The Organic Garden Farm here at CICD covers an area of around 80 m x 45m, divided into two sections – one with the greenhouse and the raised beds, and the other for the potato field and the poultry. We have 20 chicken and six ducks, that give us on average 13 eggs per day. We have two greenhouses with raised beds for tomatoes and a lot of herbs and spices. We have a special section for potatoes: five big beds each of 25 x 2,5 m. Then we have all our other crops: onions, leeks, cabbage, courgettes, french beans,...

My time at CICD has been an amazing and insightful learning experience, in an inclusive and welcoming community. The climate activist programme has hugely developed my understanding of the many aspects of climate change and the significance of how our own actions impact the world globally. I have been inspired through learning of all the small projects, both internationally and in the UK, that are working to reconnect society with nature, are raising awareness of how we can better use the resources we have and demonstrating the huge impact simple solutions can have on ourselves and the natural world. I...

CICD is part of a network of schools - we call ourselves "Another Kind of School". Educational institutions of many kinds and for all ages - with a modern and experience based pedagogical approach, and with love and space for all students to develop and grow in their own way. Here we introduce to you: PTG International Youth College (Ungdomshøjskolen PTG) in Denmark PTG is a private and independent boarding school where young people from 18-30 years can study, work and live together. It is based at Tvind international campus in the country side in western Denmark. Among the neighbours at...

4 months ago in April Monzer and Roula, two of our students, decided to take the responsibility for running our garden farm when their programmes were put on hold. They stepped up to the plate – and it has gone really well! They have learned a lot through own studies as well as through their practice. Learning by doing is one of the keys to studies, work and life here at CICD – and not only in the garden! There are a million details to remember and do the right way, and at the right time...everything from the spacing between...

One of the areas of study & debate for the Climate Activist summer course is ways to resolve the climate crisis. What kind of economic system can make it possible to reduce emissions enough to avoid an escalating climate breakdown? In the light of the recent IPCC report, this is now a very urgent discussion to have. Is Green capitalism a good alternative to the present system? Here is Beth Cunninghams take on this! The idea of Green Capitalism Green capitalism is contradictory by nature and is inherently unsustainable. Also called market-economy, it purports to create wealth and, spur innovation...

Global inequality is worsening the suffering caused by climate change and the Covid19 pandemic. This summer extreme weather caused by climate change has seriously affected Europe, with devastating floods in Germany, Belgium and Netherlands....and while writing this, wildfires are again raging out of control in Greece, Turkey and Russia. But this and worse extreme weather has hit many countries in the Global South for many years already. Climate Change and Global Warming are caused by the marketing economy's continuos race for infinite economic growth. This is a contradiction, as we live on a planet with finite resources.  Covid19 is most likely another consequence of the...

The 6 R-s: Repair, Reduce, Refuse, Reuse, Recycle, Repeat Our Climate Activist summer programme has just started, and one of the themes they study is the 6 R-s. Maybe you wonder: Does it really makes any difference what I do? The answer is YES – it does! Why re-cycle and repair and reuse..? Our “consumer society” is one of the reasons for rising CO2 emissions, causing global warming and climate change. We are often called "consumers" rather than "citizens". And our habits of shopping and consuming are causing huge environmental problems - because we are so many, and it has...

I am Madia, a 23 years old French-Gambian woman. I’m a marketing student and I have always been an open-minded person with a big curiosity. While I was in France finalizing my gap-year student, nothing was motivating me to stay in the country. I made the decision to have a WWOOFer experience. It was the perfect way to improve my English skills while leaving my comfort zone being closer to the nature. I joined CICD for two months without knowing what I was going to expect. The surprise was sincerely very good. Being part of the Garden Team Here the...

I was part of the Gaia Corse, as well as the Fighting with the Poor 12 month’s course. During my preparation I have got a lot of new knowledge. The studies have been a eye opener, I got information I never had before. I have learned about politics, history, economy and science. I have learned so many things about Poverty, Global Warming and Climate Change, compassion and togetherness. Besides the studies on itself, what really made a big impact on me was the practical skills that I have learned during my time at CICD, those skills and my new knowledge...

By Melanie Pita, Climate Activist teacher A new garden season has begun and with it a lot of new tasks. At CICD we have four sections for our garden production. The small walled garden, the big walled garden, the greenhouse and all the flower areas. We have made plans for our garden farm for the next 5 years and now it is time to get the hands into the soil and get prepared. Let me start by telling you about our new greenhouse, in a building outside the walled garden. There we have 3 raised beds where we will be...

