan for

investments or form a cooperative with other farmers. “The farmers rather stick to something that will give a reasonable return than to risk for a product that may fail” (PO: R3). Summarized it is the lack of financial resources that proves to be the biggest challenge for KEN to realize EVD in Kartong. This challenge is reinforced by the general level of poverty, which has adverse effects on the time, motivation and energy of the members.

5.3 Social challenges

The EVD project in kartong sets itself apart by trying to transition an existing village into an ecovillage as opposed to the intentional ecovillages which are build up from scratch by a like-minded group of people. This brings forth extra social and cultural challenges as a change is needed in the mindset and behavior of individuals and the community as a whole.

Based upon existing literature particular attention was paid to how the people in the village responded to the project and whether the project was met with any resistance. Out of the analyzed data, two indicators could be identified that were experienced as challenges within the social dimension. These are the size of the EVD movement and support from the community. The first one was a new challenge as it was expected that most of the villagers were already familiar with KEN and the EVD

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project. In the following paragraphs, an elaboration will be given on why and how they are being experienced as challenges to the project.

Size of the EV movement

Some of the respondents mention that the number of people that are engaged with the EVD project is one of the biggest challenges they are facing now. In order to make a real impact, a critical mass of people is needed who are supporting and engaging in the EVD project. “Increasing the size of the movement is key. The ideas are there, the projects are there, but the human resources do to the things is not” one member of KEN explains (PI: R2).

One reason for the lack of human resources is the absence of awareness about KEN and the EVD project among the population of the community. One of the coordinators of the project states that: “The first challenge is simply making as many people aware of the vision we are trying to achieve” (PI: R3). Based upon

observations and informal conversations with villagers it appeared that the not much of the villagers knew what KEN is doing or had not even heard of them. For now, the publicity of KEN and their projects does not seems to reach the whole community but rather the families and relatives of the KEN members and people actively involved with community development.

However, this challenge is also partly attributed to the causal effect of the underlying poverty and lack of financial resources of KEN. First, most of the people are reluctant to engage in voluntary activities because this does not provide them with some income that is needed for their survival. The priority of feeding oneself and their families does not allow the people to be very much concerned with the KEN and their projects and ideas (PO).

Secondly, a lack of financial resources for the projects of KEN like awareness raising or education obviously also contributes to the lack of publicity and

engagement. A member of the Permaculture team explains that they could not continue their free permaculture workshops to women in the villages because of transportation costs and the expectation of the women to receive money (PO). Also due to a lack of money, KEN does not have a permaculture demonstration site at the moment, where they can teach permaculture concepts and techniques that will benefit the women gardeners.

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Support from the community

As mentioned before, EVD of an existing village brings forth some additional challenges. In addition to the need of creating awareness and publicity among the community, the acceptance and support of leading members of the community are essential for gaining impact. The involved actors of KEN have particularly

experienced this in Kartong the first year of the existence of the group. Multiple members of KEN indicate the resistance from the Village

Development Commission (VDC) and the alkalo as a big challenge to gaining support and impact in the village (PO, PI: R2, R3, R5). This has to do with an issue between the VDC and Sandele and since the KEN members have been educated and trained at the EDE in Sandele they were being seen as a threat by the VDC and the alkalo. “Many people think that the group is formed to fight against the VDC and take over its place. It was intended to work hand in hand but from the beginning there was a negative image” (PI: R8).

However, the members of KEN also mentioned that this attitude of the alkalo and the VDC has changed for the better in recent times: “But it is different now, people are starting to realize that what we are doing is good. The way the assistant of the chief was speaking showed that there was a change. He was more positive and saying that what has happened before was a misunderstanding” (PI: R2). Not all agree with this, some of the villagers mentioned that the alkalo still is not very convinced about KEN and Sandele. One estimates that the ratio of people in the village that are pro and against the EV movement driven by KEN and Sandele is fifty-fifty (PO: R11).

Although the relation seems to have improved, it clearly shows how not receiving support from the existing decision makers may form a huge challenge. With their influence, they can create a negative image of the EVD project among the population of Kartong. This, of course, has a great impact on the needed engagement of people in the project. Moreover, one respondent says this is the reason why some of the former KEN members stopped being involved without giving any explanation (PO: R5).

Population growth

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easier it is to succeed and kartong is huge. Secondly, the population is growing and has different ethnicities and tribes” (PI: R5). However, the respondents rather see the population growth as an underlying issue than a direct challenge for KEN in

achieving EVD. The high growth of the population puts an extra pressure on the sustainability of the village, as more children need to be fed while prices are rising. This increases the difficulty of the task to develop Kartong into an ecovillage as it increased poverty and its adverse effects, which has been mentioned before in the economic dimension.

