a 30,000 foot view

posted by Corbyn

Thanks to all our loyal blog followers for being a part of what we are doing here at Plant With Purpose! I wanted to share with you all a quick view from above of what Plant With Purpose does. This would be a great blog for you to share with your friends and family inviting them to get their daily dose of community development blogging.

Who we are: Plant With Purpose, a Christian non-profit organization, reverses deforestation and poverty in the world, by transforming the lives of the rural poor. We plant, we teach, we create enterprise, and we share the gospel.

Values/Principles of Practice:

Plant With Purpose is a Christian nonprofit organization. As such we:

· Put God first in everything we do.

· Engaged in society as a whole, dialoging and partnering with secular environmental organizations, development organizations, academia, governments, etc.

Share the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a holistic and intentional way, through our work.

Plant With Purpose reverses deforestation. Therefore, we:

Work with local farmers who struggle with environmentally destructive agricultural practices.

· Teach and model stewardship of God's creation.

· Work to restore the integrity of the land.

· Are on the cutting edge of agriculture/agroforestry/agroecology - continually looking for the best possible local models, seeking crop combinations that are biologically beneficial and experimenting, in collaboration with the farmers.

· Promote diversity among crops - so farmers are not vulnerable to the volatility of any one market, and are growing a combination of cash crops and food crops.

· Use native species wherever possible - we don't fully understand the consequences of exotic species, nor do we fully understand the benefits of native species.

· Make organic agriculture a priority.

· Work to make local agriculture sustainable.

Plant With Purpose reverses poverty. To accomplish this, we:

· Look for opportunities to work with poor farmers who have no access to credit.

· Empower local farmers to be change agents in their communities.

· Encourage the farmers’ participation in planning and developing specific programs that will meet their individual and community needs.

Plant With Purpose transforms lives. We:

· Address the needs of the whole person with a wholistic program that is theologically and economically sound, and environmentally appropriate.

Organizationally and Relationally, Plant With Purpose:

· Collaborates with other agencies.

· Actively promotes self-sufficiency of local partners.

· Actively supports the excellence of local partners.

· Works in full partnership with donors and beneficiaries.

· Is participatory in our decision making - encouraging and seeking participation by all: women and men, community members, donors and volunteers and ensuring that all are a part of the process.

· Values and develops people, realizing that our programs are only as good as our people.

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Corbyn Small serves as Plant With Purpose’s Outreach Coordinator. He cultivates relationships with donors, churches, artists and musicians to generate interest and enthusiasm for Plant With Purpose’s life-changing programs.