By Noemi Karacsony, Gaia team teacher at CICD From Earthday.org 22nd of April we celebrate Earth day!! This year, the headline is Restore our Earth. World Earth day is realised every year on 22nd of April to create awareness about pollution and to celebrate the Blue Planet - or our Mother Earth. The first earth day was in 1970 and gave a voice to an emerging public consciousness about the state of our planet — in the decades leading up to the first Earth Day, Americans were consuming vast amounts of leaded gas through massive and inefficient automobiles. Industry discharge smoke...

By Melanie Pita, Climate Activist team teacher Today I would like to write about the issue of the Military Complex and how it influences our Climate Crisis. First and foremost is good to understand that the Military protects commercial interests, that the commercial interests fund the Government- and that the government pays for/to the military. This is the very basic structure of this complex. Starting from the very basic connection between the Climate and military pollution… The production. Every single item produced and its production chain. The need of resources and the pollution that takes place. From the simplest to...

At CICD we are very happy and proud to be partners of Humana People to People, since we started our first volunteer programmes in 1998! Below an introduction from their Progress report - and click on the link further down to read the full report: "Humana People to People spans the globe through 29 independent national member associations. We grew out of a progressive education movement in the 1970s, rooted in the struggle against apartheid and colonialism. Today, we are committed to tackling some of the world’s major humanitarian, social and environmental challenges. Forty years after we began, the needs...

When studying at CICD I had the opportunity to develop personal and professional skills in so many ways. The concept of living in a community was a relevant part for my preparation to the project and to the world - everyone counts on everyone and I learned how to deal with difficulties that can arise at any time as a group and as an individual. I always remember the good comradeship and the respect people had for each other even when things weren't at their best and I believe I keep taking that with me through life. Working at a...

Solidarity - not charity! Joe Solo is an award-winning musician, writer, poet, activist, broadcaster and washing machine engineer from Scarborough in north-east England. Together with Pauline Town and many other activists and musicians, Joe Solo runs the We Shall Overcome (WSO) movement. He uses his skills as a musician and song writer to raise much needed funds as well as spirits, all around the country. The aim is to support people living in poverty, who ended up homeless and need a helping hand to get back on their feet. “The Station Hotel”, a pub in Ashton under Lyne in Manchester run...

About the course “The Effects of Industrial Farming” This course is part of the curriculum for the Development Instructor teams, so they can gain a better understanding of the reasons for the huge economic inequality in the world today and why billions of people are living in such poverty – in spite of all the existing resources. After studying The Effects of Industrial Farming it was clear to us that some of the effects of industrial farming are: Rupture of the generational transmission of knowledge of uses and customs of natural resources and good practices. This makes us lose the...

About the course “Wars and Pollution” The consequences of the military on our environment are significant. How come that the huge military complex, that use a big part of state budgets and consume enormous amounts of oil and other resources, are not made to take their responsibility in cutting down to fight the Climate Crisis? To learn about this is one part of understanding the reasons for the Climate Crisis and the imbalance of our world.... My comments to the course “Wars and Pollution” By Iasmin Maionchi from Brazil, Development Volunteer 10 month February team 2020 Today we have studied...

Studies and workshops in our lock down CICD Hello, my name is Mel and I am a teacher at CICD. Today I write to tell you a bit about the past weeks and how we managed to continue with the programmes even in times of Covid-19. Let me tell you about how we rearranged the daily life in the safest way possible. At CICD we were around 30 people a month ago. We changed the whole set up of the school by dividing into 3 groups. 9 Development Instructors (DI-s) plus + 2 teachers are now living in Malawi building...

From Vasile Nutescu, garden farming responsible: Hi, my name is Vasile and I am from Romania and I want to talk about gardening, organic gardening. Why organic? Because it’s healthy. Because in order to have good and healthy food we DON’T need chemicals. I come from a small village in north of Romania. It’s an area where even now days most of the agriculture and gardening are made organically and traditionally. I grew up with gardening and I learned what I know that way. Throughout the years I also worked in industrial agriculture so I also have an understanding of...

In this time of the Covid 19 pandemic, we feel privileged here at CICD. We live as a small community in a safe and rural place with lots of space, indoors as well as outdoors. The park surrounding the school is big enough for all to spread out in. To minimize infection risk, we have organised ourselves into 3 separate groups that don't interact with each other and always keep the social distance: 1) The DI group (Volunteers in training + teachers) 2) The Gaia group (the scholarship team + teacher) and 3) The Others (us who are not in...