Having big families appears to be quite common in of Kartong and in the Gambia in general. A thing that stands out on the trips to the village was the large number of children (PO). One reason given for this is traced back to the

pre-‘development’ era. As most of the people were farmers, having many children proves to be valuable as they can help on the land (PI: R8). Furthermore, it is in line with their religious beliefs. One villager explains that: “The people don’t see that having big families has any implication on their survival. It is a value to have big families here, it goes alongside their religious beliefs. It is god who creates people” (PI: R12).

5.4 Cultural challenges

In this section, the challenges will be discussed that are identified as cultural

challenges. Although much overlap exists between the social and cultural dimension the following challenges distinguish themselves from the social challenges by being more focused on the attitude, culture, or worldview of the population of Kartong. After analyzing and coding of the data of the interviews and observations four categories could be identified that were mentioned by multiple respondents and villagers. These are awareness, effects of exposure to the west, individualization and work ethic. These categories sometimes consist of different issues, which will be further elaborated below.

Awareness

Most of the respondents state that a change in awareness of the people in the

community is needed in order to make the change to sustainable behavior. There only seems to be a small part of the community that are aware of the consequences of unsustainable activity. The participants of the EDE’s recall how they would look at the environment before they did the course: “before the EDE I didn’t have any

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environmental awareness, I was only concerned how I could make money for myself” (R10). Based upon observations and talks with villagers this seems to be the case for the majority of the population and many respondents mention that unless they are being educated about the consequences things will not be likely to change.

However, some respondents point out that education alone will not be enough. As addressed in the economic dimension, the struggle for meeting the basic needs forces people to engage in unsustainable activities like woodcutting or using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. A member of KEN explains: “it is very difficult to change someone’s mind and stop doing what he has been doing a long time what provides him an income. You have to provide something else so he’s able to survive” (PO, R1).

Exposure to the west

Many of the respondents experience the change of culture and values due to exposure to the western lifestyle as a big challenge for the EVD project. First of all, exposure to the western lifestyle has instilled new desires in the minds of the people of Kartong. “The change of life is the cause of everything. People think more westernized. Everybody wants to have a car, a good house, and smartphones. People want to live more westernized” (R3). These new material desires seem to outweigh sustainable living in terms of importance and priority in the majority of the population.

In conjunction with this, the respondents mention that money has gained a great increase in importance, which is stimulating further unsustainable activities. The people of Kartong are exploiting the natural environment on which their survival depends to have a monetary gain, either meeting basic needs or meeting Western material desires. One respondent stressed the problem of the high rate that men are selling land for cash in order to increase their livelihoods. If this continues he foresees a huge problem concerning the availability of land for gardening and thus the food security. He states the prevalence of short-term monetary gain over long-term goals: “People see the problem of land in the future but the money, the cash is driving them to sell it” (PI: R12).

Individualization

Another important change that is attributed to western influences is the loss of cooperation between the inhabitants of the community. Many respondents mention

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EVD since this could only be achieved collaboratively. Some of the respondents attribute it the Gambian culture or the African culture in general. “Another challenge is that there isn’t a sense of cooperative collaboration within the Gambian culture or mindset. People tend to mistrust each other with money” (PI: R3). One villager adds to this explanation: “It is the culture, that selfish tendency. When people have something they only focus on their family. That is Africa” (PO: R9).

However, in contrast with this, many respondents mention that this is not a trait of the Gambian culture but has only developed in the recent decades due to exposure to the West. The elder respondents referred to the days, twenty to forty years ago, when the people in the village would work together and there was community service. “When I was young we had community service and if someone wouldn’t come and work we would all go to his compound afterwards and tell his parents he didn’t show up. That guy would not have a nice evening that day so nobody would even think of not joining” (PO).

Furthermore, the villagers were very cooperative when anything needed to be done in the village. According to many respondents, the process of individualization and the developed desire for money has changed this: “Before, when something would be happening like building a house, they would beat the drums and all people would come and work. Nowadays very few people will come out. If they don’t gain anything they don’t come” (PI: R14). This loss of cooperation and reciprocity is being

addressed by many of the respondents and is seen one of the main challenges to be overcome.

Two of the respondents also mention that a side effect of the individualization is that the different tribes are becoming more segregated and that there is a lot of politics going on in the different quarters. This might also be a challenge in the EVD process as unity in the community is seen as a very important prerequisite to be able to change things. However, the respondents have also mentioned quite positive

notions about a change in culture among the youth of Kartong. Many say that much of the youth has a different attitude and are ready and motivated to cooperate and work for the community if opportunities are presented. There are signs that a great part of the youth has become environmentally more aware. This was shown by the protest of the youth against the sand mining activities of the government and the protest against the VDC, which resolved because of that (PO & PI: R2, R5, R8).

Towards sustainability and resilience : challenges to ecovillage development in the Gambian community Kartong